TCG Rates DECREASE

[Hooked]

Copied from an email which I received from TCG, dated 21 Dec. 2021.

"It is with much excitement that on the 26th and 27th of December, The Courier Guy will be migrating to its new software platform. This means that the customer portals you have become familiar with (The Courier Guy and XOC) will be changing and will be packed full of enhanced features, delivering an improved customer experience.

As part of this change, we have redesigned our rate structure to be simpler to use. With the new rate structure, we have removed the regional add-on, there is an overall reduction in the rate, which has been partially offset by a fixed fuel surcharge of 15% on prepaid accounts and 25% on 30 Day accounts.

Notwithstanding this, there will (in most cases) be an overall saving off the current rate…

For the migration to take place, we need to go offline for a while. This means that as of 5:00 pm on Friday the 24th of December, The Courier Guy we will be going offline; this will include our XOC platform that will go offline a little earlier at 2 pm on the 24th. This does unfortunately mean that you will not be able to process anything on our systems from 5 pm on the 24th until Tuesday morning the 28th at 08:00 am. We do not see any major technical issues on the day, we will however have our team on hand to swiftly react to any that may arise.

 

[Hooked]

I'm particularly pleased about the regional add-on being removed. I'm sure that all those who do not live in main cities will agree!

 

[NecroticAngel]

I'm particularly pleased about the regional add-on being removed. I'm sure that all those who do not live in main cities will agree!

Absolutely! I pay R175 at the moment!!

 

[Quintusson]

So yeah, uhm, no.... My typical local shipping rate is R75, being an account holder. New shipping rate is supposed to be R65. Booked a new pickup this morning, was charged R85. Logged an enquiry and they're busy looking into it.

Also, seems the new system is not that in synch yet as the parcel has not been picked up yet, so there goes same day delivery. I can also not see on their new system, like I was able to on the old, whether it has been assigned to anyone yet for pickup and the local branch is mysteriously quiet on the query I raised. Teething problems is seriously at hand at the moment.

 

[Hooked]

So yeah, uhm, no.... My typical local shipping rate is R75, being an account holder. New shipping rate is supposed to be R65. Booked a new pickup this morning, was charged R85. Logged an enquiry and they're busy looking into it.

@YeOldeOke is also paying more than before. See here

 

[YeOldeOke]

What a crock of marketing shiite! Now customers think we should charge less for shipping coz CG mos sez.

Rates are up. Period. All else are lies.

 

[YeOldeOke]

I'm particularly pleased about the regional add-on being removed. I'm sure that all those who do not live in main cities will agree!

I pay the same to ship to you in the boondocks as to Cape Town, Dbn et al. Never had a regional add-on. Ever, in the past 6 years.

 

[Quintusson]

I pay the same to ship to you in the boondocks as to Cape Town, Dbn et al. Never had a regional add-on. Ever, in the past 6 years.

I pay different rates on regional vs national, but probably because I have a prepaid account. That being said, I used to always just take the hit with national ones but still need to see what their new quote pricing is.

 

[YeOldeOke]

I pay different rates on regional vs national, but probably because I have a prepaid account. That being said, I used to always just take the hit with national ones but still need to see what their new quote pricing is.

One of the problems is they don't recognize flyers in national OVN anymore. So it's gonna be a crapshoot as to what they'll eventually charge. We'll see, we'll let it settle for a short while then have another overall look at shipping.

I just hope their service is not going the same way as The Courier from Hell.

 

[Hooked]

I pay the same to ship to you in the boondocks as to Cape Town, Dbn et al. Never had a regional add-on. Ever, in the past 6 years.

TCG doesn't classify Yzerfontein as Regional / outlying area. I asked them one day to explain why not (not that I was complaining - just curious) and they explained that a Regional classification depends on the number of collections/deliveries made to that town, not on the distance of the town from a main city.

Since there are many deliveries to Yzer - enough to merit TCG coming here every day, it's not classified as Regional.

I had a disagreement with @Sir Vape once. On their website one has to choose between main city and outlying area, so I chose main city, which is correct as far as TCG is concerned. I was then contacted by Sir Vape and asked to pay in the difference.

They explained that Sir Vape's classification is different from TCG, even though they're using TCG. For Sir Vape, an outlying area is anywhere outside Durban and therefore they charge more for delivery.

 

[JurgensSt]

The new system from The Corrupt Cuys is a mess. None of my clients from my address book(Old system) have been moved to the new system. Can't find the address of a client that I have send miltipal orders to on the new system. Took 45min to get help from their online help system.
Don't get me started on the new Fuel Charge BS

 

[AdriaanH]

Email notifications also gone now (for receiver).

So if the supplier does not fill in all the information as to what they (TCG) require then you will not get any status/movement updates on your parcel.

And even if they do, only get 1 out of e.g. 6 email updates if you lucky.

Their new system sucks!!!

 

[Hooked]

I received an SMS from TCG this morning, saying that a parcel for me is out for delivery. However, I'm not expecting any deliveries!

Later the driver phoned me to check if I'm home, as he has to collect a parcel from me. However, I hadn't booked any collections.

