Cheap Parcel Delivery - official discussion

knightstyle

Just want to say i sent several parcels, medium and small size with Hermes this week, all arrived in 3 days and no damage.
Also sending parcels to new Zealand via RM, split into 2kg lots, international standard post,10 days after posting parcels are ready to leave UK.  Not as quick s I hoped.

Geoffrey_Coan

knightstyle said:

Just want to say i sent several parcels, medium and small size with Hermes this week, all arrived in 3 days and no damage.
Also sending parcels to new Zealand via RM, split into 2kg lots, international standard post,10 days after posting parcels are ready to leave UK.  Not as quick s I hoped.

I use Hermes a lot, purchasing via parcel2go as their inpost drop-off for Hermes is cheaper than Hermes website direct and cheaper than buying Hermes through P2G.   Only if the shipment fits into large letter width will I use Royal Mail, or if its is very large I use ParcelForce.

I don't pay for the insurance and my experience has been very positive.  Items get delivered reasonably quickly and the charges are fair.   I know RM says its struggling but it needs to be more realistic about its prices out if it is to attract customers.

Geoffrey

Ian_Leckenby

WHY DO COMPANIES USE THEM.... The Hermes delivery they claimed to Try Tuesday, only they didn't, known as we have video surveillance, and tonight Wednesday this was (literally)  dropped off (video for proof) then the driver rang the bell ran away and wheelspun off the verge. £460.00 of Hobbycraft presents for my daughters 18th. Soaked with water everything ruined and it wasn't even raining tonight!

martindow

Can anyone suggest a UK carrier for parcels weighing around 15kg in a 64cm cube box?  The best I could find is Tuffnells through Interparcel for about £30.  None of the usual cheap carriers will go up to those dimensions, but it's a big jump from 7 or 8 Pounds for a few cm more.  Has anyone any better options?

Geoffrey_Coan

martindow said:

Can anyone suggest a UK carrier for parcels weighing around 15kg in a 64cm cube box?  The best I could find is Tuffnells through Interparcel for about £30.  None of the usual cheap carriers will go up to those dimensions, but it's a big jump from 7 or 8 Pounds for a few cm more.  Has anyone any better options?

For large parcels try Parcel Force,  go direct to their website (or via topcashback) and create an account which gives 15% off as well.

Alternatively, if you can split the item into two smaller boxes then you may find sending two boxes is cheaper than one large one.  Appreciate this isn't possible for a single large item, but if you are sending a number of things in a large box, splitting may be cheaper.

Geoffrey

curriej99

I'm never using any of these Parcel delivery agent companies again. A week ago today I booked a collection from my home to deliver to Italy (I selected DPD through MyParcelDelivery.com), printed off the documents and label and packaged everything up correctly. DPD (who are excellent by the way) returned the parcel 24hrs later, but did not know the reason it had been returned. I got on the online chat to MyParcelDelivery, who after a time came back and told me it was because the label had no EORI number on it. I pointed out that they had supplied the label and he said it was 'odd' and would email DPD. The following day I contacted them again and they said they'd had no reply and would escalate it. The following day I was told the same thing. This dragged on and on for days and then a week after I'd paid for it (£28.44 to send a 6" square 400g box to italy) I took matters into my own hands and contacted DPD international myself. The helpful lady there told me that the data associated with the parcel that MyParcelDelivery had supplied them was a mess, with the package contents list randomly appearing where assignment numbers etc should be. She helpfully emailed MyParcelDelivery as I was on the phone with her, and read her email back to me. I thanked her and got straight on to MyParcelDelivery where they gave me an email address to write to. I did so, requesting my money back, and they say i'll have it within 5 days. The lady at DPD suggested I just use DPD local website in future, and so I did exactly that today, and it cost me £16. I doubt I'll have any of the issues and bad service from them that I experienced from MyParcelDelivery. 
Do yourself a favour, and cut out the middle man. It's not worth it.

Geoffrey_Coan

curriej99 said:

I'm never using any of these Parcel delivery agent companies again. ...
Do yourself a favour, and cut out the middle man. It's not worth it.

Good feedback, thanks for sharing.

