Cheap Parcel Delivery Official Discussion

lindseykim13

Strapped wrote: »

I've lost touch a bit...who is the cheapest these days for a "normal sized", 2 to 4 kg parcel? Other than ParcelMonkey - I just can't be doing with CityLink anymore. Thanks!

I use myhermes £5.86 i've never had a problem i know others may disagree though

macfly

I think City Link depends on your local driver. Mine is a diamond. Only ever had a problem when arranging pick up at my son's address. I dropped it at the depot and they couldn't have been more helpful. Never even got out of the car.

Strapped

macfly wrote: »

I think City Link depends on your local driver. Mine is a diamond. Only ever had a problem when arranging pick up at my son's address. I dropped it at the depot and they couldn't have been more helpful. Never even got out of the car.

You have to be in when they collect though - whereas with all the other couriers I can leave them on the doorstep.

Strapped

lindseykim13 wrote: »

I use myhermes £5.86 i've never had a problem i know others may disagree though

Cheers, I notice that it's an extra £1 for a signature, but at £6.86 I may give them a try. (Someone remind me what the bad press was first lol?)

Kayster

Strapped wrote: »

I've lost touch a bit...who is the cheapest these days for a "normal sized", 2 to 4 kg parcel? Other than ParcelMonkey - I just can't be doing with CityLink anymore. Thanks!

http://www.worldwide-parcelservices.co.uk/

DHL EXPRESS (the proper DHL by air) 24 hour service , signed for.
£5.99 + vat up to 10kg £50 insurance

blades123

I would like to recommend Pharos Parcel \ UPS for their excellent service in delivering three 30kg boxes from the UK to Finland.

www.pharosparcel.com

Each box cost £28.63 which included VAT and £4.73 for £300 of insurance.

The website is easy to use, just simply enter the box dimensions and the weight. It will give you a price for 3 options (depending on which service you want to use). The company uses UPS to deliver the boxes who provice an online tracking service, so you can keep an eye on where your box is. This is updated throughout the day and its very reasureing to know where your box is. Plus it also provides a delivery date so you can make any arrangements for that day.

They have an excellent customer service which can be contacted by email or phone and the bar codes are emailed to you straight away to print out. I called CS to check the price and she told me about the service and explained about packing i.e ideally you should use double thickness walls and foam to pack the goods to prevent damage as UPS and not the best at accepting claims. If they think the box was poorly packed then they won't payout. But this is similar to all packing companies. She also told me to take photos of the box with the top open to prove how it was packed.

Pharos Parcel also provide a 2pm cut off so if you place an order before that time, the boxes will be picked up the same day.

Things to be aware of: After reading a reply to my intial post, I was told to make sure the dimensions and weight were correct as UPS would apply a £45 surcharge if it was over your stated values. I was told to take photos of the box with a ruler \ tape measurer along each side to prove the dimensions of the box. I also added a 1cm to each of my dimensions (to sure this did not happend) and that the box was 28kg (just incase my scales were wrong).

UPS pickup times are 9am to 7pm mon to friday. The first delivery was ordered on friday lunchtime but by 6pm no one had arrived. I called UPS, just to confirm their pickuk times as my parents had plans for the evening and they (UPS) were suprised no one had been. They called my parents back 10 mins later to say oneone had come eariler but no one was in (strange because someone was in all afternoon) but they would be willing to pick the box up saturday morning. This was good of them (UPS).

The other two boxes were ordered on Sunday and were picked up monday morning. Finally, the boxes arrived at 4pm. I had waited in all day (as most companies make you do this) but there was no need as the UPS driver called be at half three to ask when I would be home. So next time, I could go to work, wait for the phone call and arrange with the driver to meet me at my house in an hour. The boxes had no damage just your normal marks from transporting and the items in perfect conditions. So an excellent service all around. :j

Finally, I was tolded by CS to write "goods not seen" on the signing sheet just in case they were damages when I openned the box after the driver had gone.

I hope this answers all your questions.

p.s there was one funny incident when the driver had to call his boss to confirm if Finland was in Europe :rotfl:

drum_billet

Strapped wrote: »

Cheers, I notice that it's an extra £1 for a signature, but at £6.86 I may give them a try. (Someone remind me what the bad press was first lol?)

i've used hermes for some time without any problems - i had more problems with DHL! my current consignment count is approx 150 - no returns, no losses or damage and only 1 consignment which actually took 5 days.

Drop me a private message if you want a recommend a friend voucher code - its worth 20% off your first order. The good thing about hermes is you get to know your local collection rep - its then much easier to sort collections out etc.

Strapped

drum_billet wrote: »

i've used hermes for some time without any problems - i had more problems with DHL! my current consignment count is approx 150 - no returns, no losses or damage and only 1 consignment which actually took 5 days.

Drop me a private message if you want a recommend a friend voucher code - its worth 20% off your first order. The good thing about hermes is you get to know your local collection rep - its then much easier to sort collections out etc.

Ah rats, only just saw this message or I'd've taken you up on that. I decided to try myHermes, and the parcel has just been collected so so far so good. Always slightly nervous with a new carrier.

drum_billet

No problem, i think half the battle with hermes is getting the initial collection - they made a right hash of my first experience so much so that i avoided them until saletrack/despatchbay changed their pricing structure but havent looked back since. once hermes know where you are and if you also use them regularly, they seem to be much better although it all depends on what you are sending.

buglawton

myHermes - UK only delivery it looks like.

Anyway, before using them for the attractively cheap pricing, read the bottom of this review page:
http://forums.ebay.co.uk/thread.jspa?threadID=1100264316&start=53
...that generally pans Hermes recent performance.

Pity as we could do with more big name competition in parcels.