Problem with Hermes Delivery Services

Flyboy152

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

I've had several deliveries a week from HDNL and in all that time have only ever had one parcel go astray. Deliveries are prompt and before 10am every day.

Yet I had a delivery from Yodel last week and guess what, it was delivered by the Hermes courier!!! A day late and in the early evening. Not what I was expecting or wanting so won't be using that particular company again!

But Yodel is the new name for HDNL. If Hermes delivered the parcel, it must have been Yodel's fault it was late, seeing it would have been delayed a day being transferred to Hermes.

mrnomoneybags

I used them for the first time two weeks ago.......... everything went well parcel was delivered within the 5 days.


I thought great, So I used them again to send 3 parcels.......... collected 5 days late, then delivered to a shed (shed was locked) Secure Location (a bush) and one actually signed for.

totally useless

kibera

I have just had my first experience with Hermes and it was not good. I ordered an item through Amazon. They tried to deliver 2 times and left a card on the second time to say they would come back on Saturday. This was not convenient for me. Ok I understand this is my problem as they did offer an alternative but this is when the problems begin - when you try to arrange a delivery because with Hermes after 3 attempts they send the parcel back. I eventually contacted Amazon who arranged for it to be delivered on a day I was at home - I also got a phone call from Hermes to this effect - guess what - he did not turn up. Amazon have just refunded my money but I really wanted this item and if it had been delivered by RM at least I would have been able to pick up from the sorting office.
The business plan of this company is deeply flawed as it does not allow for any communication and they have no depos to pick up from. When it comes to delivering packages it is a complex subject as all human situations and expectations are different. Ok its cheap but add onto that all the time you have to spend sorting it out and its not so cheap. I know people can be very unreasonable and some of the posts from couriers in this post show this but maybe this is just the RyanAir of delivery services. In future anything I order through Amazon I will cancel if I see that Hermes are delivering and hopefully Amazon will begin to realise they are losing business and drop them. This is the first time in years of buying on the internet that I have had a problem.

Flyboy152

kibera wrote: »

I have just had my first experience with Hermes and it was not good. I ordered an item through Amazon. They tried to deliver 2 times and left a card on the second time to say they would come back on Saturday. This was not convenient for me. Ok I understand this is my problem as they did offer an alternative but this is when the problems begin - when you try to arrange a delivery because with Hermes after 3 attempts they send the parcel back. I eventually contacted Amazon who arranged for it to be delivered on a day I was at home - I also got a phone call from Hermes to this effect - guess what - he did not turn up. Amazon have just refunded my money but I really wanted this item and if it had been delivered by RM at least I would have been able to pick up from the sorting office.
The business plan of this company is deeply flawed as it does not allow for any communication and they have no depos to pick up from.

Hermes do have depots, but nowhere near as many as the Royal Mail. I believe they have about twenty throughout the country, compared to the hundreds in the Royal Mail/Parcel Force network. Royal Mail have a sorting office in virtually every large town or district and are staffed accordingly. That is why it is far more expensive to use their service. In this respect, Hermes's business model is no different to any other mass-market home delivery service.

When it comes to delivering packages it is a complex subject as all human situations and expectations are different. Ok its cheap but add onto that all the time you have to spend sorting it out and its not so cheap. I know people can be very unreasonable and some of the posts from couriers in this post show this but maybe this is just the RyanAir of delivery services. In future anything I order through Amazon I will cancel if I see that Hermes are delivering and hopefully Amazon will begin to realise they are losing business and drop them. This is the first time in years of buying on the internet that I have had a problem.

But you get the service you pay for. If you want multiple depots and options for collection, then you need to pay for it. Seeing as the consuming public don't want to pay for it, they get the service they pay for. Now, that doesn't excuse the missed promised delivery, that is far from being acceptable level of service. But you can't expect much customer based commitment from some who gets paid forty-five pence to try to deliver something four times. That makes it eleven pence per call. It is entirely possible that he or she decided that it wasn't worth re-attempting to deliver it.

kibera

I did not have a choice with Amazon as they decide who to use and its the same price whoever delivers it. I also understand about the Easy Jet / Ryan Air concept when people want a cheap price and a premium service. But I am not one of those people. I do know how Hermes works and how little the drivers get paid but they also make millions of pounds profit and although everyone wants to blame the delivery man ( and they must be more !!!!ed off than me ) it is in fact a management problem. But I have no doubt that word will soon get around - businessess like this rely on repeat customers / word of mouth etc and word is getting around fast . As far as the depos go - there are none in London so for people who work every day and dont have a porch its just a no no.

