Scores of Edinburgh and Lothians Hermes customers come forward with delivery horror stories

An Evening News article over Christmas sparked the response.

Customers of an under-fire parcel firm accused of ruining Christmas for scores of customers across Edinburgh and the Lothians claim they have been the victims of forgery, with delivery forms for items which have never been delivered somehow being signed for.

Customers of Hermes couriers have complained about having their signatures forged for parcels that have never arrived.

On the back of the Evening News article on Christmas Eve, the news outlet has been inundated with horror stories of customers suffering as under-pressure couriers worked at full tilt to deliver parcels in the Christmas rush.

Customers of an under-fire parcel firm accused of ruining Christmas for scores of customers across Edinburgh and the Lothians claim they have been the victims of forger

Keith Hardie, 26, of Stockbridge, claims he suffered a forged signature and botched delivery.

He said: “I had someone fake a signature of mine and mark my parcel as successfully delivered. But they had just left it at the bottom of the flat stairs where anyone could have taken it.

"They could not even be bothered to leave it outside my flat door.”

He added: “My dad had them change the delivery date on him without any contact and when they came to deliver, he saw them out the window and the boy was shoving a ‘sorry we missed you’ card into our gate, not even the letterbox.

“My dad went out to say he was in and the boy just said he left it across the road at a neighbour’s because he didn’t know how to open our gate.”

Another woman, who did not want to be named by the Evening News, had a similar experience.

She said: “A parcel was supposedly signed for but it wasn’t as I was at work, and I am yet to receive it. My neighbour upstairs had the same message with the same signature for one of her parcels but it wasn’t delivered either. Her parcel appeared outside our stair three days later. They are the worst company ever and it’s impossible to contact them.”

Jacqui Walsh, 47, of Uphall, West Lothian, had a nightmare dealing with Hermes when she tried to return a dress, on 10, December, to Amazon that did not fit her.

She says she had paid for next-day delivery to return it to Amazon, only to discover that it had not arrived at their depot. This left her £88 out of pocket. She said: “Not only did they lose my parcel, but they also lost my claim when I complained.

"They have now refunded me £87.95 but this has taken me over two weeks to sort out and it has been near impossible to get a quick resolution with them.”

Jacqui had said that she only received her compensation after contacting the Evening News. Previously she had been told that this would take several more weeks to resolve.

A spokesperson for Hermes said: “We have around 20,000 couriers delivering for us during the busy seasonal period and these kind of incidents are extremely rare. In fact, our successful delivery rate is 99 per cent.

“However, we recognise that these incidents are absolutely unacceptable and when we are made aware we always take immediate action.

“We are in contact with Ms Walsh to apologise and provide her with full compensation.”