A Hermes customer was aghast to find soil strewn across her doorstep after a delivery driver emptied a plant pot in a clumsy attempt to hide her parcel.
Mental health support worker Siobhan Redfern, 24, returned home from a 13-hour shift to discover the mess outside her front door in Maidstone, Kent, on Wednesday, February 16.
Images show soil and roots plastered all over Miss Redfern’s front path and mixed in with her newly-laid white gravel to the right of the walkway.
The dark brown soil was completely emptied from the pot and Siobhan’s grey parcel is shown placed inside.
The driver then decided to put the base of the plant pot on top of the item in a last ditch effort to conceal the parcel.
Mental health support worker Siobhan Redfern, 24, returned home from a 13-hour shift to discover the mess outside her front door in Maidstone, Kent, on Wednesday, February 16
Miss Redfern returned to her home in Maidstone, Kent, last Wednesday to find soil on her doorstep (left) beneath an emptied plant pot (right) – which was clumsily used to conceal a parcel
Miss Redfern shared images of the bizarre delivery on Twitter on Wednesday, February 16, and wrote: ‘Thank you @Hermesparcels for tipping out my plants all over my new gravel, just to make room for a parcel that could have gone somewhere else!
‘After a 13 hour shift in a hospital, that’s exactly what I wanted to get home to! I spend ages making my house look nice, I am so upset!’
Hermes responded to the tweet with an apology and asked Miss redfern to send them a direct message with her 16-digit tracking code.
Social media users were quick to sympathise with Siobhan. @ItsLaurensify said it was ‘awful’ while @Dawn05232065 added: ‘They’re appalling.’
@omarsupertweet said: ‘I’m sorry to see this happened to you.
‘In my experience, Hermes are useless and awful. Customer services and their delivery employees care not a jot about you or your items, they only care about getting paid. Awful, awful company.’
@HexInvestor2021 said: ‘At least you got your parcel and at least you got a reply!
Miss Redfern shared images of the bizarre delivery on Twitter on Wednesday, February 16, and wrote: ‘Thank you @Hermesparcels for tipping out my plants all over my new gravel, just to make room for a parcel that could have gone somewhere else!
‘My little boy would be still waiting for one of his Christmas presents and birthday presents if I didn’t go out and buy it in person!’
This is not the first time Hermes drivers have come under scrutiny, in October last year a courier was snapped launching parcels without care into the back of his van.
In November another driver was reported to have been spotted ‘marking items as delivered then dumping them in woods’.
In December, Hermes hit headlines after footage emerged showing couriers launching parcels around a depot in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, in a bid to save time. A manager told an undercover reporter posing as a member of staff to ‘act stupid’ if customers complained.
Last month, two Hermes couriers were secretly filmed hurling dozens of parcels into the back of their delivery van by a shocked customer in Essex
Speaking after the incident, Miss Redfern said: ‘I ordered a parcel off a clothing website and Hermes contacted me to say my parcel would be delivered at 19:00, which was fine because I left work at 20:00, so it wouldn’t have been too long on the doorstep.
‘I hadn’t given them a ‘safe place’ to put the parcel, but there are many hiding spots at the front of my house, so I expected to find my parcel in a bin.
‘When I got home, I saw my plant pots had been thrown everywhere and soil had been tipped out over the gravel to make space for the parcel.
‘This wouldn’t have bothered me too much, if it wasn’t for the fact that I spent several hours revamping the front of my house last week.’
Hermes has been approached for comment.
