Do you know of a good+reliable delivery company?

A.Penny.Saved · 13 December 2019 at 11:40AM

I am not sure where I can post this but this seems the only place that fitted. I would of preferred more frequently visited sub forum TBH. If there is a more appropriate place then I would appreciate it if a Moderator would move it.

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Hi everyone,

I would like a recommendation for a delivery company because I have an Ultrasonic cleaner which I purchased from Maplin before they went out of business which has a fault and needs to go back to the manufacturer for repair. The guarantee expires just before the end of this year therefore time is short.

This Ultrasonic cleaner cost me a lot of money, far more than I had hoped, it cost me almost £400, a James Products Sonic 6MX. The next best price I could find at the time was about £485, a 20% eBay discount, £70 max, helped and so did some cash back from TCB where they matched Quidco's higher cashback.

I received it, tested out okay and then put it away until I needed it. However when I recently started using it, a part of the tank started going rusty. It should not of done this because it is stainless steel and only water has been used in it. Fortunately James products were very good and have said that they will replace the tank to fix it which works for me because mine is practically unused and the electronics work fine.

I need to send this to Dorset and it needs to be well insured £650-£750 because these are extremely difficult to purchase now because James Products has moved out of the Ultrasonic cleaner business and has stopped making them. They are all discontinued on their website. It would cost me about £750 to replace. Therefore the purchase price is not sufficient recompense.

Therefore I want recommendations on delivery companies who can pick up and deliver. I have seen that DPD has been getting some very mixed reviews, mostly very negative recently on Trustpilot. That is not my local experience of DPD which has always been very good. On one occasion a company selected the wrong address on a delivery website and the parcel did still get to me because the driver who often delivers to me recognised my name and corrected the address.

TNT express who seem to be in the process of being taken over or re-branded as FedEx express. James Products did recommend FedEx but they will not deliver single parcels and require a monthly minimum in order to allow a quote. I did phone FedEx about that and they recommended TNT. Mmmmm TNT reviews are bad on Trustpilot.

Can anyone recommend a company? A company who will not lose, steal or try to play American football with my parcel.

It needs to be collect by Monday at the latest.

Any recommendations either good or bad are gratefully received.

lindens · 13 December 2019 at 11:52AM

important starting point - measurements of parcel and weight? use a comparison like parcel2go or parcelmonkey to see choices
At this time of year they are all bad - over worked, over stretched, too many parcels, not enough time. Can you delay it til January?

A.Penny.Saved · 13 December 2019 at 12:24PM

It is 48x40x30cm as a very generous measurement so there can be no dispute. Weight is 6.5Kg

I do not want to use those services because they have a bad rep and the delivery companies will not deal with the customer when they are involved. It would be a mistake using them just to save a few quid.

These are very difficult to get hold of now, there is only one seller on eBay that sells them at £750. I just want it back to me safely repaired. Ideally picked up today or the latest on Monday.

The warranty runs out on the 28th Dec so it has to be done ASAP.

LadyDee · 13 December 2019 at 11:34PM

All the large well-known delivery companies are listed on Parcel2Go and Parcel Monkey. Check them out first and then if you want to deal direct with the company you can do so. It might cost a little more going direct but you do cut out the middleman.

People here can only give opinions on the services they have used. I have personally used may different delivery companies and have never had a problem with any of them. You will always find others who have had a bad experience with any particular company and wouldn't use them again. Fedex, DHL, Hermes, Yodel, ParcelForce etc., etc., and etc.

Just make sure the parcel is packed as required by the company, and properly insured.

Marcon · 14 December 2019 at 10:48PM

All delivery companies get bad reviews, but then unhappy customers are likely to be the most vociferous. I've always found Hermes excellent, others may disagree.

A.Penny.Saved · 20 December 2019 at 4:13AM

A problem that I ran into was the enormous amount that many of the delivery companies wanted just to insure the item. DPD wanted over £40 just to insure it fully, more than twice as much as they wanted to deliver it! They wanted £60 in total :eek:
Parcelforce was similar but the total was £50. TNT wanted a lot too.

I ended up using UPS. Pickup was quick within the hour of placing the order and delivered the next day just turned 12pm, it was a by 2pm delivery for a total of £22.79. I was very alarmed with their delivery address which did not seem related to where it was addressed. They have some options +£ for delivery to the delivery address lmao Which seemed crazy charging extra to deliver to only the delivery address but seeing as they delivered to somewhere else probably not as crazy as it seemed. It's a pity that they did not mention that.

I had to phone the company to check that they had received it, which they fortunately did. Which was a relief. I do not yet know when I will get it back repaired, it is a bit early to tell as there is not much time before Christmas even if it gets done later today on Friday. That would only leave Monday.

MysteryMe · 27 December 2019 at 4:34PM

Appreciate that you've now sent it but for anyone else looking at the thread.

Not Hermes, especially with something of that value. A courier is best judged on how they deal with issues when things go wrong and none of the other carriers have been in the national press recently for the complete chaos in their depots and theft of parcels like Hermes. They also use self employed couriers unlike other businesses whose couriers are actually employees and where more stringent checks are in place.

I've used and received parcels from DPD, Parcel Force, TNT, UPS and happy to use again.

Not had any issues with Yodel who, like Hermes are catering to the cheap end of the market. At least their tracking has some resemblance to reality but I wouldn't trust them with something of that value.

If you can manage to take the parcel to the courier the price will be cheaper.

theonlywayisup · 27 December 2019 at 5:39PM

A.Penny.Saved wrote: »

I need to send this to Dorset and it needs to be well insured £650-£750 because these are extremely difficult to purchase now because James Products has moved out of the Ultrasonic cleaner business and has stopped making them. They are all discontinued on their website. It would cost me about £750 to replace. Therefore the purchase price is not sufficient recompense.

What does £750 get you? A brand new machine?

A.Penny.Saved · 28 December 2019 at 9:12AM

theonlywayisup wrote: »

What does £750 get you? A brand new machine?

It would get me a new replacement based upon the currently very limited availability which is one merchant who claim(ed) to have stock. Whether it had a fault or not is irrelevant IMO because the company would of repaired it if they received it. It did actually work, that was not the problem but a part of the supposed stainless steel tank was rusting. The company have said that they will replace the tank which suits me because it has had very little usage except for testing. I received it and tested it but did not use it until recently when the rusting started. That was why it was all so rushed.

I have not received it yet because they finished until the new year. I could of done with it because it is holding up some very important health resolutions so the new year cannot come soon enough.

BTW I would not trust those cheap delivery companies such as Hermes or Yodel based upon experience. Hermes lost a parcel which was meant to go to my neighbour. The person who was delivering it did not know what he had done with it. I refused to take it because I do not get on with my neighbour who would not do anything for anyone unless it feeds their faces and he came back some days later looking lost and confused, trying to find the parcel.

Do you know of a good+reliable delivery company?

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