A little back story, I pre-ordered the HD-DVD addon for my Xbox360 as soon as they were listed on play.com They cost £129.99 and are like gold dust at the moment. I made a little sex wee when I got my dispatched email and was surprised to see that it was out for delivery yesterday. I had to leave for work at 12:20 so I was hoping it would arrive before then. Of course it didnt.
Around tea time I checked the progress of my parcel. And I was presented with this:
Parcel number: Tracking Code.
Service: Parcelforce 24
Status: Delivered
Signed for by: Deaths Head [View proof of delivery]
Delivered on: 06-12-2006
Delivered at: 13:12
They had missed me by 50 minutes. My main concern was apparently I had signed for the parcel, I quickly clicked on the View proof of delivery button.
Why, that looks just like a squiggle. My first thought was that I wasnt actually going to get my drive and that someone else had signed for it and that it had been stolen. "But Mr Deaths Head, you signed for it!" "No I F***ING didnt, I was at work!" etc.
When I get home I was greated with a bunch of fliers for local fast food outlets but also a slip from Parcel Farce. "We called to deliver to 1 PCC on ... at .... Your parcel: was left ... behind side gate." Now, our fencing and side gate are over 6 foot tall. The stupid F**wit of a driver had "placed" the parcel over our gate. The air was blue as I made my way through the house and out of the back door to retrieve my parcel. Covered in slugs and muck. And sodden. It been raining most of today. Why this seemed a good idea to the driver I cant even begin to understand other than he didnt want to have to attempt redelivery tomorrow.
In the morning I am going to put my bastard cap on and give Parcel Farce and Play.com both barrels. Parcel Farce for what their incompetent driver did and Play.com for not providing adequate packing for an expensive piece of hardware. The box from the drive had a single layer of token gesture bubble wrap that didnt cover the ends. Guess which part of the box it landed on. Plus the Outer box is much larger than the box for the drive so plenty of space for it to bounce around in. The worst part though is the outer box was sodden and falling apart. The invoice was damp. The only damage to the HD-DVD drive box is the impact damage where it hit the paving behind the gate. Fan-F***ing-Tastic.
I havent tried the drive yet as it has been outside all day in the cold, I am going to leave it overnight to get to room temperature and then test it. I suspect its not going to work.