Whew! Seems like the system is in a mess!

 

[Quintusson]

Email notifications also gone now (for receiver).

So if the supplier does not fill in all the information as to what they (TCG) require then you will not get any status/movement updates on your parcel.

And even if they do, only get 1 out of e.g. 6 email updates if you lucky.

Their new system sucks!!!

Got a response from TCG. Usual spiel about escalating to management, etc. but then they added this: "Please note there is a 15% service fee as we have added an OTP pin to deliveries and Geo location on the booking systems.
These new features are all new benefits to your account."
So this is their justification for the higher pricing, but my point is, they should then indicate this upfront. And quite likely, fighting it will be like farting against thunder.

 

[Hooked]

Got a response from TCG. Usual spiel about escalating to management, etc. but then they added this: "Please note there is a 15% service fee as we have added an OTP pin to deliveries and Geo location on the booking systems.
These new features are all new benefits to your account."
So this is their justification for the higher pricing, but my point is, they should then indicate this upfront. And quite likely, fighting it will be like farting against thunder.

This is grossly unfair, after having sent an email all about a DECREASE!!! So ... I guess most vendors will be adding this 15% to their shipping.

 

[YeOldeOke]

Got a response from TCG. Usual spiel about escalating to management, etc. but then they added this: "Please note there is a 15% service fee as we have added an OTP pin to deliveries and Geo location on the booking systems.
These new features are all new benefits to your account."
So this is their justification for the higher pricing, but my point is, they should then indicate this upfront. And quite likely, fighting it will be like farting against thunder.

Their geolocation they can stick where the sun don't shine, it sucks. Googles geolocation has always been rough, now you can't amend it as it will only accept what G throws out. It is a major headache. The customer is responsible for giving the correct deliverable address and cannot complain if they don't. Now G says rd, maybe even complex, but nowhere to put the bloody complex no in for instance, it rejects it.

Service fee? I haven't seen anything about that. The fuel surcharge (what a crock) yes I've seen.

 

[YeOldeOke]

This is grossly unfair, after having sent an email all about a DECREASE!!! So ... I guess most vendors will be adding this 15% to their shipping.

The money must come from the customer, somehow, else the business dies. There are no free lunches. No vendor is happy with increasing shipping, it reduces sales.

Problem is, CG with their bullshiite have now set the vendors up for accusations of gouging.

 

[Viper_SA]

What a f... up. Just got a fra tic phonecall from my mom who needed to accept a package for me. The guy wanted a delivery pin. Wtf? They seem to be screwing up things big time. They were always my favourite courier, but now I'm not too sure anymore...

 

[YeOldeOke]

What a f... up. Just got a fra tic phonecall from my mom who needed to accept a package for me. The guy wanted a delivery pin. Wtf? They seem to be screwing up things big time. They were always my favourite courier, but now I'm not too sure anymore...

@Viper_SA What happened re the pin. No idea where that comes from. What pin

I suppose this is an idea they migrated from the PUDO fup with pins. Very intelligent.

 

[AdriaanH]

New system you get a pin sent to you that you have to give the driver

 

[YeOldeOke]

Same as the PUDO crap. Half the time the customer doesn't get a pin. Ish.

 

[Viper_SA]

Same as the PUDO crap. Half the time the customer doesn't get a pin. Ish.

Got an sms in my spam folder with a pin. Thankfully I hadn't deleted it yet

 

[Quintusson]

What a f... up. Just got a fra tic phonecall from my mom who needed to accept a package for me. The guy wanted a delivery pin. Wtf? They seem to be screwing up things big time. They were always my favourite courier, but now I'm not too sure anymore...

This is what they referred to in the response to me. A couple of other couriers do it as well where they send a pin to the number listed on the delivery and the person accepting the delivery needs to confirm the pin back. So we may need to incorporate something into the notes area as alternative contact no for the pin if a client cannot collect themselves

 

[YeOldeOke]

In over 6 years of using CG and sending literally thousands of parcels out, only 1 (one) was ever delivered to the wrong person. If I'm not mistaken @adriaanh was the lucky person to draw that particular short straw. It simply isn't a problem.

Enter PUDO and choas ensued, so much so that despite the saving to the customer we had to withdraw the option because of mess-ups.

Now CG decides to implement that failed system into it's - what used to be the best run logistics operation in SA - entire operation. They've just seen the mess in PUDO.

I thought ah well, it's a different team running PUDO. Maybe it is, and it's now running the whole of CG. That gives me shivers down my back.

The decision-making is scary, smacks of total ignorance and a spectacularly low IQ. I pray they are not taking a spectacular nosedive, but I'm NOT optimistic.

 

[Quintusson]

The decision-making is scary, smacks of total ignorance and a spectacularly low IQ. I pray they are not taking a spectacular nosedive, but I'm NOT optimistic.

I agree. The only thing is, they're the only one who offers affordable same day rates, which I am aware of. Previous quotes from other couriers for same day delivery, which is something our clients have gotten used to and almost expect now, have ranged from 'uhm, big no' (R550) to 'WTAF?!' (R1250)