Castle Donngton Distribution Centre

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Blue Arrow
★★☆☆☆
1.6
18.0% of users recommend this

Brady326's review of Blue Arrow

“Castle Donngton Distribution Centre”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Brady326 on 17/12/2015

Started work at the 'new' M&S distribution centre in Castle Donington 5 weeks ago. The initial recruitment was rushed, forms to be filled out were poorly photocopied, ambiguous and repetitive. Had brief interview with a lady who might as well have been watching TV as listening to me, not one thing I said seemed to register with her. Two ladies sat near me wanted to work only early shifts and evening shifts. They were both told they had to work the rotation roster, and so they both left.
Since day 1, I have only worked earlies, despite asking for shift changes for home reasons, all declined, no reasons given, I was told they didn't HAVE to give me a reason, take it or leave it. There are far too many Eastern European workers 'running' this show, Blue Arrow have given them 'peak period' positions such as Lead Associate, which means walking around with a clipboard looking important and not wanting to/being able to actually help a colleague with a query.
When I asked the teenage boy in his blue jacket (Lead Associate)for advice on requesting new safety boots (I'm a size 9-they gave me size 12 'cos that's all we have mate'), he quite literally turned his back on me and started talking to someone else as I was still trying to explain stuff to him.
There is no way to describe how low and valueless that made me feel.
I have never had any pay issues, I always got my wage slip by email and bank transfer without problems; this is mainly due to the fingerprint system M&S use to clock in and out. I doubt there is little human input to this system, which is why it worked so well.

ALL the other reviews here on this site I can say do in the majority of cases sum up the situation at the Donington centre. Work like a dog, don't ask anything of the Blue Arrow staff because they either don't know and don't care, or they'll misinform you (not deliberately) and you'll end up causing more hassle for yourself.
I came down a really bad virus that took me to A&E. My partner called the sickness hotline to tell them I would not be in for at least 72 hours on the advice of A&E.
They call me the following 2 mornings at 7:15 am to ask why I'm not at work! On a separate occasion, they called to ask why I was not at work (at that time I was stood on the warehouse floor packing orders, having clocked in on the fingerprint system). My wife told them I had left an hour earlier to go to work, so they didn't even apologise, they just thanked her and hung up.
SO my poor wife is left sat at home wondering if I am having an affair, or lying in a roadside ditch after a crash. She couldn't call my mobile as they are not allowed in the warehouse. She even called 3 A&E departments in panic. When I got home and she told me, I called the office to ask what had happened, and an arrogant idiot became somewhat condescending towards me, as if I had done someone wrong.

Apologies are as rare hens' teeth here.

In essence, if you want to work all the hours of the day, with no heed to the Working Time Directive because Blue Arrow decide to opt you OUT of it with disregard to whatever you say in interview, be told to pack faster by a teenage Team Leader who has not the first notion about customer quality being affected by KPI deliverance, and be generally made to feel worthless, then yeah, go work for BA at the M&S NDC.

If, however, you have a modicum of self respect and are not desperate for money, then my advice is to find somewhere else.

As I type this, I am about to go to their office in my car, dump all the PPE they proved on Day 1-especially the size 12 boots they gave me for my size 9 feet- on their desk, and hand them a one line termination letter.

There is no 'contract', I signed nothing, was never given an employee handbook detailing my rights and obligations, so there is no notice period as far as I am concerned.

Even if they say there IS, they're not getting it; it's MY life and THEY no longer have a place in it.

Simples *tsk*

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Objector's Comment

Written on: 19/12/2015

Another accurate review!

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