Cheap Parcel Delivery - official discussion

antispam246 · 22 February 2019 at 12:37PM

Been meaning to ask for awhile, as the article was last updated Dec 2018, I'm wondering if there are perhaps better alternatives as of late, specifically for

1) small parcels with low valuation, e.g. £20. I've was using parcel2go > Hermes but realised that going directly through Hermes with TCB (cashback) is cheaper. Is there anything out there cheaper for small parcel < £20?

2) small and medium parcels with high valuations > £20. I believe RM are the only ones that group the insurance costs into different tiers whereas others apply the same calculation depending on he overall value (could be wrong).

From what I can tell, RM generally work out cheaper here as other parties charge significantly more for larger insurance.

So, is there anything better cost wise for both small parcels < £20 than hermes+cashback and for small/medium parcels > £20 with RM?

Just want to ensure I'm not missing out.

On a completely unrelated note, as I browsed through the last few pages of this thread, and generally do whenever I frequent it I notice alot of the comments are about how company "X" is terrible, followed by the personal experience.

For someone who has sold bits and bobs frequently over the years of all sorts and all prices, I have found (in my own personal experience) Hermes and parcel2go to be exceptional and Royal Mail to be utterly terrible. Having shipped hundreds of parcels with my hermes over the years domestically and internationally, I have had one single incident of a missing parcel, which was to Romania and was fully refunded, without issue after following procedure.

I won't even go into the issues I've had with RM, as they are countless.

vitruvius · 23 February 2019 at 3:03PM

On your point 2. If you read the carriers' small print. (exclusions and exceptions) you will find that they will insure anything ... as long as it is neither valuable nor breakable.
Some, (Royal Mail) try to value a thing at the price you PAID not the price you SOLD it for. "caveat (as ever) emptor"

Drakelet · 25 March 2019 at 3:27AM

Drakelet wrote: »

I wanted to add my terrible experience with Parcel2Go. Disappointed as it's recommended by MSE.

I booked a delivery online. They took my money just fine. Then the problems started...
I was unable to print the postage label.

Live chat didn't work.

Facebook messenger took hours to reply to each message, delaying me significantly.

I finally got the label (the website still doesn't work, they had to do it manually) and delivered the package to the drop-off location. Hours later they messaged me to tell me that personal clothing should not be sent, and they requested I return to the drop-off location to recollect it. By then it was too late and I was unable to do so.

I still cannot register or log in to my account on their website, so I can't cancel my order.

In the end it arrived fine - no issue with customs, and actually arrived about two weeks sooner than expected. So in the end all worked out, but then that was down to the delivery companies and not Parcel2Go.

custardy · 25 March 2019 at 5:52AM

Drakelet wrote: »

In the end it arrived fine - no issue with customs, and actually arrived about two weeks sooner than expected. So in the end all worked out, but then that was down to the delivery companies and not Parcel2Go.

Who did you think was going to deliver it?

stvjhn · 17 April 2019 at 12:45AM

Hi,

Beware of the high cost of insurance when booking through INTERPARCEL.

Recent events associated with the loss, despite being tracked, of an uninsured item booked via Interparcel resulted in a careful consideration of the how much insurance costs.

If you do take insurance through Interparcel it costs more than booking direct with Hermes. For example if you are buying the same 2/3 day tracked delivery as is offered by Hermes, Interparcel remove the £20 cover provided by Hermes if booked direct. Whilst they do make it clear that there is no cover, if you do wish to add insurance, they charge you from £0 rather than £20 as is the case with Hermes and at a higher rate per level of cover. This resulted in a significantly higher overall cost than might be initially gleaned from the comparison prices initially offered.

soolin · 17 April 2019 at 7:47AM

stvjhn wrote: »

Hi,

INTERPARCEL are opertaing a high cost insurance scam.

Recently I had to send a low cost item and booked via Interparcel for Hermes. I didn't add extra insurance as it was 'Tracked' and worth less than Hermes basic £20 included cover which, having used Hermes in the past I took as a given.
It was 'lost' at the hub and Interparcel went through the pretence of a 'thorough search' confirmed through what was obviously a made up badly edited email. No refund was offered as seemingly Interparcel strip this cover away whilst actually charging more for the postage.
I caried out checks and it seems that if you do take insurance through Interparcel it costs way more than booking direct with Hermes as they start the count at £0 (rather than £20) and also charge more per £.
Interparcel have since ignored my emails yet when I posted on Trust Pilot they responded in a matter of minutes with a generic response. Pretty much sums up their attitude to customers.

I honestly don't think you can call it a scam when you fail to read anything at all before you give your money to a third party booker. I just did a dummy quote, it is as clear as a bell that item attracts no insurance when you take the cheapest Hermes quote- it's there exactly where you can see it before you even go ahead and enter your details:

https://uk.interparcel.com/quote/courier-quote2.php?quote_key=Yzd2gKEbbbNWkb6FnE6K
My dummy quote showed a saving of £1.63 by opting for Hermes with no insurance, over the next cheapest quote with insurance.

A lot of us have had issues with couriers, including Hermes, but this is not a scam

custardy · 17 April 2019 at 1:49PM

stvjhn wrote: »

Hi,

INTERPARCEL are opertaing a high cost insurance scam.

Recently I had to send a low cost item and booked via Interparcel for Hermes. I didn't add extra insurance as it was 'Tracked' and worth less than Hermes basic £20 included cover which, having used Hermes in the past I took as a given.
It was 'lost' at the hub and Interparcel went through the pretence of a 'thorough search' confirmed through what was obviously a made up badly edited email. No refund was offered as seemingly Interparcel strip this cover away whilst actually charging more for the postage.
I caried out checks and it seems that if you do take insurance through Interparcel it costs way more than booking direct with Hermes as they start the count at £0 (rather than £20) and also charge more per £.
Interparcel have since ignored my emails yet when I posted on Trust Pilot they responded in a matter of minutes with a generic response. Pretty much sums up their attitude to customers.

and the part in red is the problem.

stvjhn · 24 April 2019 at 11:33PM

I think you have missed the point. Yes, I now realise that in my haste I was at fault for missing a major detail (however, even if I had added insurance it would not have been paid as the item contained some glass so that could seemingly cause it to be lost thus making them not responsible).

I have modified the original post to avoid any more instances of individuals deciding to focus upon my initial error rather than the less than transparent price hike if insurance is added to what might seem initially to be a competitive quote by Interparcel. A customer could through an initial low quote be duped into believing that even after insurance is added it is still the best deal compared to going direct to the actual courier.

Here is a direct comparison for the next parcel that I sent: Item with a value of £26 (and as far as I could tell not on their exclusion list). My Hermes charged £3.03 with £26 insurance (included an add on calculated from £20). Interparcel quoted £3.95 for the same carriers service but with NO insurance and £5.20 with the same insurance. The hefty extra was consequential of counting from £0. It is that situation specifically which was the reason for this post.

asset2004 · 7 May 2019 at 9:59PM

Had been using the Hermes parcel shop but noticed the prices have gone up.
Any tips for a cheaper courier, under 2kg parcel, value £20.
TIA

trfh · 8 May 2019 at 1:48PM

As long as you have a "Royal Mail small parcel" (defined as up to 45 x 35 x 16cm, and under 2kg) then the cheapest way of shifting it throughout the UK is 2nd class post as far as I am aware. Cost £3.00 over the counter or £2.90 if you buy it online and print your own label. Even if you use the online option you have still got to take it to a PO of course.

I think myHermes is still cheaper for parcels under 1kg.

Cheap Parcel Delivery - official discussion

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