Courier/delivery recommendations please

[disco_monkey79]

Hi,

Can any of you good people recommend a decent courier? I need to send a parcel that's 3kg, so Royal Mail want £13.00 (as opposed to £2.90 for a 2kg parcel).

I'd prefer one with a high street presence, so I can drop it off in my lunch break. And not MyHermes (or my herpes, as they ought to be called), as they've lost 2 of my parcels in the past.

Much obliged!

 

[Rorschach]

DPD are usually very good and have drop off points.

 

[disco_monkey79]

Much obliged, there's a drop-off point just round the corner from my office! Cheers

 

[MrDavidRoberts]

parcelforce through one of the comparison sites! (but not directly) If you got larger up to 20kg packages you can send them dirt cheap on next day service, usually about 7-9pounds.

http://www.ipostparcels.com/ is also pretty cheap and offers next day service + better than myhermes.
But I usually send everything with parcelforce if its larger, small items with royalmail and medium but low value items with hermes.

 

[disco_monkey79]

Thanks both

 

[Rorschach]

Given the choice I never use Parcelfarce.

 

[bracspin]

I usually use myHermes. They get some bad reviews but have sent over 100 parcels by them and always delivered within 3-4 days. Also it is tracked. For a 3kg parcel the price is £5.99 but will depend on its size.

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

I use ipostparcels, or TNT through work.

 

[LancsRick]

DPD are always the best I find.
Collect+ are very convenient for sending, never received.
myHermes are godawful to receive from, and they have no depot to collect from.

 

[MrDavidRoberts]

Given the choice I never use Parcelfarce.

Why? It's the cheapest way to send big&bulky packages-often the only way as well,+ the speed of delivery, you can drop it off at your local post office, they got insurance as standard and it's tracked of course. + Peace of mind that they will get the package delivered.

Just don't go to your postoffice and think you will pay the same price as through online through comparison sites or if purchased through ebay, you will pay 2-3x more

Hermes are good to send with, but to receive... 50% of the time when it rains outside my parcels gets delivered soaked!

Dpd is good if you can get their business rates, or if you are sending stuff abroad.
I like to receive packages sent with DPD the most...

 

[bugbear]

Just don't go to your postoffice and think you will pay the same price as through online through comparison sites or if purchased through ebay, you will pay 2-3x more

Could you give a link to your recommended comparison site for this purpose?

I just googled and there are hundreds.

BugBear

 

[Rorschach]

Given the choice I never use Parcelfarce.

Why? It's the cheapest way to send big&bulky packages-often the only way as well,+ the speed of delivery, you can drop it off at your local post office, they got insurance as standard and it's tracked of course. + Peace of mind that they will get the package delivered.

Just don't go to your postoffice and think you will pay the same price as through online through comparison sites or if purchased through ebay, you will pay 2-3x more

Hermes are good to send with, but to receive... 50% of the time when it rains outside my parcels gets delivered soaked!

Dpd is good if you can get their business rates, or if you are sending stuff abroad.
I like to receive packages sent with DPD the most...

Because I have consistently had nothing but trouble with ParcelFarce. They are the only courier who has ever lost my packages, they are the only courier to ever damage a package, they are the only courier to deliver "sorry you were out" leaflets instead of the parcel (I caught them on several occasions doing this). They also for many years carried out illegal practices as regards to foreign parcels, when challenged in court they had the law changed to suit them and only them. I won't use them out of principle now.

 

[Noel]

Given the choice I never use Parcelfarce.

Why? It's the cheapest way to send big&bulky packages-often the only way as well,+ the speed of delivery, you can drop it off at your local post office, they got insurance as standard and it's tracked of course. + Peace of mind that they will get the package delivered.

Just don't go to your postoffice and think you will pay the same price as through online through comparison sites or if purchased through ebay, you will pay 2-3x more

Hermes are good to send with, but to receive... 50% of the time when it rains outside my parcels gets delivered soaked!

Dpd is good if you can get their business rates, or if you are sending stuff abroad.
I like to receive packages sent with DPD the most...

Because I have consistently had nothing but trouble with ParcelFarce. They are the only courier who has ever lost my packages, they are the only courier to ever damage a package, they are the only courier to deliver "sorry you were out" leaflets instead of the parcel (I caught them on several occasions doing this). They also for many years carried out illegal practices as regards to foreign parcels, when challenged in court they had the law changed to suit them and only them. I won't use them out of principle now.

Illegal practices? Parcelforce changed a law? Really? How? Just curious.

 

[Rorschach]

Illegal practices? Parcelforce changed a law? Really? How? Just curious.

They had the law changed on import duties and admin fee's. They were holding packages hostage illegally and charging outrageous fee's, instead of complying with the law they lobbied to have the law changed, but it only applies to Royal Mail group.

 

[RogerS]

Illegal practices? Parcelforce changed a law? Really? How? Just curious.

They had the law changed on import duties and admin fee's. They were holding packages hostage illegally and charging outrageous fee's, instead of complying with the law they lobbied to have the law changed, but it only applies to Royal Mail group.

Could you please point us to the relevant legislation ? What you are suggesting flies in the face of the Treaty of Rome, I believe.

 

[bracspin]

Read with interest the various problems that have been encountered when sending parcels. I think it all depends on how coscientious the warehouse and deliver staff are. I send out parcels most weeks and as stated before myHermes for smaller packages has proved extremely reliable but again it will depend on who delivers them. Occasionally I need to send wood product 4-6ft long. Used DPD once but despite putting do not drop on the package it arrived broken. I now use Parcel Force for these type of products usually at the request of recipients. Whoever you use you are in the hands of those in the delivery process. For comparison on prices try Parcel2Go.

 

[cowfoot]

I worked for Parcelforce a decade or so ago.
The staff turnover was very high - most drivers are basically untrained and haven't the chance to get familiar with their routes. You'd get sent out with a full van and told you have to attempt delivery on every item - after a couple of weeks doing 12hrs for 8hrs wages a day every driver soon learns that the only way it's possible to clock back in at a reasonable time is to post plenty of "we tried but you were out" cards through the door rather than hanging around.
I very much doubt conditions have since got any better for delivery staff.
Mind you, my DPD driver seems cheerful enough, despite being tracked all day - perhaps a nice countryside route rather than the Kilburn towerblocks I had to deal with makes a difference!

 

[MrDavidRoberts]

have had the notes left as well even I was at home with parcelforce...
Sometimes they sign for the packages themselves without delivering and they bring you the package only the next day even if it says online that it's delivered, now that I think about it ... they really aren't the best out there, dpd certainly is.
I think I'm using them because of their prices you can get for large items and because of they are part of royal mail.

 

[MikeK]

As a recipient, never a sender, I have the least success with items sent from the UK with Parcelforce. They don't deliver in Germany, but hand off the package to DPD, GLS, or Hermes. Without exception, every Parcelforce shipment to me (over a dozen) has taken much longer than expected, and in two cases, the packages were lost prior to the transition to the Germany carrier. At least that's what the German carriers told me.

One high value eBay purchase from a London seller with great feedback was lost. I waited until the last few days to file a claim with PayPal and give the seller time to chase down the package through Parcelforce. PayPal refunded my money and understandably, the seller was not happy because he did not buy additional insurance to cover the total invoice amount. Five months after the PayPal refund, GLS delivered a package that I wasn't expecting. It was the missing eBay purchase. I have no idea where it had been, but the tracking information showed it had arrived in Germany the previous day. I tried to contact the seller to make arrangements for payment, but he didn't respond to any of my emails and I couldn't find many eBay transactions after mine.