I suspect that most of the issues you experienced are as a result of Brexit and the need for us to supply customs declarations now for the export.  Sounds like MPD's interface to DPD isn't working properly/hasn't been tested.

For within UK shipment (which is pretty much all I do as I use Ebay Global Shipment for overseas sales) I've never had similar issues.

Its always worth shopping around to find the best delivery charge. The middle men are usually cheaper, but as you have found out, not always.   Parcel2Go to send via MyHermes is cheaper than going direct for example.

soolin

curriej99 said:

I'm never using any of these Parcel delivery agent companies again. A week ago today I booked a collection from my home to deliver to Italy (I selected DPD through MyParcelDelivery.com), printed off the documents and label and packaged everything up correctly. DPD (who are excellent by the way) returned the parcel 24hrs later, but did not know the reason it had been returned. I got on the online chat to MyParcelDelivery, who after a time came back and told me it was because the label had no EORI number on it. I pointed out that they had supplied the label and he said it was 'odd' and would email DPD. The following day I contacted them again and they said they'd had no reply and would escalate it. The following day I was told the same thing. This dragged on and on for days and then a week after I'd paid for it (£28.44 to send a 6" square 400g box to italy) I took matters into my own hands and contacted DPD international myself. The helpful lady there told me that the data associated with the parcel that MyParcelDelivery had supplied them was a mess, with the package contents list randomly appearing where assignment numbers etc should be. She helpfully emailed MyParcelDelivery as I was on the phone with her, and read her email back to me. I thanked her and got straight on to MyParcelDelivery where they gave me an email address to write to. I did so, requesting my money back, and they say i'll have it within 5 days. The lady at DPD suggested I just use DPD local website in future, and so I did exactly that today, and it cost me £16. I doubt I'll have any of the issues and bad service from them that I experienced from MyParcelDelivery. 
Do yourself a favour, and cut out the middle man. It's not worth it.

So did you have an EORI number on it or not? That isn’t anything to do with the courier and is your responsibility to obtain your own EORI number which you need for all exports. If you’d watch the forum (assuming search is working now) you’ll find a thread that will explain how to apply for your EORI number.

soolin

https://www.sage.com/en-gb/blog/eori-number-trade-brexit/#eori-anchor-link

martindow

curriej99 said:

I'm never using any of these Parcel delivery agent companies again. A week ago today I booked a collection from my home to deliver to Italy (I selected DPD through MyParcelDelivery.com), printed off the documents and label and packaged everything up correctly. DPD (who are excellent by the way) returned the parcel 24hrs later, but did not know the reason it had been returned. I got on the online chat to MyParcelDelivery, who after a time came back and told me it was because the label had no EORI number on it. I pointed out that they had supplied the label and he said it was 'odd' and would email DPD. The following day I contacted them again and they said they'd had no reply and would escalate it. The following day I was told the same thing. This dragged on and on for days and then a week after I'd paid for it (£28.44 to send a 6" square 400g box to italy) I took matters into my own hands and contacted DPD international myself. The helpful lady there told me that the data associated with the parcel that MyParcelDelivery had supplied them was a mess, with the package contents list randomly appearing where assignment numbers etc should be. She helpfully emailed MyParcelDelivery as I was on the phone with her, and read her email back to me. I thanked her and got straight on to MyParcelDelivery where they gave me an email address to write to. I did so, requesting my money back, and they say i'll have it within 5 days. The lady at DPD suggested I just use DPD local website in future, and so I did exactly that today, and it cost me £16. I doubt I'll have any of the issues and bad service from them that I experienced from MyParcelDelivery. 
Do yourself a favour, and cut out the middle man. It's not worth it.

Regarding the pricing, DPD suspended the European Road service, which is the cheapest, towards the end of December and only reinstated it at the weekend.  When you went to Myparceldelivery the cheapest rate on offer would have been another more expensive service.  When you went to look for prices this week the cheaper service was back.  Doesn't excuse the muddle with the data being transferred of course.

What additional charges are there going to be and will you be charged or the customer?  There will presumably be a clearance fee and Italian VAT to be paid by someone.