Next day delivery?

benjamin567

On the Refurbished phones page, it says that giffgaff offers

Free next business day delivery on orders before midnight.

I always thought that it was before 10pm the day before when ordering Monday-Thursday and before 7pm on Sunday.

So I think that the page linked above should be adjusted accordingly, or maybe just add an asterisk with an explanation somewhere else as it is potentially quite misleading.

And maybe a help article could be created for this @h_henna 🤷‍♂️

endorphin

benjamin567 I always thought that it was before 10pm the day before

No, it changed to midnight when DPD were engaged, see https://community.giffgaff.com/d/33074656-migrating-our-courier-service

“we will be extending the standard next working day delivery cut off time to midnight. ”

I have found this KB article https://www.giffgaff.com/help/articles/buying-a-giffgaff-phone which needs updating to reflect the changes. 😉

h_henna

Hey benjamin567,

endorphin is right about this having changed when we migrated our phone delivery service from DHL to DPD.

I have raised for the article to be updated with our content folks. so this should be done soon.

Have a great day folks.
Cheers,
Henna =] x

benjamin567

endorphin Ah okay.

So Sunday at 12am…is that Sunday morning or Sunday evening?

endorphin

benjamin567 yeah I did ask the OP to clarify but they didn't answer my query. 🙁

Going by what they've said, I'm guessing that 12am Sunday is Sunday midnight.

benjamin567

endorphin I would assume that too

harrrrrry

12am and 12pm both cause unnecessary confusion. Noon and Midnight are the safe alternatives – there’s no possibility of confusion if you always use those instead.

benjamin567

harrrrrry Agreed

endorphin

h_henna I have raised for the article to be updated with our content folks.

I’ve already edited it! 😉

benjamin567

endorphin Ah, looks like you beat me to it 😆

jaymailsays

endorphin I’ve already edited it!

Hopefully I was looking at your edit in the right place, in which the timings are removed completely, apart from mentioning the days of the week. I support that approach, the edit makes the article a lot cleaner. Quick question though, has it ceased to be a table? If so, the ‘table’ wording needs rephrased.

@h_henna Just wondering why the article has two competing change of mind, return time frames, 21 Calender days and 14 working days? The 14 day mention is unnecessary.

You have 21 calendar
days (14 working days) as described in the change of mind policy from when the phone is received to do this.
https://www.giffgaff.com/help/articles/buying-a-giffgaff-phone

I know you and the team like information to be consistent and a good example of how information differs is this:-

How do I return my phone if I change my mind?

It’s easy to return your new phone if it’s not for you. You’ve got 21 days from when your phone arrives to change your mind.

https://www.giffgaff.com/help/articles/return-my-phone-if-i-change-my-mind

In simple terms the 21 days return, that giffgaff offers is more generous than the consumer regulation provides for, when buying online (14 days, not 14 working days)
Citizens Advice

The 14 working days mentioned can lead to uncertainty due to Bank Holidays varying in the four parts of the UK. For example St Andrew’s day is observed in Scotland but not here in England.

Having the uniformity of 21 calendar days overcomes any perceived uncertainty.

h_henna

endorphin Thank you!

jaymailsays Just wondering why the article has two competing change of mind, return time frames, 21 Calender days and 14 working days? The 14 day mention is unnecessary.

I believe this was because of some research that the team did, we noticed that a lot of members were getting confused with the 21 days as they thought it was 21 working days as opposed to a total number of 21 calendar days. I’ll check with the team if there is a better way to phrase it but my initial thoughts are that the mention of both 21 calendar days and 14 working days was to clarify this. So we can either change this in the second article mentioned to keep things consistent, or find a better way to phrase it.

jaymailsays The list below indicates when your phone will usually be delivered, based on the day you place your order.

I’ve added the above to replace the mention of the ‘table’.

endorphin

jaymailsays Quick question though, has it ceased to be a table? If so, the ‘table’ wording needs rephrased.

Well a table can consist of two rows only, although it’s presented as a list rather than a table. 😮

jaymailsays

endorphin Well a table can consist of two rows only, although it’s presented as a list rather than a table.

The article currently says:-

This table shows you when your phone will be delivered, based on the time and day you place your order.

What about this as a change? @h_henna

The list below indicates when your phone will usually be delivered, based on the day you place your order.

jaymailsays

h_henna
Thanks Henna,
I think most members understand 21 calendar days where as 14 working days can be misinterpreted.

Take Easter as an example. Two consecutive weeks have 4 working days each, a total of 8 working days out of a total of 14 calendar days. Following the logic of a remaining 6 working days, 14 working days in total, actually expands the period to 22 calendar days. Which really confuses the timing period.
14 working days is not always used in other Articles, so we are not being consistent.

Given the technical nature of this entire thread shouldn’t it be over in KB editors, instead of Contribute?

harrrrrry

h_henna the mention of both 21 calendar days and 14 working days was to clarify this

Does it really? I think it actually confuses things.

If both are needed, then if probably needs to say something like “21 calendar days or 14 working days, whichever is greater”. Or “14 working days but no more than 21 calendar days” if that’s the way it’s intended to be interpreted.

