Courier Thread Mk2 - Advice and links for sending parcels in the U.K and Worldwide

ArmitageShanks

pepsi_max2k wrote: »

>> I also possibly propose having a group of members who regularly
>> frequent this thread who can be trusted as thread stalwarts

sounds good but maybe they'd need to be people who use a number of different couriers in order to actually have views on them that people can read about and can actually compare them usefully.


>> PPW are fine when things run smoothly... It's when things don't go fine
>> that you hit the snags.

my experience with a single failed collection (out of maybe 4 bookings) from them was really good, it basically involved me sending a single email in the evening saying "no one turned up" and one from them the next morning saying "rebooked". couldn't be simpler. ymmv i spose.

Armitage, I dunno if that should be there, I can understand you having a personal thing against them but regardless of that I doubt it has much affect on their business, I recon they should be judged on their actual performance and price as couriers in the main list regardless of what they may or may not get up to in the comments as it doesn't make them any less of a courier company (I did use them once and they were fine), maybe poor individuals but hey, would we use any companies based on whether we liked the owners or not? well there is sony...

It was an attempt to stop DPD hijacking this thread, evidently failed miserably. See bottom- http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1125939&page=7

Apart from anything their feedback in this thread and others is by far the worst. I do find it quite funny they think I own pp* and that's why a discredit them, personally I'd of thought it would be more worthwhile targeting the big boys- the ones that manage to have a website that works all the time.:rolleyes:

actually that might be something to do with all the listings, are the "Positive: really nice people" things really needed? maybe if you stick to facts, and possibly just stick things in alphabetical order so people can make up their own mind about who's cheapest for their needs. might stop the companies frequenting this thread from getting so upset about things too.

The fact is only DPD seem to get upset, for anyone that isn't aware I suggest taking a look at the old thread and their antics there were incredible. There are many many companies other courier agents that aren't mentioned on this thread yet don't resort to their tactics. For that reason they will not be added to the list, certainly untill they change their behavior.

eg: superb service is speculative, the cut off time isn't necessarily a negative, neither is manually booked and whether you've had a problem is irrelavent (others may). if you just give the booking cut off time, and state you have to manually book, people can make up their own mind about whether they'd find the service useful, and ACME Couriers Inc don't need to get !!!!ed off that EPD are being recommended over them, and EPD won't be annoyed that their cut off which is no doubt later than a large number of unamed companies is being marked down.

Personal remarks from personal experience? Only speculative on if you haven't used them (EPD). If you a business cut-off time is cerainly a down side. Manually booked again is, as anyone who used home-textiles will know. Hugely increases the change of failed collections. but with EPD their system is so that this not a problem, hence why I qualify it.

that said i find the info useful myself. :money:

Edit: sorry I've messed up the quotes!! and sorry if it doesn't make much sense- I wrote it whilst watching dads army and I think their bumbling nature wore off on me.

ArmitageShanks

sounds good but maybe they'd need to be people who use a number of different couriers in order to actually have views on them that people can read about and can actually compare them usefully.

Yes definitely. Nice also to get TK Peters back posting in this thread if he can- although I think they are also using ppw, certainly were anyway. Some names which people can trust, who know what they're on about would give this thread so much more kudos, and also make my life easier (not having to explain my self every page!)

If we could remove DPD and general hostile posts this thread would also be more productive. I'm almost sure people are intimdated by it. I get a signifcant amount of people just PM'ing asking for advice (which is fine), but it would be nice to get on this thread so other people could also benifit from it.

Also back on my personal comments. My hope was that other members could contribute here, for example with Pay Per Parcel where I have no experience, hence the??? on the pros and cons.

And on the layout I see where you are coming from, but it is in the same format as the previous thread.

ArmitageShanks

ludwip wrote: »

I fully agree with you pepsi_max2k.

Armitage did you know that when you send two or more parcels abroad with PPWEXPRESS and total weight exceeds 60kg you have to book these at least 48 hours in advance.
I can't say much about EPD as I have never had a chance to use their service but apart PPW I also use Interparcel and they offer really wide choice of couriers to use including UPS, TNT, City Link and DHL. They also offer very helpfull automatic system to change bookings over the phone plus you can track parcels directly on their side.
PPW doesn't offer authomatic invoicing system while you get authomatic invoice and address labels with Interparcel.
It is also worth to mention Parcel2Go as they offer extensive range of services i.e. you can get US or Chinesse address it is very helpfull for people who like to buy things from US and China as some sellers don't want to ship their products to UK.
Parcel2Go offers wide range of international deliveries and lots of promotions i.e. this week you they offer 5% discount on deliveries to US this is coupon code by the way USA5OFF.

