Why I will never use Parcel Monkey or Parcelforce again....

Tunstallstoven

Hi all

The main details are in this thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5096638

I just wanted to make another thread in case anyone visits the forums for feedback on either company.

In a nutshell, I was charged an extra £13 based on a claim that my parcel was (in total) around 30cm larger than I had claimed on the booking. I know with a billion percent certainty it was not. But unless I have photographic proof that the parcel was as I claimed, there is nothing I can do.

And to make the matter worse (IMO), the additional funds were taken from my credit card without my say-so.

My advice; either avoid these companies, or else take photos of parcels before sending them out. I'm going with the former.

Cheers and good luck :beer:

fishybusiness

Wouldn't knock Parcelforce on the head, just Parcelmonkey.

There are other middle men that IMO work well with Parcelforce.

Tunstallstoven

Yeah but it was Parcelforce's allegedly laser accurate measuring devices which showed the 27cm width of my parcel to be 47cm (amongst other smaller inaccuracies).

RFW

Seagull27 wrote: »

Yeah but it was Parcelforce's allegedly laser accurate measuring devices which showed the 27cm width of my parcel to be 47cm (amongst other smaller inaccuracies).

It happened to me with another reseller and I asked them to provide a copy of where Parcelforce had charged me for the excess, they couldn't.

You could, of course, send them pictures of a 'similar' parcel and say that was the one sent.

You can contact your credit card company to complain of an unauthorised payment. Also, if it wasn't a business transaction, you could complain to Trading Standards.

These charges are often very unfair and there appears to be no checks or sensible ways to appeal. If I remember rightly Parcelforce used to have scales and measures on their vans for drivers to check before they put them into their system.

I don't know if Parcelmonkey, or in my case Despatchbay have any say in the charges. I never received proof that there had been a charge levied, so I could have drawn the conclusion that Despatchbay occasionally fancy boosting their coffers by telling someone a charge has been made.

Obviously_the_best

Parcelmonkey are fine, they're just the passing on what Parcelfarce have charged them.

lovinituk

fishybusiness wrote: »

Wouldn't knock Parcelforce on the head, just Parcelmonkey.

There are other middle men that IMO work well with Parcelforce.

ParcelMonkey don't handle or scan the parcels.

lovinituk

OP, there is another thread on here about someone being charged more for a supposedly larger package. That was PM and PF too.

Unfortunately a lot of these middlemen like ParcelMonkey wash their hands of much as possible. And then bring ParcelForce into the mix who from experience are one of the least reliable couriers I've used (next to DHL) and the problems can be magnified.

I used PM and PF for a long time as they were the cheapest for EU deliveries. But the problems just seemed to get worse and then a fairly major problem caused by ParcelMonkey almost cost me a regular customer in Ireland. So I no longer use them as I can't trust them anymore.

I use Transglobal Express instead now for all overseas courier shipments. They have a better selection of couriers and UPS are almost always the cheapest option. Its slightly more expensive than PM/PF but I rate UPS as one of the better couriers and Transglobal Express actually have a proper customer service team that can be contacted by telephone.

fishybusiness

ParcelMonkey don't handle or scan the parcels.

Ermmm....I know.

I don't find Parcelmonkey customer service helpful with this kind of problem, as others have suggested.

Having a middle man that is not so good as chasing up and dealing fairly with problems is always going to leave the courier looking bad.

Perhaps a more effective resolution process by the middle man is needed?

lovinituk

fishybusiness wrote: »

Ermmm....I know.

So why did you say....

fishybusiness wrote: »

Wouldn't knock Parcelforce on the head, just Parcelmonkey.

When it's clearly ParcelFORCE who have come up with the fictitious size for the OPs parcel? ParcelFORCE have caused the problem here so surely they deserve the knocking?

Brooker_Dave

Seagull27 wrote: »

And to make the matter worse (IMO), the additional funds were taken from my credit card without my say-so.

Dispute the payment with your card provider.

fishybusiness

When it's clearly ParcelFORCE who have come up with the fictitious size for the OPs parcel? ParcelFORCE have caused the problem here so surely they deserve the knocking?

Because the better the middle man, the better the chances of getting a resolution that suits the end user.

Parcelforce do make mistakes, had them myself. Personally I haven't had enough mistakes to throw the towel in, In general they pick up when they say, even bring their own labels, have a good record for 24 and 48 hour delivery, to the correct address and in a timely manner.

The middle man I use has explained Parcelforce are very strict with sizing, outer coverings, tape hanging off, labels hanging off, in fact anything that prevents a package rolling down the conveyor.

Any intervention from a human being attracts a charge.

The parcel prices are much lower than retail, and if packaging is all present and correct, problems are few and far between in my own experience.

In OP's case, something clearly went wrong, and it deserves investigation. A good middle man should do so. As a one off, perhaps it is not a deal breaker.

Obviously that is down to the OP, and I was putting together the argument that Parcelforce aint that bad.