Incidentally, I noticed in the style guide that we’re supposed to say https://www.giffgaff.design/writing/a-to-z/#w that we’re supposed to say business day not working day. But that’s also very contentious. giffgaff is online, and therefore does business 365.25 days per year.

jaymailsays

h_henna
we noticed that a lot of members were getting confused with the 21 days as they thought it was 21 working days as opposed to a total number of 21 calendar days. I’ll check with the team if there is a better way to phrase it but my initial thoughts are that the mention of both 21 calendar days and 14 working days was to clarify this.

Morning Henna,
I have done a bit more digging on the use of both 21 days and 14 days.

It seems from this article that we may have misunderstood the relationship between the two different time limits.
https://www.giffgaff.com/help/articles/changing-your-mind-and-returning-your-phone

The article clears up the inclusion of both 21 and 14 day time limits.

The handset I’ve bought isn’t quite what I wanted, What can I do?

We are sorry to hear that the handset you purchased is not as you expected. Don’t worry, you have 21 days, starting on the day following receipt of the phone, to change your mind and claim a full refund. If your final decision is to return the handset, complete the steps in the next section.

Once a change of mind has been booked, the return booking will stay open for 14 days in order for giffgaff to receive the phone. If we don’t receive the phone by that time, we will close the booking. Once the booking is closed, raising another return is not possible.

The phrasing of all similar articles will need updating to show that the two time limits are distinct from each other.

In essence if I complete my change of mind booking form on the 21st day, I have a further 14 days to ensure the phone is delivered to giffgaff. 34 days in total.

However, if I complete the booking form on the first day of the 21 days, I then have a curtailed 14 days in total to return the device, under the change of mind policy.

So the 14 day time limit is the booking period not the change of mind 21 day period, both being seperate.

jaymailsays

harrrrrry
I think historically the 14 day return period was/is a statutory consumer right.

To their credit giffgaff improved upon this change of mind return policy and said instead 14 working days, which fitted in well with their Monday to Friday delivery days.

21 calendar days is as clear as crystal, in my view.

If we said instead:-

You have 21 calendar days (3 weeks) to change your mind, from when you received it and to get the phone back to us.

Would that be an improvement?

Incidentally, I have never understood why a commercial company selling phones online, does not offer Saturday delivery in 2020?

harrrrrry

jaymailsays

I’d be happy with 21 calendar days (3 weeks). At least they both equate to the same length of time. 14 working days doesn’t, especially around Christmas and the New Year.

jaymailsays Incidentally, I have never understood why a commercial company selling phones online, does not offer Saturday delivery in 2020?

DPD certainly offers that service. It’s probably not cheap. But a member working all week might prefer to pay for a Saturday delivery rather than have to collect it from a depot that might be hard to get to.

jaymailsays

harrrrrry 14 working days doesn’t, especially around Christmas and the New Year.

I agree, especially this year with Christmas day falling on Friday and Boxing day Monday and then New years day. Only seven working days out of 14 calendar days.

harrrrrry DPD certainly offers that service. It’s probably not cheap.

I am confident giffgaff could negotiate the cost and over a 6 day delivery cycle, each week absorb the cost. Not doing so, drives traffic to other sites like Argos.

harrrrrry

jaymailsays

Does Argos offer free Saturday delivery? I’ve never checked, because it’s not something I would use and my usual click and collect point for other goods is an Argos store anyway (or rather, it was until lockdown closed that store).

Argos may be an exception, because it operates its own delivery service so it doesn’t have to pay the courier surcharges. But sites that use third party couriers frequently have an extra charge option for Saturday deliveries and I don’t see a problem with that.

“Free” deilvery is a bit of an imnpossible dream anyway. Delivery is never actually without a cost and if it’s not separately charged, the sale price of the goods has to be increased to pay for it. And offering a free Saturday delivery might mean that a lot of people might choose it even though they are at home during the week. The result is an increase in price for everybody, even those who don’t need Saturday delivery. When couriers charge £5 extra for Saturday deliveries, it’s not because they’re paying the staff that much extra, its because they couldn’t cope with 50% of their customers all unnecessarily choosing a Saturday delivery and want to limit it to those that really need it.

So, my recommendation would be to trial the Saturday delivery service, initially with a subsidised charge to see what the take up is. The charge could then be progressively reduced if takeup is not excessive.

jaymailsays

harrrrrry Does Argos offer free Saturday delivery?

Argos has the advantage of click and collect, even through lockdown at Sainsbury supermarkets with outlets.
Argos offer 7 day delivery with 3 time slots between 7am and 11pm and same day delivery, they also work with Shutl. Whether Argos charge extra, I do not know, it is about having options that customers can have confidence in, if your phone blows up and you can get a replacement next day or even that night, then why not use it.

harrrrrry offering a free Saturday delivery might mean that a lot of people might choose it even though they are at home during the week.

Why would they?
Lockdown would have been a great time to test the saturday delivery because many households were at home during the week.

As we know, delivery is never free, in giffgaff’s case, it is incorporated into the device retail price, as is the percentage of return costs. Selling more phones will or at least should, increase profits.