Todays blog is about the joys of trying to get a parcel delivered by Yodel. I should say at this point I have no ties with Yodel or any other delivery company and this is just a review how my delivery (or lack of) went.

I have never had great luck with Yodel and back in January 2014 they were voted the worst delivery company for the second time 2 years running, see details HERE. Christmas 2014 they had learned nothing after gaining being the worst accolade, and I was one of the many to suffer this and the BBC picked up on this HERE.

Early on Monday the 12th January this year I placed an order on ebay, nothing critical so I found a supplier that offered free delivery. Tuesday I got an email from Yodel to advise of delivery, my heart sank, but I thought they must have improved, mustn't they?

I heard nothing all week so I contacted the supplier and was advised:

The courier is advising that the order was out for delivery on Saturday but at 6pm the business was closed.

I have asked them to reissue the delivery urgently and deliver within business hours.

Something not right here as Yodels tracker said they tried to deliver Friday night, staff were in the office until 6.30 pm and certainly nobody tried to call (my number was on the order).

Monday 19th, Yodel driver arrives! sadly nothing for me or the company but wanted directions, no please or thank you but there you go.

Tuesday 20th, Yodel driver arrives! Same one but no parcel for me or the company but once again wants directions (this causes amusement in the office), again no please or thank you.

Wednesday 21st, nothing, I call the supplier and request cancellation of the order, I will go else where. They offer to deliver next day (22nd), they were very apologetic so I agree to give them a go.

Thursday 22nd, Yodel driver arrives, sadly to pick up an RMA going back to another supplier, I ask the driver where my parcel is as this was the second attempt at getting it and it was on a 24 hour delivery, feel free to have a guess at his reply from the options below, was it:

A) Im really sorry but we ran out of time for deliveries today.

B) I have no idea but I can find out for you.

C) Yeah it's back at the depot do you still want it?

Would you be surprised if it was C? Sadly I wasn't. And the other members of the team who heard this were quite shocked at his attitude and lack of interest or apology.

I said nothing and opened the door and off he went.

Called the supplier and requested my money back, which they agreed and were sincerely sorry and are looking in to their options for deliveries. I explained I wouldn't ever use them while they used Yodel which they fully understood.

From now on I will not buy anything from companies that use Yodel, I call or mail in advance and ask who they use, if they say Yodel I ask for an alternative and if they have no alternative I go elsewhere and explain why, the more people that do this the quicker Yodel will have to change their business model.

Yodel have a twitter presence which certainly responds quicker than their drivers, they are a cuddly friendly lot who like to end tweets with a lovely friendly smiley face :) which is nice.

Enough is enough.

A footnote to this is the parcel is at the depot awaiting my collection, I guess Yodel use this a lot to save them the bother, perhaps they would like to send someone to do my job while I do theirs?

My Gallery of the Kop Hill Climb can be found HERE. A total of 506 pictures!

One of my favourite events of the year is the Kop Hill Climb, based just outside Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire, a great day for classic car and bike enthusiasts young and old. A history of the event can be found on the official site here.

The weather Saturday morning was not great, with heavy rain in the early hours causing localised flooding but thankfully even this wasn't enough to put off the owners and spectators from turning out in great numbers.

The cars and bikes go up the hill one at a time and one or two not quite making it to the top of the 1 in 4 challenge. The marshals do a fantastic job keeping the entrants moving smoothly and getting the vehicles that didn't make the climb back down again safely.

I take my shots at two different marshal stations during the event and I really think those guys do a great job and are an incredibly friendly and knowledgeable group of people, so a big thank you to them.

Its an amazing spread of cars from pre 1st world war to the new BMW i8 and the new Mclaren and yet, of all these fantastic cars I still have a personal favourite in the MK1 Lotus Cortina, whats yours?

MK1 Lotus Cortina at the Kop Hill ClimbThe magnificent Cortina looking superb coming over the brow at the Kop Hill Climb It was great to see a stand featuring some great Lambrettas from the double diamonds scooter club and I look forward to seeing them on the hill, maybe next year?

My complete gallery of Saturday can be found HERE and I give a donation to the Kop Hill Climb for every image sold.

Very heavy rain threatened to put a dampener on the day but almost on queue the Sun came out for a fantastic wedding at St Dunstans Church at Monks Risborough. Linda looked stunning in a very elegant dress and Graham was looking the part fully suited and booted. A wonderful day followed, a great reception was held at Thame Barns . Thank you Graham and Linda for choosing Satori Photo for your very special day.