Mother left stunned after receiving Evri parcel containing her children's Christmas presents 'one month late'

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A mother-of-two was stunned after Evri 'delivered her children's Christmas presents one month late'.

Rachel Harrison, from Derbyshire, said she opened the door last Wednesday to be met by an Evri delivery driver holding an unusually large carboard box.

Confused, the mother opened the box, only to find Christmas presents that had been posted at the beginning of December by her grandparents.

It comes after Evri apologised for festive delays amid evidence of wider chaos across the courier network and Royal Mail. 

Mother-of-two Rachel Harrison, 32, was left puzzled when a box arrived at her door and it turned out to be late Christmas presents

The mother opened the box, only to find that Christmas presents that had been posted at the beginning of December by her grandparents

Customer care coordinator Rachel said she was originally led to believe that the parcels were lost, after they were incorrectly tracked as 'delivered' on Christmas Eve.

READ MORE: Piles of half-opened packages, toilet bins overflowing with loo roll and a kitchen covered in grime: Inside Evri delivery depot where staff 'smoke drugs' - as firm faces backlash over Christmas parcel chaos

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Her grandparents had posted the presents on December 9 up in Northumberland.

They also had written to Evri's chief executive, Martijn De Lange, requesting that the box be signed for upon arrival.

Rachel added that after mistakenly being listed as 'delivered', the tracker had stopped recognising her postcode, resulting in her giving up all hope of ever receiving them.

However when she peeled back the carboard box to be met with mounds of festive wrapping paper, she was taken aback.

Rachel's daughter, Evie, nine, was delighted to open the gifts including Reese's Pieces, a book and clothes - with a surprised grin on her face.

Rachel took to social media on January 25 to share her surprise at finally receiving the AWOL Christmas presents one month later.

She wrote: 'Hang on in there guys. This was posted 9 Dec and I have received it today (Newcastle - Derbyshire).

'Merry Christmas.'

The post garnered dozens of likes and comments from users who were quick to joke about the late delivery.

One person said: 'Ho ho ho, what a shambles.'

Another posted: 'Ah, I see you opted for the special next month delivery?'

A third added: 'Keep it 300 days and you're all set.'

Meanwhile, another chimed in: 'You'll have to put the Xmas tree back up and go and buy a turkey.' 

Rachel said: 'The gifts were sent from Northumberland December 9 and on  December 24 they were updated on the app as being 'delivered'.

'I knew this wasn't the case as I was in all night and it was unlikely it would have been delivered at 9pm on Xmas Eve.

Rachel's daughter Evie, nine, opened the Christmas presents that were 'delivered a month late'

The mother-of-two's post garnered dozens of likes and comments from users who were quick to joke about the late delivery

'I reported it to Evri as a missing item to which they replied that it was lost. After a week or so it's status changed again to 'out for delivery'.

'My grandparents then wrote to the CEO and made sure it had to be signed for with Royal Mail so they had to acknowledge the complaint.

'I then went on to keep checking the status daily but it stopped recognising my postcode.

'My grandparents had acknowledgement back [from Evri] via email, saying that they had lost my parcel and that a small claims process would take place.

'Then, by January 25, I had a knock at the door with a large box. I had actually ordered several things that week so I thought it was one of my online orders.

'To my surprise I opened the box to see lots of presents and handwriting I recognised - I actually couldn't believe it.

'I was just shocked. I laid them out in the living room for when the kids got home from school and they certainly didn't expect it.'

The parcel delivery firm was forced to apologise for delays over the Christmas period amid wider chaos across the courier network and Royal Mail.

The number of late deliveries between Black Friday and Christmas was up by around one third on the same period the year before, according to evidence.

Delivery companies have been accused of 'ruining Christmas' after customers' parcels went missing, were stolen, and even sold off at a car boot sale.

The postal regulator Ofcom has put the industry on notice that customer service around late and missing items is so bad that it is considering taking enforcement action. 

Evri has been contacted for comment.