Best Way To Send A Parcel Not Using Royal Mail

born_again

. I can't believe it's so difficult to send a few things, none of which are illegal, dangerous or in any way out of the ordinary. 

Thats very subjective.

If you really want to send such goods & it is prohibited by couriers. Then contract one of the many personal couriers who will transport it for you at a price.

Slush syrup' must be particularly worrisome for them

Just think about that...
Container gets damages & leaks all over other packages. Do you think that the sender or receiver of these other parcels will be happy to receive damaged goods? Never mind the fact the delivery van will be out of service while it is cleaned out.

Then just who is going to have to compensate them? The sender of the syrup of the courier?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Hello OP

What kind of issues did you have with Special Delivery?

Generally speaking out of all the big name couriers there isn't a better service than Special Delivery, it's handled separately from other mail and is prioritised over all other Royal Mail services.

In terms of couriers they all depend upon the person doing the last mile to door, if they are good the service will be good, if they aren't then it won't be.

In terms of fragile items Royal Mail tend to handle parcels batter than the others, things like glassware need to be packaged a certain way, there are guidelines on the Royal Mail website but IIRC you are looking at double boxing with void filler in-between the two boxes.

soolin

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Hello OP

What kind of issues did you have with Special Delivery?

Generally speaking out of all the big name couriers there isn't a better service than Special Delivery, it's handled separately from other mail and is prioritised over all other Royal Mail services.

In terms of couriers they all depend upon the person doing the last mile to door, if they are good the service will be good, if they aren't then it won't be.

In terms of fragile items Royal Mail tend to handle parcels batter than the others, things like glassware need to be packaged a certain way, there are guidelines on the Royal Mail website but IIRC you are looking at double boxing with void filler in-between the two boxes.

I agree, RM special delivery would be my first choice for safe and secure handling over any of the others. The fact that they are happy to carry more items than many couriers (those prohibited or uninsured item lists are huge for some couriers) is just an added benefit. 

martindow

Regarding the lists of items mentioned above described as 'prohibited' is that really the case?  Some things are definitely prohibited - explosive items and recently knives, but I suspect that some of the longer lists contain items that are excluded from compensation rather than being prohibited.

soolin

martindow said:

Regarding the lists of items mentioned above described as 'prohibited' is that really the case?  Some things are definitely prohibited - explosive items and recently knives, but I suspect that some of the longer lists contain items that are excluded from compensation rather than being prohibited.

It is possible to search each courier as they do all show both entirely prohibited (and there are some strange ones on there) plus those for which no compensation will be paid out for loss.

However if I were sending an expensive item I would want to ensure that whatever happened I was insured against both loss and damage.

Olinda99

you can of course send anything you want as long as it's not dangerous it's just that they won't compensate you if anything happens for example the glass gets broken and all the chocolate melts

elsien

Olinda99 said:

you can of course send anything you want as long as it's not dangerous it's just that they won't compensate you if anything happens for example the glass gets broken and all the chocolate melts

That may well be what happens in practice because the package is sealed, and they are on the wiser, but it's not what their website says. 

"The following items (or any item similar in description or content) cannot be carried on any service.

Any person sending such an item may be subject to their order being cancelled without notice"

Cloth_of_Gold

elsien said:

Olinda99 said:

you can of course send anything you want as long as it's not dangerous it's just that they won't compensate you if anything happens for example the glass gets broken and all the chocolate melts

That may well be what happens in practice because the package is sealed, and they are on the wiser, but it's not what their website says. 

"The following items (or any item similar in description or content) cannot be carried on any service.

Any person sending such an item may be subject to their order being cancelled without notice"

Indeed. If you followed their list to the letter there would be hardly anything at all you could send. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Hello OP

What kind of issues did you have with Special Delivery?

Generally speaking out of all the big name couriers there isn't a better service than Special Delivery, it's handled separately from other mail and is prioritised over all other Royal Mail services.

In terms of couriers they all depend upon the person doing the last mile to door, if they are good the service will be good, if they aren't then it won't be.

In terms of fragile items Royal Mail tend to handle parcels batter than the others, things like glassware need to be packaged a certain way, there are guidelines on the Royal Mail website but IIRC you are looking at double boxing with void filler in-between the two boxes.

The most recent problem was that, at no little cost, I sent two items to the same address using SD, next day by 1pm. Neither arrived until two days later, and even then not by 1pm, not that that mattered by then as it had missed the special occasion for which they had been sent.  On the day the items were supposed to be delivered I was following the tracking and just after 1pm I saw that, according to the tracking, they had been delivered just before 12.30. I immediately rang the recipient who said that they had not arrived and, for various reasons that there is no point in my going into here, it was impossible for her to have missed the postman, nor for him to have believed that there was no one in. 

Clearly the claimed delivery could not have happened and so I complained to RM and they responded twice, on both occasions asking for information they already knew or I had already provided. I have now received a final reply which is just a standard response and which apologises and talk about lessons learned etc., etc. and advises me of what to do if the items have still not arrived, even though I had told them in an earlier reply that they had now arrived. It is not clear if they admit that no attempt was made to deliver the items the day after posting; in one sentence they seem to admit it but they also apologise that no card was left, which would have been impossible if there had been no attempted delivery. If this is their final reply then they should imo, even if it is not an OFCOM or legal requirement, have advised me of my right to take the matter to the Postal Redress Service. That may also be a waste of time but I should at least like to try.

