Why to buy your tree in person
Posted: Sat, 13 Dec 2008, 11:44:00, GMT | 1015 views | Commented on: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 Share
I can't decide if I'm amused or really, really annoyed. It seems that those feelings usually surround good stories - and I think this is no exception.
This is our first Christmas spending it in our own home, and not getting on an airplane to visit our families. Although we'll miss seeing everyone, we also were looking forward to being able to get a Christmas Tree, put up stockings, and do all the things that culminate on Christmas morning. Like chocolate. And presents. Lots and lots of presents. But I digress.
One of the things we were trying to figure out is how to actually get the Christmas tree and bring it home. Few people in London proper actually have cars, and we didn't relish the idea of talking a Black Cab driver into letting us stuff a tree into his cab, or to walk across town lugging a tree. We discovered a place that seemed to mix the best of "Christmas tree shopping" with the ease of online delivery. This place - PinesAndNeedles.co.uk - looked to be respectible. (Just in case you decide not to read this whole post, let me save you the trouble - the sooner this place goes out of business, the better. Don't use them, even if it means you don't get any Christmas tree this year!)
Their website claimed that you place an order for a specific height tree, the type of tree you want, and a van arrives at your house, you go into the back of the van and select from a wide range of trees that match your requirements, and they bring the tree inside your house. What a brillant idea! I get home delivery and still have my personal choice of trees! Perfect. Since I don't particularly like to sit around all day for wide open delivery windows, we decided to pay extra for their premium delivery service where we choose the exact time range of the delivery. Saturday between 1pm - 5pm, here comes our tree!
We invited friends over last Saturday at 5pm for evening cocktails and dinner. Since the service also included notification of the delivery driver's mobile number the evening before delivery, we felt fairly secure in the knowledge that this was a legit operation. Needless to say, we wake up Saturday morning and haven't heard from the delivery people. I sent an email back to their customer service department, asking for confirmation that my tree would actually be delivered as expected. I immediately got an auto-reply saying that if I had any urgent questions, I should call Haleema Asmal at 0207 426 7689 or email her directly at Haleema.Asmal@lchclearnet.com. So, I did call that number. The conversation went basically like "Hello?" and I said "I'm calling regarding a Christmas tree delivery, but perhaps have the wrong number?" She wouldn't say whether I did or did not, so I read out the number I was trying to call, figuring she'd at least confirm that. She didn't, but she did ask me for my tree delivery order number. Ah ha - now we're making progress. She looked it up, and confirmed that it definitely was on the truck for delivery between 1 and 5pm. She didn't know why they didn't email me confirmation or driver details. But it's all as expected, no worries.
5pm comes and goes. There is no tree. No call. No email. I call them back. No answer, so I leave a message. This cycle happens about every 30-45 minutes. I think I forgot to mention that once people arrived, we started with some champagne, and progress onto whatever was next (it's a bit fuzzy). Somewhere in here, I made lasagna and we ate dinner. About 9pm, someone calls after receiving the messages, just to confirm that the tree had finally arrived. It hadn't. He personally was leaving right then to deliver it and was no more than 30 minutes away. About 75 minutes later, I call back - he had called from his mobile and now had less of an ability to hide from me. He apologized again and promised someone was on their way out. About 10:30pm, someone DOES actually arrive. Two people in fact. Two men in kilts. I kid you not - they're wearing kilts and have a tree over their shoulder.
"Um, hi." Do I get to choose my tree? "No, mate, sorry." At this point, I can't believe we actually have a tree, so I let them drop the tree off in the living room and put it in its stand. "I bought lights, too. Do you have those?" Lights? No, do you want them? "Yeah, that's why I bought them." We'll have to bring them back. "Fine." Mind you, we ordered and bought a tree for the proper height of the ceilings - a tree promised to be between 6 and 7 feet tall. Technically, I guess this one is. For all other reasons, they tree is about 4.5 feet tall, with a 2.5 foot single straight verticle tree trunk that extends straight up towards the ceiling. Think of something where you could easily store a few extra rolls of kitchen paper towels, or stack about 150 Krispy Kreme donuts. I don't even know what to say.
On Monday morning, I email them to confirm that of course they have proactively already credited back my delivery charge. That came as a surprise to them. "Mate, delivery times that you pay for are only estimates. They are many factors beyond our control." We're still in "discussions". I think next year, we would rather cut down our own tree from the deep forests of Bavarian Germany, lose a leg in the axeing process, and walking it home - one-legged - before we'd ever order from Pines and Needles again.
Merry early Christmas.
Will (82.15.142.251) from Fulham says: I used a company called www.delivermeachristmastree.com who are based in Kent. They arrived on time and the tree was very good! Just the luck of the draw I suppose. (posted Tuesday, November 03, 2009)
Tee from London says: I did finally decide NOT to pursue this any further. To make myself feel better, I simply pretended that the company was family run, had a bad series of people out sick, and that I owed some good cheer to be spread around. But I surely won't be using them next year! (posted Sunday, March 08, 2009)
Steve B writes: But the champagne was fabulous, and I think the lasagne was good to, I can't quite remember. But I do remember wondering what the dude in the kilt was doing as he was laying flat out across the living room floor...... (posted Monday, January 26, 2009)
Megan writes: OMG. This is the funniest thing I've read in a long time. Sorry about the tree, but thanks for the laugh! (posted Friday, December 26, 2008)
Terry Earls Sr. from Boston says: Thanks for the anecdote. I was planning to use the same service and have it deliver a tree to us in the US, but I guess I think I'll reconsider. Meanwhile, only one small correction: You mentioned that the details were a bit fuzzy after all the champagne -- I think you meant "fizzy." (posted Saturday, December 13, 2008)
Bob writes: Thats why you keep a predecorated tree in the attic. Drag it down, dust it off, spray it with "Christmas tree in a can", pour the nog, turn on the fake fire log with the red light bulb behind it and there you go. Christmas. (posted Saturday, December 13, 2008)