Cheap Parcel Delivery Official Discussion

Cornwall2000

I have used "G Wizz" couriers twice for large deliveries and service was excellent both times. They use UPS next day. The second time I phoned before 3pm and they collected the same day (about 5.30pm) which made my life so much easier as the parcels weren't ready till later in the day. The price is a bargain and cheaper than Martin's best buys (just) - only £8.09 for up to 30kg, and up to a massive 2.7m long which is unusual. I am in no way connected......

andyboy190

well the message is clear . This xmas run in has been my worst ever in business, due to all, and i say All parcel delivery firms , i have sent with Royal mail ( losing items daily) DHL not even bothering to deliver and city link still outstanding 2 deliverys from 9 days ago ! dread to think how many customers i have lost this Christmas, trouble is like most of you guys i also use a third party to book parcels except the royal mail ( who dont need bad weather to be C**p ) and these guys take the brunt of what i would say big companies not giving a toss !
Ah well lets look forward to tonights snow and the next six weeks of mayhem have a nice evening all.. just needed a rant before i go back to my where is my item emails !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Laurence_G_3

Apologies if this is not the right place to ask for advice. I am moving with my family to Israel. We are flying with Easy Jet and are allowed 40kg in total for 5 of us! We need to send a few boxes and trying to work out the cheapest way to do this.

It appears that shipping via sea is still expensive, but the cheapest, and we're trying to find out which companies are worth trying to get the best price. Any ideas or recommendations?

parcelmonkey_company_representative

Stu68,

Your tortise table is on the van ready for delivery today.
Fingers crossed this happens today but we have got tomorrow as back up.

Looks like the little fella is going to make it!!

cylch

I've had a disasterous experience with Interparcel, and two weeks on I'm still trying to sort out the mess on what should have been a simple shipment from the UK to Denmark. Their customer service is non-existent, access shrouded by a web form (still waiting responses from 6 Dec & 8 Dec - today is 16 Dec) and an 0871 number.

I exhibit at 4-5 tradeshows a year and have used various couriers of the years. Typically we ship about 25-100kg of gear each time and have been doing so for a number of years. As we've moved to shipping our own products electronically, our freight volumes have dropped, which means our discounts with FedEx, UPS etc have tapered. I treat the company money as my own and look for best-value, so I'm not too proud to book via an intermediary and be quoted 1/3 our account price! This is the second time I've used Interparcel, and the last.

Planning a one-day tradeshow on 9 Dec in Copenhagen I used various online forms to compare prices/services and picked Interparcel with the FedEx Economy service, some weeks back. The (only) info about the service was "approx 2-5 working days for delivery in Europe, 2-5 working days worldwide". I made the final booking on 29 Nov and the package was collected 30 Nov. I was given a FedEx receipt. I couldn't book it earlier as the venue won't accept packages too early for the show. The package is a solid transport case, with two wheels, about the size of an average 13 yr old (136x42x36cm), ie kind of hard to lose.

After a few days I checked, as usual (except the last shipment with Interparcel to the US was collected on Friday pm & delivered on the Monday am, so I didn't even have time to check then). I was a bit perturbed that the tracking showed collection a day after my receipt. Here's the full log:-

06-12-2010 07:38 Arrived at FedEx location NEUENSTEIN
04-12-2010 07:43 At local FedEx facility NEUENSTEIN
03-12-2010 14:41 Shipment exception MELSBROEK
03-12-2010 11:15 Departed FedEx location MELSBROEK
03-12-2010 10:45 Arrived at FedEx location MELSBROEK
02-12-2010 18:51 Shipment exception STANSTED
02-12-2010 16:54 In transit STANSTED
02-12-2010 15:12 In transit STANSTED
01-12-2010 20:50 Left FedEx origin facility NORTHERN SORT
01-12-2010 20:01 Picked up NORTHERN SORT
29-11-2010 09:18 Shipment information sent to FedEx

You should be able to guess where this is going... I should also note that in my experience it is not unusual for packages to go onto "exception" when moving internationally.

Checking daily, I started to get concerned at the slow progress and on the 6th I filled in the online webform. Nothing happened, so on the 8th I again filled it in again before heading for LHR, and then waited for the phoneline to open. After a lengthy delay I spoke to a lady, who contacted the courier and confirmed it was out for delivery on 9th. That would have been cutting it a bit fine, so I ask if it can be delivered before 10am. I was told that this was an economy service and therefore "not guaranteed" (for delivery time). We went round and round a bit, but the upshot was that it was my fault for booking this service and there had been difficulties in Stansted with a few centimetres of snow - which was besides the point really as the package had made it to Belgium and then Germany, who in particular are used to living and working with continental winter weather.I was also told that the package wouldn't move over a weekend, which is nonsense!

