Cheap Parcel Delivery Official Discussion

jordanryan

fallen121 wrote: »

Using the links in the previous thread, I found a £39.99 air parcel delivery for max 5kg to Australia via Express Packages on eBay. This seems the cheapest by far, but no indication if you can track your parcel or not.

Is it worth me continuing to look? I need to send 5kg of books to Oz, dimensions are 30cm x 30cm x 30cm.

collectmyparcel.com showing £39.43 with DHL which you will be able to track at least. It says a 1-2 day service which seems impossible but at least it's DHL.

jordanryan

jaxkesa wrote: »

Something to watch out with these companies is that you may have trouble getting any kind of compensation if there are any problems with the delivery.

I used Parcel2Ship for an 'Express' delivery to Spain to my parents so that when I went out the following week, it would be there. It was sent via DHL and I paid £30 for about 15kg. I went to Spain for a week and it still hadn't been delivered until I had been back home for a couple of days. The delivery took 13 days!

I complained to Parcel2Ship and they just said that their terms state that delivery times aren't guaranteed and I couldn't get any kind of refund. Had I had booked via DHL, I would have been able to get a refund but because I went through a third party, they wouldn't let me. They were slow to respond to any queries and generally unhelpful.

So was very disappointed and the whole thing was ruined

Just something to think about...maybe check the terms and conditions first as I suspect the couriers perfer using these 3rd parties so they have no real liability!

Hi. There are two types of DHL services for Europe. Their Euro Plus service and Time Definite. For £30 you'll have got Euro Plus which has no real compensation if it's delayed or not collected on time etc, if you'd have gone with the Time Definite and it wasn't delviered within 1-2 days then you could have goe something like 50% of your payment back. A Time Definite service would have cost you more like £60 though!

Hope this make sense although it's too late to help now.

deanos

Just beware with Collect+. make sure the shop dosent think its a return and they add there own orange barcode, if they do it will go to Littlewoods return centre first !

All the shop has to do is scan the barcode you printed off and give you a receipt.

I have used it about 5 times first 2 went to Littlewoods first because of the shops mistake, but all took 4-5 days

paddy3d

BRIGHTON_BABE wrote: »

One of the draw backs I've found with cheap parcel delivery is you have to sit at home all day hoping they come and collect your parcel. I've stayed in for 2 days before with parcels2go until they eventually turned up.

I recently used sendingparcels.com which was great. They may not be the cheapest but you book online, print off your label, stick it on the box and drop it off at a local high street store and get on with more important things in life. The extra few quid was well worth it as I didn't have to watch day-time TV for two days or queue for hours in the local post office

I completely agree, I wrote on the other thread about this service after looking for a company who doesn't make you wait at home for them. Someone else suggested collect+ to me but I didn't fancy dropping it off at the spar shop in town.

Forever_Red

fridayschild wrote: »

I took my parcel to a Collectplus drop off point on the 29th September, I'm still waiting for it to reach the other end.

That doesn't sound too good. Maybe I should have done some research first. Oh well, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Alan

jordanryan

paddy3d wrote: »

I completely agree, I wrote on the other thread about this service after looking for a company who doesn't make you wait at home for them. Someone else suggested collect+ to me but I didn't fancy dropping it off at the spar shop in town.

Hi

I put on the last thread for someone that collectmyparcel.com would e-mail a unique DHL reference number back normally within minutes if you e-mailed after booking asking to drop off at the depot.

Worked for me in the past, although the first time I thought I was being clever going to the depot, they won't take it without this special reference number, so always ask for it before going :-)

nannamoomin

I use Interparcel.com for all my parcels to Australia. Its easy to do all the paperwork online, they collect from my workplace between a couple of hours, I can track the parcel online as soon as its been collected right down to the details of when its offloaded and reloaded onto another plane. I can see who signed for it at the other end. Brilliant. Never any problems and it usually takes 2-3 days. Would definitely recommend.

agathajun

nannamoomin wrote: »

I use Interparcel.com for all my parcels to Australia. Its easy to do all the paperwork online, they collect from my workplace between a couple of hours, I can track the parcel online as soon as its been collected right down to the details of when its offloaded and reloaded onto another plane. I can see who signed for it at the other end. Brilliant. Never any problems and it usually takes 2-3 days. Would definitely recommend.

I use interparcel.co.uk as well, and have had no problems for UK parcels. They offer a wide range of services, and do next day UK mainland delivery for £6.99 plus VAT, with a 5% discount on every booking if you register. Also, they usually offer timed collection slots so you can specify when they come, and they have always been on time, at the early end of the booking time.
It's worth looking at them to collect too - I have used them to collect FROM Australia, booking on interparcel.com.au from the UK, no problem and I could track it online the whole way

anon_ymous

chrisnorden wrote: »

Recently sold some goods on ebay, and found a service called Collect + Store collectplus) where you take (up to 10kg) parcel to a local shop (1 fo 3-4000 in UK) and it is delivered to buyer's local shop (you select) via the HDNL network (I think they deliver for Littlewood's catalogue, etc) - COST £3.99!! which includes insurance value of £40.

Worked for me

chrisnorden

I would recommend these guys if you deliver 100+ items a month(as they then deliver to the door) but for smaller sellers, I would go for a different courier-Im not going to use them to send computer parts even though they're the cheapest as the buyer still has to walk to pick the item up. If something was delivered to me by HDNL, and I had to pick the item up, I wouldnt really mind, but some buyers would prefer to have the items sent straight to the door and not to pick up the item

I myself have weighed up the pros and cons and I think I might just stick with parcel2go with parcelforce48 with a £200 compensation as there are only two parts in a PC that would really cost £200 to replace-an expensive graphics card and the central processor, which is very delicate but pretty much guarded by a heatsink and fan

Unless of course, someone elese knows of a cheaper courier with the sameish compensation, same-ish delivery time, with tracking etc... for less than £12.64

Ive been having a look on the eBay forums and found banadoo, payperparcel and saletrack-will have to google them now for prices, service etc...

With Interparcel Ive seen they dont give compensation at all for computers, so no point in me using them TBH
EDIT: Banadoo dont give compensation for PC's either unfortunately

David_Holmes

I have been using payperparxel for my parcels and I need some opinions on the best pallet service provider. I just tried Palletto.com and everything went well for booking and collection. I am very keen to see if the delivery is on time etc. Has anyone else had any experience with these guys