This week, it was announced that Yodel’s CEO, Mike Cooper, was to take over at Eurostar, with Andrew Peeler to take his position at the delivery company.
The announcement that a CEO of one firm was to move to another firm wouldn’t normally make much of an impact on social media, but this announcement was different. It was met with a swathe of satirical responses from people who had experience of Yodel’s delivery services.
Here is a selection of some of Twitter’s finest responses to the news, offering Mr. Cooper the best of luck with his new role:
Have Eurostar actually read his CV? If he used Yodel to deliver it, it probably hasn’t arrived yet after being sent back to the depot 9 times, now flagged as missing.
— Consumer Grapes (@Consumer_gripes) January 9, 2018
https://twitter.com/ianwhite85/status/951009238788268032
Apparently Yodel's CEO is off to run Eurostar. I assume there will be lots of 'sorry we tried to pick you up but you weren't on the platform' leaflets being distributed at St Pancras station.
— Paul (@pwaring) January 9, 2018
Bet the train won’t turn up if he takes a bloody Yodel driver with him!
— Sandra Ford (@fordphotouk) January 9, 2018
Joke-writers' gift…
Yodel chief Mike Cooper revealed as new CEO of Eurostar https://t.co/vEw7R1Sb0S— David Martin (@DM27) January 9, 2018
Trains will now be abandoned outside stations or left in the nearest waste bin. https://t.co/AhtJVzm4fS
— Peter Savage: Glorious purpose (@pcsavage) January 9, 2018
Christ. Just as well it runs on tracks or it could end up through someone's window..
— Adam Moore (@hhukradio) January 9, 2018
British public: the trains in the UK are seriously shit. I can’t see how they could be worse.
Eurostar: hold my beer. https://t.co/v3k87ZqkrF
— YODELhell (@YODELhell) January 9, 2018
"We apologise for the delay to the 6:25, would all passengers please send a DM to etc, etc etc…"
— ParcelHeroVictim (@clivefdavies) January 10, 2018
But what does Yodel think of these comments? Incredibly, the firm seems blissfully unaware of its online reputation, choosing instead to release statements congratulating itself for its approach to customer satisfaction.
The Executive Chairman of Yodel, Dick Stead, commented about the outgoing CEO Mike Cooper:
“Over the past two years, Mike has put client and customer insight at the heart of Yodel. Under his leadership, Yodel has seen improved service levels and greater customer satisfaction, with the UK Customer Service Institute rating Yodel second most improved company for customer satisfaction in 2017.”
This sounds as though YODEL has made leaps and bounds over the last couple of years, and Mr. Cooper is leaving to join Eurostar under a fanfare for his incredible successes. However, the truth is a little more tainted.
Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, runs an annual poll on parcel delivery companies, and how the public’s experiences with them differ. In 2017, Yodel retained its title as the worst parcel delivery firm in the UK, by some margin. It also won the award in 2016, 2013 and 2012.
But YODEL has improved, right? 2018 will be different? Dick Stead commented how they had improved, didn’t he?
The poll was open once again this year, with the results due out before the end of the month. You can see how the voting went, though, by looking here.
So why is going it so badly, and why do they think it’s going so well?
We wrote a detailed analysis on what Yodel was doing wrong on social media over two years ago, and they haven’t improved their approach at all. There seems to be little genuine interaction with customers via Twitter, with Yodel instead choosing to give automated responses to people who mention the word ‘yodel’ in a tweet. The company posts regular adverts for recruitment, such as the one below, and these are met with a torrent of complaints each time – complaints that either go unanswered, or receive the same automated response. Have a look at the responses to this tweet.
With an attitude to social media such as this, it’s hardly surprising the company has more than a dozen parody accounts, tops the poll year-on-year as the worst parcel delivery firm in the UK, and receives derisive comments about any change in CEO.
Will Yodel change its attitude to social media? I personally doubt it. I think it’s far too late for the company to act as it’s something it should have tackled many years ago.
We look forward to the next few years of Andrew Peeler’s reign being exactly the same as Mike Cooper’s, before he leaves amid a fanfare of accolades to take up another job somewhere else, once again blissfully ignorant of the issues the firm has with its reputation.
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