This is not the first time I have had issues with SD items arriving late and I accept that things can go wrong but it's the issue of being told that an attempted delivery was made when I know it wasn't, and the way that my complaint has been dealt with that I am particularly unhappy about.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Cloth_of_Gold said:

The most recent problem was that, at no little cost, I sent two items to the same address using SD, next day by 1pm. Neither arrived until two days later, and even then not by 1pm, not that that mattered by then as it had missed the special occasion for which they had been sent.  On the day the items were supposed to be delivered I was following the tracking and just after 1pm I saw that, according to the tracking, they had been delivered just before 12.30. I immediately rang the recipient who said that they had not arrived and, for various reasons that there is no point in my going into here, it was impossible for her to have missed the postman, nor for him to have believed that there was no one in. 

Clearly the claimed delivery could not have happened and so I complained to RM and they responded twice, on both occasions asking for information they already knew or I had already provided. I have now received a final reply which is just a standard response and which apologises and talk about lessons learned etc., etc. and advises me of what to do if the items have still not arrived, even though I had told them in an earlier reply that they had now arrived. It is not clear if they admit that no attempt was made to deliver the items the day after posting; in one sentence they seem to admit it but they also apologise that no card was left, which would have been impossible if there had been no attempted delivery. If this is their final reply then they should imo, even if it is not an OFCOM or legal requirement, have advised me of my right to take the matter to the Postal Redress Service. That may also be a waste of time but I should at least like to try.

This is not the first time I have had issues with SD items arriving late and I accept that things can go wrong but it's the issue of being told that an attempted delivery was made when I know it wasn't, and the way that my complaint has been dealt with that I am particularly unhappy about

Unfortunately Royal Mail's customer service is terrible but sadly I think that applies to all couriers, main difference is Royal Mail still seems to have contact centres so you can actually talk to them but it's often a waste of time. 

Towards the bottom is a list of postcodes where the times for SD might vary

https://www.postoffice.co.uk/mail/royalmail-delivery-guaranteed-by-1pm

Beyond that there could have been a temp or relief worker on the round on the regular postie just isn't very good. 

I think it's very difficult to post something so it arrives on a set date, I guess in most cases it's better to post a bit early and ask the person not to open their present early  

DPD opened a new depot close to us and for months the service has been terrible, finally seem to have a regular driver who knows what they are doing.

Evri had no driver for 6 weeks when the regular quit and parcels simply weren't delivered. 

Yodel is OK but it's a third party company doing the last leg.

DHL, ACP, UK Mail are handled by a different third party and the regular driver is fantastic, even walked 200 yards down our track in the snow to deliver a parcel, but when he is on holiday you'd be lucky if they deliver at all. 

Fedex seem pretty good but again it's all down to the person doing the last leg, that variable makes it very difficult to say "yes this courier is always great", obviously some are better than others in general but again unless you have issues with Royal Mail over a extended period I don't think anything beats SD   

Cloth_of_Gold

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Cloth_of_Gold said:

The most recent problem was that, at no little cost, I sent two items to the same address using SD, next day by 1pm. Neither arrived until two days later, and even then not by 1pm, not that that mattered by then as it had missed the special occasion for which they had been sent.  On the day the items were supposed to be delivered I was following the tracking and just after 1pm I saw that, according to the tracking, they had been delivered just before 12.30. I immediately rang the recipient who said that they had not arrived and, for various reasons that there is no point in my going into here, it was impossible for her to have missed the postman, nor for him to have believed that there was no one in. 

Clearly the claimed delivery could not have happened and so I complained to RM and they responded twice, on both occasions asking for information they already knew or I had already provided. I have now received a final reply which is just a standard response and which apologises and talk about lessons learned etc., etc. and advises me of what to do if the items have still not arrived, even though I had told them in an earlier reply that they had now arrived. It is not clear if they admit that no attempt was made to deliver the items the day after posting; in one sentence they seem to admit it but they also apologise that no card was left, which would have been impossible if there had been no attempted delivery. If this is their final reply then they should imo, even if it is not an OFCOM or legal requirement, have advised me of my right to take the matter to the Postal Redress Service. That may also be a waste of time but I should at least like to try.

This is not the first time I have had issues with SD items arriving late and I accept that things can go wrong but it's the issue of being told that an attempted delivery was made when I know it wasn't, and the way that my complaint has been dealt with that I am particularly unhappy about

Unfortunately Royal Mail's customer service is terrible but sadly I think that applies to all couriers, main difference is Royal Mail still seems to have contact centres so you can actually talk to them but it's often a waste of time. 

Towards the bottom is a list of postcodes where the times for SD might vary

https://www.postoffice.co.uk/mail/royalmail-delivery-guaranteed-by-1pm

Beyond that there could have been a temp or relief worker on the round on the regular postie just isn't very good. 

I think it's very difficult to post something so it arrives on a set date, I guess in most cases it's better to post a bit early and ask the person not to open their present early  

DPD opened a new depot close to us and for months the service has been terrible, finally seem to have a regular driver who knows what they are doing.

Evri had no driver for 6 weeks when the regular quit and parcels simply weren't delivered. 

Yodel is OK but it's a third party company doing the last leg.

DHL, ACP, UK Mail are handled by a different third party and the regular driver is fantastic, even walked 200 yards down our track in the snow to deliver a parcel, but when he is on holiday you'd be lucky if they deliver at all. 

Fedex seem pretty good but again it's all down to the person doing the last leg, that variable makes it very difficult to say "yes this courier is always great", obviously some are better than others in general but again unless you have issues with Royal Mail over a extended period I don't think anything beats SD   

It was going to one of Britain's largest cities, so definitely not on the list of 'problematic' post codes. As I said, it wasn't so much their failure to deliver in time (although that was irritating) as I understand that things can go wrong, it was the fact that they claimed to have attempted delivery when I know thy didn't, and their subsequent handling of my complaint. 

In the end, this time, I used DPD and even though I was sending it a week before it needed to arrive I sent it to arrive the next day before 12,  which it did. This is the first time I've used DPD to send anything but I've been sent things using them by various companies over the last 2 or 3 years and I've had no problems, so far at least.