FAMILIES have never ordered more prezzies for delivery – leading to huge delays and parcels being left in strange places.
Crooks have also found ways to take advantage, with some posing as drivers to steal packages.
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Here is what to watch out for.
Your parcel is in … the kitchen sink
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FLUSTERED and overloaded couriers have put parcels in washing-up bowls, a cat-poo bin, a 400,000-volt electricity substation and also forged customer signatures, according to fuming shoppers.
Hermes customer photos even show boxes destroyed from rough handling or thrown over fences.
Twitter user muddydwarf wrote: “The Amazon driver put our parcel in the cat-poo bin.”
Another wrote: “A ParcelForce delivery driver forged a signature.”
Twitter user davYidc89 wrote: “Hermes actually posted my parcel through my kitchen window, which was left slightly open and into my sink.”
Late delivery
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SHOPPERS fear presents will not arrive by the big day, as some Black Friday orders are already three weeks late.
Firms responded to the surge by scrapping late delivery deadlines.
Ikea’s website is only offering an 11-day delivery on some orders, meaning it would be too late for Christmas.
A Hermes driver in South London said: “I’m doing 200 parcels a day but there’s still a pile left for tomorrow.”
An Amazon retailer wrote on the firm’s seller website: “We’re seeing orders through Royal Mail taking over two weeks for second-class delivery in some areas.”
Simon Binns wrote on Twitter: “My Uniqlo coat from Black Friday is not even with the courier.”
And Dianne Bourne said: “I ordered pyjamas three weeks ago from Amazon but I’ve been emailed saying they’ll be here by December 31.”
Exploiting package rush
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CROOKS are pretending to be from parcel delivery firms.
They are sending out phishing emails, calls, texts or fake delivery cards claiming to be from well-known companies such as DPD.
And they say they have been unable to deliver parcels, packages or large letters.
Emails may ask the recipient for a fee or to give additional details to rearrange the delivery.
This personal information may be used to steal money from consumers.
People are typically tricked into clicking on links to seemingly genuine websites requesting personal and financial details such as their address, date of birth, mobile number or bank details, which are then used to commit fraud.
Tom Pepper, from security experts Egress, recommends hovering over links before clicking.
- Have you had a bad delivery? Email [email protected].
No limits
FAMILIES kept apart at Christmas will be able to have extended video chats after Zoom confirmed it is lifting its 40-minute call limit on free accounts for the festive period.
The video conferencing app said it will scrap the limit between 3pm on Wednesday and 11am on Boxing Day.
Zoom also confirmed the limit will be lifted over New Year between December 30 and January 2.
No user update is required.
Phone can multi-task in double quick time
MICROSOFT’S first smartphone in five years is on sale early 2021 – and it is a foldable gadget with two screens.
The Surface Duo has to be opened to access the device.
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Microsoft deliberately doesn’t call it a smartphone – insisting it more than a phone.
But it receives and makes calls, is based on Google’s Android software designed for smartphones and folds up to the size of a handset to slip inside pockets and handbags.
Its two “paper-thin” 5.6in screens can be used individually or unfolded to one single 8.1in display.
Panos Panay, chief product officer at Microsoft, reckons the two screens will let users do more at once.
One example is being able to watch Netflix while typing a document or an email – something that might not go down too well with bosses of office workers.
But more likely users will have two programs open at the same time and be able to drag content, such as photos, text or files, between them.
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It is set to cost £1,200.
Microsoft has previously had success with its Surface range of “two-in-one” laptops, which come with detachable touchscreens, allowing them to double as tablets.
The Surface Duo will be a new rival in the emerging foldable phone category for the likes of Samsung and Huawei, both of which have released a number of flexible screen devices in the last year.
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