So I'm at the tradeshow, with my laptop, 21 business cards and an empty table, surrounded by other vendors with their displays, and there's no sign of my package. I had the idea to try and track it from the FedEx site, and using the Interparcel number in the reference field and supplying the pickup and dropoff details. The FedEx site gave me their tracking number, and an exact mirror of the log. I called FedEx customer services in Denmark who were really helpful, and explained that the package was being carried by their subcontractor GLS, and gave me a number. So I called GLS, who said the package had never left Germany and was last scanned on Dec 6 and that I must "refer to sender", which I clarified meant I needed to speak to FedEx. So I did, and they promised me a callback, assuring it had left Germany for Denmark, but they never did call back.

After a dreadful day, I go on to my next hotel - as the planned teardown and packing of my exhibit meant I wouldn't have enough time to get to CPH in time for the return flight that night. I again called FedEx, who apologised for not calling me back and happily agreed to re-route the package to one of our other offices in the UK (I'd booked a courier for the 10th to ship from Denmark to UK). So what next? Nothing!

I called FedEx (UK) on 14 Dec, who acknowledged there was a problem and gave me a "senior person"'s name & direct dial number, saying she would call me "within the hour". That was 10:10. I've called her 5 or 6 times, and left messages each time. At 17:20 yesterday (15 Dec) I thought I was getting somewhere, as instead of voicemail I got an "all of our agents are busy" message, but the line
dropped bang on 17:30! So I called customer services, got passed around a bit and was finally told that the package can't just be re-routed because Interparcel have to agree to it. Apparently FedEx had been talking with someone at Interparcel, but they've never contacted me. Are they likely? Can I assume that someone has found the package?

Juxtaposed with the dire help of Interparcel are the nice people at ParcelsPlease, who I'd booked the (planned) return pickup of the case. They are at the end of a proper UK landline, which means you can call from overseas or using your VOIP account. In stark contrast they are helpful, concerned, empathetic, proactive, return calls etc.

So my key problem now is how am I going to get hold of Interparcel? Their contact form obviously doesn't work and I've got a lot more work to crack on with rather than play the waiting game for their 0871 number - which didn't open today at 0830 and now shows a minimum 15 minutes wait (from previous experience it will be higher). I'm more inclined to make a claim on the optional insurance for total-loss. I found out about Interparcel on MSE's great website, so it only seems fair to respond and provide the feedback here.

stu68

parcelmonkey_company_representative wrote: »

Stu68,

Your tortise table is on the van ready for delivery today.
Fingers crossed this happens today but we have got tomorrow as back up.

Looks like the little fella is going to make it!!

Hi,

Many thanks for letting me know and keeping an eye on it ,the school will be over the moon!! off for a stiff drink now.
Thanks again
stu:rotfl:

michaeldi

Does any one know the cheapest way to get parcels from the UK to China, slowly, cheaply ie by boat...Im in no rush.

Its so confussing.. I thought by boat would be cheaper..Ive heard that.
But I just keep getting crazy prices... Price is number one for me because this would be regular parcels.... I dont care if the items take 3 months to get here. I thought that would be posible but I dont know where to look.

I heard about sending items over SLOWLY from others in past but dont know where to look. The options on this site are ALL my plane it seems and only two sites suggested by moneysavingexpert which are 5 day delivery so MUST be more expensive. I didnt find this site useful so far because it doesnt account for slow cheap deliverys.
So from UK to China.
My box weight of the is 25klo Size 33 x 30 x 48cm ( Volumetric 7.92klo)

Thanks Mike

rockitup

I have used the above courier company 4 or 5 times now, sending packets from UK to US and Philippines. Also sent 2 suitcases from Philippines to Los Angeles quite cheaply which took 2 days.

I had injured my arm so didn't want the hassle of lugging 2 cases round a few airports.

http://www.wedelivertheworld.co.uk/quote/index.php

They give quite decent discounts on DHL, Fedex etc services

TrinaLouise_2

Would anyone know of a service that takes heavy parcels, cheaply, from England (London area) to Madrid, Spain? Parceforce seem very, very expensive: £130 for a box of books!

Siouxsie32

Does anyone know the cheapest way to send a camera within the UK? It's valued at around £1000 and weighs 3kg with a box of 38cm x 27cm x 27 cm.

The cheapest quote I've had is around £50 with insurance for the full value.

Is there a cheaper way of doing it? Delivery time doesn't need to be imminent or before Christmas.

Thank you all!