Flyboy152

kibera wrote: »

I did not have a choice with Amazon as they decide who to use and its the same price whoever delivers it. I also understand about the Easy Jet / Ryan Air concept when people want a cheap price and a premium service. But I am not one of those people. I do know how Hermes works and how little the drivers get paid but they also make millions of pounds profit and although everyone wants to blame the delivery man ( and they must be more !!!!ed off than me ) it is in fact a management problem. But I have no doubt that word will soon get around - businessess like this rely on repeat customers / word of mouth etc and word is getting around fast . As far as the depos go - there are none in London so for people who work every day and dont have a porch its just a no no.

That is why Hermes attempt deliveries three times and Royal Mail only once.

kibera

It doesn't matter how many times they try to deliver if you are working all day ... the outcome is the same ... no parcel . At least with the Royal mail I can go and collect in my time. Maybe Hermes should just try once and then have a depo to collect from and stop wasting everyones time.

lilmin

Just had my first experience with Hermes today. Ordered an item from H&M on Sunday, they dispatched it very slowly but it took Hermes only three day's to deliver.

Unluckily I was out when they delivered today (met my sister) and came back to a card, after reading this forum I was thinking 'great, here we go...' I rang the number on the card and got through to my local courier, who was lovely and I went to pick the item up as she lives down the road from me. Item wasn't damaged, hadn't been opened and the courier was really lovely to me, she even stayed in so I could pick it up (needed it for tomorrow) even though she had plans to go out.

I will defiantly use Hermes again, although maybe try a different place to shop from as H&M took longer to dispatch the item than I thought.

So yes people can complain about Hermes, but my local courier is an angel :A

~Chameleon~

lilmin wrote: »

So yes people can complain about Hermes, but my local courier is an angel :A

Unfortunately this is the whole ethos that Hermes work by, having angelic couriers such as yours, and I do know of at least two but unfortunately neither deliver my area. They are few & far between though, hence the numerous complaints such as this thread and other forums I've read

arcon5

Why not have it delivered to your work address? :huh:

The problem isn't necessarily down to their business model -- but consumers siimply don't like paying postage charges!! A postal charge of £3.50 and £4.50, although only a quid can infact be difference between a sale and non-sale.

A while ago I reduced my fixed postage charge from £4.85 to £3.99 and noticed a big increase in sales, dispite the fact I raised the product price by £2.

You could argue the retailer can incorporate postage into prices, but it many cases you can end up paying more in postage costs if you buying several items with postage included already.

kibera wrote: »

I have just had my first experience with Hermes and it was not good. I ordered an item through Amazon. They tried to deliver 2 times and left a card on the second time to say they would come back on Saturday. This was not convenient for me. Ok I understand this is my problem as they did offer an alternative but this is when the problems begin - when you try to arrange a delivery because with Hermes after 3 attempts they send the parcel back. I eventually contacted Amazon who arranged for it to be delivered on a day I was at home - I also got a phone call from Hermes to this effect - guess what - he did not turn up. Amazon have just refunded my money but I really wanted this item and if it had been delivered by RM at least I would have been able to pick up from the sorting office.
The business plan of this company is deeply flawed as it does not allow for any communication and they have no depos to pick up from. When it comes to delivering packages it is a complex subject as all human situations and expectations are different. Ok its cheap but add onto that all the time you have to spend sorting it out and its not so cheap. I know people can be very unreasonable and some of the posts from couriers in this post show this but maybe this is just the RyanAir of delivery services. In future anything I order through Amazon I will cancel if I see that Hermes are delivering and hopefully Amazon will begin to realise they are losing business and drop them. This is the first time in years of buying on the internet that I have had a problem.