Cheap Parcel Delivery - official discussion

vitruvius

On your point 2. If you read the carriers' small print. (exclusions and exceptions) you will find that they will insure anything ... as long as it is neither valuable nor breakable.
Some, (Royal Mail) try to value a thing at the price you PAID not the price you SOLD it for. "caveat (as ever) emptor"

Drakelet

Drakelet wrote: »

I wanted to add my terrible experience with Parcel2Go. Disappointed as it's recommended by MSE.

I booked a delivery online. They took my money just fine. Then the problems started...

• I was unable to print the postage label.
• Live chat didn't work.
• Facebook messenger took hours to reply to each message, delaying me significantly.
• I finally got the label (the website still doesn't work, they had to do it manually) and delivered the package to the drop-off location. Hours later they messaged me to tell me that personal clothing should not be sent, and they requested I return to the drop-off location to recollect it. By then it was too late and I was unable to do so.
• I still cannot register or log in to my account on their website, so I can't cancel my order.

In the end it arrived fine - no issue with customs, and actually arrived about two weeks sooner than expected. So in the end all worked out, but then that was down to the delivery companies and not Parcel2Go.

custardy

Drakelet wrote: »

In the end it arrived fine - no issue with customs, and actually arrived about two weeks sooner than expected. So in the end all worked out, but then that was down to the delivery companies and not Parcel2Go.

Who did you think was going to deliver it?

stvjhn

Hi,


Beware of the high cost of insurance when booking through INTERPARCEL.

Recent events associated with the loss, despite being tracked, of an uninsured item booked via Interparcel resulted in a careful consideration of the how much insurance costs.

If you do take insurance through Interparcel it costs more than booking direct with Hermes. For example if you are buying the same 2/3 day tracked delivery as is offered by Hermes, Interparcel remove the £20 cover provided by Hermes if booked direct. Whilst they do make it clear that there is no cover, if you do wish to add insurance, they charge you from £0 rather than £20 as is the case with Hermes and at a higher rate per level of cover. This resulted in a significantly higher overall cost than might be initially gleaned from the comparison prices initially offered.

soolin

stvjhn wrote: »

Hi,


INTERPARCEL are opertaing a high cost insurance scam.


Recently I had to send a low cost item and booked via Interparcel for Hermes. I didn't add extra insurance as it was 'Tracked' and worth less than Hermes basic £20 included cover which, having used Hermes in the past I took as a given.
It was 'lost' at the hub and Interparcel went through the pretence of a 'thorough search' confirmed through what was obviously a made up badly edited email. No refund was offered as seemingly Interparcel strip this cover away whilst actually charging more for the postage.
I caried out checks and it seems that if you do take insurance through Interparcel it costs way more than booking direct with Hermes as they start the count at £0 (rather than £20) and also charge more per £.
Interparcel have since ignored my emails yet when I posted on Trust Pilot they responded in a matter of minutes with a generic response. Pretty much sums up their attitude to customers.

I honestly don't think you can call it a scam when you fail to read anything at all before you give your money to a third party booker. I just did a dummy quote, it is as clear as a bell that item attracts no insurance when you take the cheapest Hermes quote- it's there exactly where you can see it before you even go ahead and enter your details:

https://uk.interparcel.com/quote/courier-quote2.php?quote_key=Yzd2gKEbbbNWkb6FnE6K
My dummy quote showed a saving of £1.63 by opting for Hermes with no insurance, over the next cheapest quote with insurance.

A lot of us have had issues with couriers, including Hermes, but this is not a scam

custardy

stvjhn wrote: »

Hi,


INTERPARCEL are opertaing a high cost insurance scam.


Recently I had to send a low cost item and booked via Interparcel for Hermes. I didn't add extra insurance as it was 'Tracked' and worth less than Hermes basic £20 included cover which, having used Hermes in the past I took as a given.
It was 'lost' at the hub and Interparcel went through the pretence of a 'thorough search' confirmed through what was obviously a made up badly edited email. No refund was offered as seemingly Interparcel strip this cover away whilst actually charging more for the postage.
I caried out checks and it seems that if you do take insurance through Interparcel it costs way more than booking direct with Hermes as they start the count at £0 (rather than £20) and also charge more per £.
Interparcel have since ignored my emails yet when I posted on Trust Pilot they responded in a matter of minutes with a generic response. Pretty much sums up their attitude to customers.

and the part in red is the problem.

stvjhn

I think you have missed the point. Yes, I now realise that in my haste I was at fault for missing a major detail (however, even if I had added insurance it would not have been paid as the item contained some glass so that could seemingly cause it to be lost thus making them not responsible).