Armitage I really think it is worth to update main thread and stop to promote only PPWEXPRESS as other brokers offer wide range of services as well.

Hope this was helpfull.

Hi Ludwip, Good post.

No I didn't know that on the ppw European bookings- on the the first page I have the booking cut-off as ??? We haven't sent anything European for a while with them since their prices went up, but I'm fairly sure we booked a few earlt morning for sameday collection. TBH that sounds like more of an excuse that Yevette would come up with if something goes wrong.:rolleyes: Also how do you book them, we just sent the money through direct and then emailed through the booking details, is it different now? Sorry I've missread your post - didn't see the 60KG! Crikey that must of cost a lot??!

Interparcel, their TITAN service is very usefull for larger/heavier items and also some services have a 2pm cut off (£13) which could be very handy. Though both times we've booked right on the dot we've had failed collections- but thats' another story, probably becasue we're on farm a bit out of the way! Apart from that they are very expensive £8.50 for DHL 48hr and only 10am cut-off, other companies are £10+ and also from my personally experience they are quite hard to get hold of on the phone. But they do offer good European rates which is outline in the first page.

hey also offer very helpfull automatic system to change bookings over the phone plus you can track parcels directly on their side.

How does this work? Is it for when you make a mistake? Most large courier agents allow you to track from their website, PPW is no different here and you also get emailed a tracking link. Though we don't use it as we just track 30 at once here DHL Website

PPW doesn't offer authomatic invoicing system while you get authomatic invoice and address labels with Interparcel.

Yes you certainly do get nice invoices with interpacel. Do you still get them if you pay by paypal? We never use paypal becasue of the surchage, which is fair in book but I'm surprised we haven't had people moaning about.

Parcel2go. They were on the list but I removed them for numerous reasons, essentially this is courier cost cutting and they don't offer anything in that area. Apart from when they have special offers. Some more discussion on Page 8. There European and International prices are also very poor, but the first page has all that covered. Saying that this "US or Chinesse address" sounds useful, how does it work??

Essentially this thread is 'corier cost cutting' and that's what my first post on sending domestic, Europe and international is based on.

Really good constructive posts on this page (ignoring 1 or 2):T

kevco

I came across this company the otehr day Postpal https://www.postpal.co.uk i wanted to send a parcel from SW19 to RM8 all the other companies I found were about £7 this company charged £4.99 plus VAT on a 48 hour service, they picked up wednesday, and I was informed it arrived 10a, the next day.

I recomend them to everyone

savemoney

kevco yes thank you Mr spammer :spam:

ArmitageShanks

kevco wrote: »

I came across this company the otehr day Postpal www.postpal.co.uk i wanted to send a parcel from SW19 to RM8 all the other companies I found were about £7 this company charged £4.99 plus VAT on a 48 hour service, they picked up wednesday, and I was informed it arrived 10a, the next day.

I recomend them to everyone

It's only £4.99+vat for London area. Otherwise it's £7 for everywhere else.

keefrto

Jeez what is going on with this thread?Its good to get feedback on people's experiences when using services via here. Its not good to post potentially defamatory comments on these companies as it could affect their business and also MSE.com could be criticised externally for allowing this to happen?

Freedom of speech very important, be constructive please and focus on facts without being emotional and of course comment on customer service thats what keeps me deciding whether I will use a company or not.
Ok off me box now

I have booked a pick up for tomorrow for next day UK delivery, will keep and eye and u posted.

Lovely day here today beautiful blu skies and sunny

keefrto

tried again using freightsearch.com and still cannot get any quotes after putting information in, the page goes blank after searching. Anyone else got any issues with the website?

ArmitageShanks

keefrto wrote: »

tried again using freightsearch.com and still cannot get any quotes after putting information in, the page goes blank after searching. Anyone else got any issues with the website?

Tried it the other day to check out whether it was £5.99+ vat and all was fine.

What web browser and what version are you using? They've got quite a fancy site so it might be Javascript issue or something

Might be worth trying Firefox if you haven't got it http://en-us.www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/. Its much better than IE anyway.

keefrto

ArmitageShanks wrote: »

Tried it the other day to check out whether it was £5.99+ vat and all was fine.

What web browser and what version are you using? They've got quite a fancy site so it might be Javascript issue or something

Might be worth trying Firefox if you haven't got it http://en-us.www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/. Its much better than IE anyway.

Its weird, I checked a Canadian - UK price and they will email me only but when I check for uk to uk prices nuffin happens. I like firefox and may just try it out again
ta