Have to send back a larger parcel but finding a delivery company much more tricky to find for size

GervisLooper

EDIT: Have ordered with evri via parcel2go.

I paid £40 for a camping bed. Tried it and don't like it.

Want to return but the prices are huge which will come out of pocket for a larger parcel vs a medium. I see like £17 for postage with dhl or dpd. The weight is only 5.4kg yet the length limits are 60cm for medium so it goes to large parcel at those higher pricer since it is 90 odd cm.

This means I am losing 50% of the price I paid for it. Hardly seems worth it and might as well just give it away and cut my losses unless anyone else has a better idea.

I am about to move out of my flat too so cannot be arsed faffing around. Enough to do already.

tightauldgit

have a look on parcel2go.com and see what you can find. What are the actual dimensions of the parcel.

A quick scan shows Fedex are 90*60*60, Evri seems to be anything up to 120cm in length, etc

But it's still going to be considered a fairly large parcel so it'll probably be £5-10 plus any insurance you want to apply to it. 

GervisLooper

tightauldgit said:

have a look on parcel2go.com and see what you can find. What are the actual dimensions of the parcel.

A quick scan shows Fedex are 90*60*60, Evri seems to be anything up to 120cm in length, etc

But it's still going to be considered a fairly large parcel so it'll probably be £5-10 plus any insurance you want to apply to it. 

Thanks.

Dimensions are 20.5x10x93cm and 5.4kg.

soolin

I’m surprised Evri came up cheaper for that length and weigh , they tend to only be cheaper for more standard sized parcels. When I had a quick look they were the dearest for over length parcels over 5kg. 

Hopefully you remembered to add the extra Insurance to be fully covered. 

GervisLooper

soolin said:

I’m surprised Evri came up cheaper for that length and weigh , they tend to only be cheaper for more standard sized parcels. When I had a quick look they were the dearest for over length parcels over 5kg. 

Hopefully you remembered to add the extra Insurance to be fully covered. 

Not the very cheapest but only a few pence (20 or so) difference. Was £6-7, forgot, but around that. They just had a convenient drop off point for me.

Indeed I did get insurance because I had several cases of parcels going missing when they were hermes, one time losing £50 for a violin I sold on ebay however that was my own fault because I knew they were not insured for that item but thought I would risk it anyway and paid for it when, most likely the driver, stole it.

I did swear not to use them again, well technically I am not because they are now called evri, but since the item is insured I and aforementioned convenient drop off I have done so.

tightauldgit

soolin said:

I’m surprised Evri came up cheaper for that length and weigh , they tend to only be cheaper for more standard sized parcels. When I had a quick look they were the dearest for over length parcels over 5kg. 

Hopefully you remembered to add the extra Insurance to be fully covered. 

I think it's just a quirk of the breakpoints on sizing. When I looked Fedex were cheaper but would only take up to 90cm longest dimension. Having said that they were the 2nd or 3rd cheapest. 

When using parcel2go I never quite worked out if the insurance is a flat rate thing provided by P2G or whether it depends on what each courier charges to cover £X value. I suspect its the former and that there may well be cheaper ways to send items insured. Normally for anything over £20 I use Royal Mail anyway. 

In fact with free collections I'm just using RM for everything nowadays as I'd rather pay the extra few pence for a collection than have to faff about with EVRI/YODEL parcel shops telling me 'machine's broke' when they don't want to take something. 

GervisLooper

tightauldgit said:

Normally for anything over £20 I use Royal Mail anyway. 

Hmm royal mail were coming up at £40 odd for parcel force for this item when I checked earlier.

tightauldgit said:

I'd rather pay the extra few pence for a collection than have to faff about with EVRI/YODEL parcel shops telling me 'machine's broke' when they don't want to take something. 

Opposite for me, I prefer the flexibility of being able to go into a store to drop off when I want rather than hanging around at home for pickup. I guess royal mail are more consistent in the time they visit with your usual mail however living in blocks of flats rather than a house, with access being a difference, I have found it more convenient to drop off.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

GervisLooper said:

tightauldgit said:

Normally for anything over £20 I use Royal Mail anyway. 

Hmm royal mail were coming up at £40 odd for parcel force for this item when I checked earlier.

Just as an aside, always worth checking their site direct:

https://www.parcelforce.com/sending-a-parcel

Come up as £10.20 incl VAT & collection for me on those sizes and weights (assuming pick up and delivery are not areas they apply surcharges to, should they do so anywhere). 

£150 cover as standard. 

Bit cheaper if you have a PF depot near by but PO drop off was more expensive for some reason. 

tightauldgit

GervisLooper said:

tightauldgit said:

Normally for anything over £20 I use Royal Mail anyway. 

Hmm royal mail were coming up at £40 odd for parcel force for this item when I checked earlier.

tightauldgit said:

I'd rather pay the extra few pence for a collection than have to faff about with EVRI/YODEL parcel shops telling me 'machine's broke' when they don't want to take something. 

Opposite for me, I prefer the flexibility of being able to go into a store to drop off when I want rather than hanging around at home for pickup. I guess royal mail are more consistent in the time they visit with your usual mail however living in blocks of flats rather than a house, with access being a difference, I have found it more convenient to drop off.

Yeah for me (and I'm probably getting 2-4 collections a week right now) i know if I order with RM the night before I'll get a collection around 10am the next day. With Yodel it's 3 or 4 miles to the next village and I'd say it's about 60/40 if they'll take it. And they won't take anything bigger than a small parcel. For EVRI it's about 5 or 6 miles to the petrol station to do a drop off and the last time i went they said the scanner was charging and wouldn't take it so i had to do a 45 minute detour on my way to the airport which was stressful. 

For everything small to medium size I find RM are within 50p or so of the cheapos. So for me it's a wash really.

For valuable stuff RM Tracked 48 is the best I can find because its up to £150 for £3.50 for a small parcel whereas Evri will be £2.90 but only insured up to £20. If I add coverage up to £50 say it'll be more than the RM cost.