I have modified the original post to avoid any more instances of individuals deciding to focus upon my initial error rather than the less than transparent price hike if insurance is added to what might seem initially to be a competitive quote by Interparcel. A customer could through an initial low quote be duped into believing that even after insurance is added it is still the best deal compared to going direct to the actual courier.

Here is a direct comparison for the next parcel that I sent: Item with a value of £26 (and as far as I could tell not on their exclusion list). My Hermes charged £3.03 with £26 insurance (included an add on calculated from £20). Interparcel quoted £3.95 for the same carriers service but with NO insurance and £5.20 with the same insurance. The hefty extra was consequential of counting from £0. It is that situation specifically which was the reason for this post.

asset2004

Had been using the Hermes parcel shop but noticed the prices have gone up.
Any tips for a cheaper courier, under 2kg parcel, value £20.
TIA

trfh

As long as you have a "Royal Mail small parcel" (defined as up to 45 x 35 x 16cm, and under 2kg) then the cheapest way of shifting it throughout the UK is 2nd class post as far as I am aware. Cost £3.00 over the counter or £2.90 if you buy it online and print your own label. Even if you use the online option you have still got to take it to a PO of course.

I think myHermes is still cheaper for parcels under 1kg.

pipeman12

just thought I would share my experience I send parcels daily six days a week hopefully this might help others
Royal mail second class this truly is snail mail now about 12 months ago yes 2 to 3 days now seems to be closer to 7 is my experience so cheap but slow
royal mail first class usually next day price changes at 1kg to 2kg
now important point last year royal mail stopped giving delivery confirmations out and i personally noticed overnight a huge spike in non-delivery claims is this a drop in performance or an opportunity to get free goods who knows but personally I will not use any service not signed for via royal mail regardless of content not for insurance but to know it will get there

DHL pricey but good but watch out I got 2 x £100 surcharges for oversize laser dimensions given for evidence showed 5mm (1/2 cm) which was the thickness of cardboard

My Hermes I really liked my local courier he is great really helpful but past him am i confident that the parcel will ever be seen again no I'm not, the final straw has come after reviewing last months lost parcels against claim payments i saw underpayments non payments and ignored forms couple this with the deliberately deceiving nature of their referencing system ie no common ids for tracking order payment or refund makes it difficult also extra note they do not advertise a phone number and even live chat begins with an argument with a chatbot that insists on you tracking a parcel of some kind before allowing you to transfer to what i am certain is a chat service hosted in India that requires 48hrs to confirm what I have said to them

intermediary sellers parcel 2 go I try my hardest not to deal with these after an interesting conversation where i was educated that the term next day service is actually 2 to 3 working days! and I was in the wrong for expecting this. Couple this with awful support in the event of things going wrong
if I use an intermediary I use interparcel one of the only courier booking system that you can actually talk to on the phone but it is a reseller if you need to know something quick your out of luck
parcel force same rate right up to 30 kg also if you go to parcel force marketplace seller and upload an order via CSV or integrate eBay etc they are offering good rates especially on post office drop off and same day collection booked up to midday note on csv- download there template delete their entries and replace with your details- its called bulk upload but it can be just one parcel you can get it a few £ less on the above systems but really not worth it the extra customer service is worth its weight in gold
UPS check there "my choices" website I was pleasantly surprised and multiple parcels you only pay collection element of £2.20 once and around £6 for a parcel upto 10kg but keep it below the 1m length price shoots up
all of the above are services freely available to anyone I have deliberately stayed away from business only services which have in my experience due to the nature of b2b and loss of consumer rights been daylight robbery
so personally my choices at present
large letter size ROYAL MAIL on click and drop
small parcel below 1kg royal mail on click and drop
small parcel below 2kg will update shortly
above 2kg but less than10kg UPS via my choices on ups.com £8 for a single collected parcel +6 for additional
above 10kg or longer than 1m PARCEL FORCE via CSV upload on parcelforce.com £13 collected 24hr at post office £9 +vat I thnk?