Gateway Optimum Transportation manages a number of logistics services for our clients including the ever increasingly important White Glove Delivery. In today's ultra competitive online retail environment it has become important for companies to differentiate themselves from their competitors.
One way they do this is by offering their client a service at their home or business, where their delivered product may be unpacked, setup, in some cases assembled, and the packaging taken away. This is called a "White Glove Delivery".
So what is the service called when a company shows up at your house with a brand new furniture set you purchased and brings the couch into the living room and takes the bed into the bedroom and leaves the mattresses and the couch in the plastic and the head board, foot board and rails in their boxes and leaves? This is considered an "Inside Delivery"
The Inside Delivery service is when the delivery company brings the items into the house and into the room you need the items but DOES NOT take the extra step in helping you set up the items, so the bed or couch is usable. You have to do the rest yourself.
Our clients who regularly sell items online destined for all parts of the U.S rely on us to ensure delivery of their products in the manner in which they have setup for their customer. We have arranged Threshold, Inside and White Glove deliveries for items ranging from Industrial Grade Appliances, to Cabinetry and Furniture to Artwork.
Most of the items where our clients ask us to arrange a White Glove Delivery are for large, fragile or extremely expensive pieces. for this reason the seller wants to provide their customer with the ultimate in customer service...a White Glove Delivery.
Over the last 3 years Gateway O.T has developed a pretty good network of reliable, reputable last mile delivery companies we rely on in parts of the country we don't personally service ourselves.
We are pretty confident when we ship an item to Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco or Miami that our White Glove Delivery agent is going to deliver the product as instructed and treat the customer as their own, even going extra steps like re arranging a couple of older pieces of furniture while they are there, we know they do this because we have worked with them many times.
However since we have items going all across the country, how easy is it to find the right company to perform a White Glove Delivery to a Lodge in the mountains of Idaho or a house on an Island off of Nova Scotia, or a swamp in Louisiana? Sometimes this is the difficult part of our job.
In finding new agents to work with in these areas we always perform our due diligence. We want our partner agent for that job to know the terminology, have the proper equipment, the right amount of manpower and be professional when performing their service.
We are amazed at the number of people in the "moving", "pack and ship" and "courier delivery" industry that don't understand the meaning of a "White Glove Delivery". Although the vast majority of our last mile, white glove deliveries we have managed have gone very well there are a few that have not.
We recently had an Industrial Sized Refrigerator that needed a white glove delivery into a house with 2 steps and into the kitchen. I found quickly a couple of Agents in the area who on their website purported to do White Glove Deliveries. I received a number of quotes all over the place in terms of price, but I wanted to use the company that seemed to have the best online reviews.
This company web site was great, testimonials, pictures of large items they had delivered, it seamed like they would be the perfect agent for this delivery. When I was ready to ship I called the person who had provided the quote, I left a message but no call back, I emailed this person and explained I was ready to ship the refrigerator but again, no response. I called and emailed for 3 days. I finally got a different person on the phone who said they couldn't help me but they would have the person who gave me the quote call me back. Again no call back! I am actually writing this well after this delivered and that company still hasn't called me.
For over one week I could not get in touch with anybody who could give me a confirmation to ship to them. I then called another company who had given me a quote for this same service. They were very good at communicating, answering their phones and emails.
I had laid out all the details of the delivery: The size and weight of the fridge 710 lbs so they would need a lift gate on the truck and 2 or more people to move it in, and that there would be 2 steps into the house, they arrived on time but after that it fell apart.
Later in the day the customer called my client to complain about the "White Glove Delivery" service. Basically the company did not have the equipment or manpower they needed to perform this task. The customer stated they had to help the delivery person (Yes only one person showed up to help move in a 710 lb refrigerator) and they didn't even have a furniture moving dolly.
Even though we performed great due diligence to try to find the best delivery service in this area we unfortunately can only go off what we are told, we do the best we can to partner with an agent in a delivery area who understands what a "White Glove Delivery" really is.
Fortunately the customer was happy with us discounting the delivery price for this service failure. We certainly understand he did not receive a "White Glove Delivery" and we know moving forward that if we are in need of these services in this area again who not to use.
When the customer can sit back and watch professional delivery personnel do their job, in the right amount of time, with the right equipment and they are clean, courteous and professional placing the item exactly where the customer needs it, and leaving no mess behind that's what a White Glove Delivery Service is!
Contact Gateway Optimum Transportation if you need White Glove Delivery Services for your products. Even with a few minor issues like the one above our clients would be happy to recommend us to you. Call 480-363-0304 or visit us at www.gatewayot.com or www.gatewaycrateandfreight.com
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