Deteriorating parcel delivery causes frustration among Dutch residents

With unreliable delivery times and slips saying you weren’t home when you spent all day waiting for a package, consumers are experiencing more and more problems with parcel delivery in the Netherlands, the Dutch Consumers’ Association (Consumentenbond) has reported. 

35 percent of Dutch consumers experience parcel delivery problems

Based on research by the Consumentenbond of 12.000 residents in the Netherlands, 35 percent of people have experienced issues with getting their packages delivered in the past six months. In 2023, this was 30 percent and in 2021, 27 percent, which shows that parcel delivery services are deteriorating.

75 percent of respondents with parcel delivery complaints saw unreliable delivery times. This includes incidents where delivery times were constantly changing throughout the day, making it hard to predict when the package would actually arrive, or receiving packages days after they were supposed to be delivered. Respondents also reported that another common issue was delivery drivers claiming that recipients were not home to receive the parcel, even when they were.

Parcel delivery companies in the Netherlands on decline

"A huge number of parcels are delivered daily throughout the Netherlands. So it's not surprising that things sometimes go wrong. But these percentages are simply too high," Consumentenbond director Sandra Molenaar said in the report. While PostNL has been under fire for mail delays, causing residents to miss important government deadlines, the Dutch mail carrier was not the worst-performing delivery company this time around. 

Consumers with a parcel delivery from UPS actually experienced the most problems, with 49 percent reporting complaints. PostNL, on the other hand, performed the best, but one in three respondents still experienced some issues. 

Customer service relations have also deteriorated; in the recent survey, respondents gave the customer service teams of DHL, DPD, PostNL and UPS an average score of 3,7 for solving issues. This is a drop from a score of 3,9 in 2023 and 4,7 in 2021. What brought scores down was the chatbot, which often didn’t give consumers the help they needed. 

After failed discussions with parcel delivery companies, Consumentenbond is exploring other options. "We will soon be in talks with Thuiswinkel, the trade association for online stores. We want stores to state the product price and the delivery costs separately on the invoice. In the event of non-delivery or poor delivery, consumers can then reclaim the delivery costs."