Courier Cost Cutting Feedback/Discussion thread

sean_hardware

Our firm regularly used Balloon & Gift (before they sent the following message):

"WE HAVE PARTED COMPANY WITH DHL

PARCEL SERVICE WITH DHL

I am sorry to say that we have parted company with DHL due to poor communication, low standard of service in some areas and charges for failed collections
where they have turned up on wrong date or not collecting at all.
We attempted to address this problem by limiting the amount we sell on ebay
to get a better service and so far this has not helped. Our customer satisfaction
is our utmost concern and I feel that I cannot continue to list a service
with full confidence as I did when I started.
I have transferred my own parcels to another carrier who I hope I can rely
on and I will, if trustworthy and reliable, offer a similar parcel service
on ebay at the same rate soon once contracts have been finalised.
I am sorry for the sudden stop but that was DHL and not me, I wanted to tell
my customers and finish at the end of the month, DHL cancelled my Account
facilities with immediate effect.cancelling my plans to do a seamless switchover
to another carrier.
Once up and running I will email you direct.
I wish to thank you all, old and new customers alike, for your support and
custom, understanding and patience when needed, and loyalty.
Any refunds due will be processed in the next 48 hours once I am aware of
customers collections / non - collections and forward bookings and final
accounts due have been processed.
Your co-operation and patience here would be welcome.
Sue Stevenson
21 January 2008"

Within days of sending this message, Balloon & Gift contacted us via eBay, seeking Mutual Agreement withdrawal of all the purchases we had made with them on eBay.We had paid for these purchases and been happy with the DHL parcel delivery service.

Under threat of 30 negative feedbacks, we agreed that the transactions had not taken place. This was simply so Balloon and Gift could (fraudulently??) recover all the eBay fees they had incurred.

We voiced our concerns to eBay, forwarding emails, transaction IDs and Paypal proofs of payment for those transactions. eBay had lost ££ in revenue but didn't even bother to reply.

The parcel delivery service was fine, but Balloon & Gift have some very peculiar business practices. Cheap comes with its own problems, be careful!! Remember Payperdrop - those nice middlemen folks that pocketed all the money from the DHL missing / broken claims!!

TightFisted wrote: »

Balloon & Gift are back offering Parcelforce for 6.00, for those who want a nice cheap service without using the abusive idiots at Home Textiles

sean_hardware

Having had fingers burned with Payperdrop, our firm moved to Balloon & Gift, before their unhappy ending....

We currently use Payperparcel - very efficient service. There is a brilliant postcode lookup function on the booking form. Some people genuinely don't know their postcodes and guess them; this form prevents you from booking parcels to the wrong address and causing headaches further down the line.

On two occasions when things went wrong (we input the wrong days for parcel collection), a very helpful gentleman called Darren answered the phone instantly. Each booking was immediately edited, no charge.

Our local DHL depot have commented on how quickly our bookings currently come through, compared with the other agents we have used in the past.

At £7 per parcel, it isn't the cheapest service out there, but they have the appearance of a firm that is here to stay, unlike Balloon & Gift and Payperdrop.

scbk

I've used the Royal Mail for loads of items, not only are they cheapest but you can send an item when YOU want, how fab is that :A

drdisco

Just to back up all (apart from 1) of the other Interparcel comments, they seem to be excellent. We run our own business and all of our parcels are sent via one of Interparcel's services, since mid-November we have sent over 80 parcels with no major disasters.

HINT: Check Interparcel's on-line parcel tracker on the day you expect it to arrive. You'll then see if your recipient was out etc. and be able to advise them to contact their local DHL depot (just in case card wasn't left)

We've had a few minor problems regarding people who were out etc. but these are due to the courier not Interparcel. As for customer service, their phone line tells you where you are in the queue and how long you'll wait etc. Once you get through they are usually very helpful. As an example, this happened yesterday:

Booked a parcel in at 9:50am (cut-off at 10am). Our usual DHL driver turns up to collect at approx 12 noon, but hadn't appeared by 2:30pm. Rung Interparcel and explained. She put me on hold whilst she dialled through to DHL and told me everything was still OK. DHL driver turned up 15mins later.

To summarise, you will probably have to do a bit more than just sitting back and hoping the parcel turns up (e.g. checking the online tracker) and don't expect to be called if your recipient is out, but you wouldn't get this anyway with DHL et al, and you are only paying £8!!!

WELL DONE INTERPARCEL!!!

Spares4Bikes

we use Parcel2Go for our bike parts and the majority of them arrive the following day. we try and avoid booking in for friday collections as that is when they are most likely to be delayed.

10% discount code AUCTRE519736349A

Every little helps!

Spares4Bikes

we also use parcels2collect via Ebay for our European deliveries. They send via Parceline and have not encountered any problems so far, touch wood!

We had our fingers burned too with Payperdrop. fine when they used DHL but totally useless afterwards!

shaunwiltshire

I have used Interparcel once and never again. I booked a collection just before Xmas and it was never picked up. When I phoned them I was put in a queue, the clock struck 5 and they hung up as their office hours end at 5. What customer service!
I now use parcel2go and they have never let me down. The driver is very friendly and I don't need to be at home, he knows where the parcels are left and picks them up. They may not be the cheapest but when it comes to keeping customers happy a few pence is worth it. A lot better than neg feedback.

jimmy_2-2

I've been selling quite a lot recently and have been using www.csparcels.co.uk they have been doing me very good prices usually with DHL and always seem to be helpful when it comes to parcel tracking.

Most importantly one parcel sent via DHL did go missing. I was really impressed with teh service that I received with regards to making a claim. They sorted out everything for me and I recieved my compensation within two days of making my claim, via paypal. They dont give just one price for two sepearate parcels either, they seem to have a very structured pricing system dependant upon weight.:T

amoura12

Hi there just to let you know that the prices for SUPASAVER already include the 5% discount but do not include VAT, so there prices are much more expensive than it appears and are i think the most expensive on the ebay list.
I tried to use them once, but the automatic address finder did not have my address, and they were extremely unhelpful, and cancelled my order, in fact they were rude.

Do not use:eek:

MrGumby

There's misunderstanding on some people's part. Most of the companies discussed are just intermediaries. The fact that a driver is friendly and helpful is down to the courier company, not the intermediary.

Just as with retailers, what really differentiates the intermediaries is customer service, especially when things go wrong. (It's a shame John Lewis don't offer parcel delivery!). I have used interparcel extensively, parcel2go only recently. Both tend to subcontract to DHL for their cheapest UK services, so I get the same (excellent) driver in Newbury, whether I book through interparcel or parcel2go. Both services are fine, when everything goes smoothly.

Chipotle clearly had a bad experience with interparcel and may well be right in recommending going directly to the couriers. Certainly, I'm very unimpressed with parcel2go's customer care, so far, and their consistent failure to keep promises to get back to me. I have a £300 claim against parcel2go/DHL and will let you know how it progresses.