Parcel Force Ugh!

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van ordinaire
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Re: Parcel Force Ugh!

Post by van ordinaire »

Like I said, all totally unnecessary - just put it in the post: worked for 100yrs+ & still does!
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Re: Parcel Force Ugh!

Post by Gibbo2286 »

van ordinaire wrote: 14 Nov 2019, 23:10 Like I said, all totally unnecessary - just put it in the post: worked for 100yrs+ & still does!
If only that were true!

Courier companies are only on the scene because they can do they can do the job efficiently and cheaper than the Royal Mail.
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van ordinaire
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Re: Parcel Force Ugh!

Post by van ordinaire »

Always found it to be true - & am still trying to fathom out what purpose couriers serve (for things small enough to go by post) as they are, in my ltd experience, fabulously expensive, inconvenient & hopelessly inefficient.
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Re: Parcel Force Ugh!

Post by Gibbo2286 »

I've done a lot of Ebay trading, mostly selling off new 'old stock' from my business days, only on rare occasions have the Post Office/Royal Mail been able to beat the other couriers on price, and the service has been no better.

I've used Hermes for the last two or three years (through parce2go.com) https://www.parcel2go.com/?mkwid=_dc&pc ... parcel2go and had no problems at all.

I can get parcels picked up at my door or I can pop them into the Spar shop around the corner where they bar code read the label and from there they get tracked to their destination with online tracking keeping me informed of the the progress.

Parcel2go offers quotes from many couriers including Royal Mail and sets up the label for you to print off.
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Re: Parcel Force Ugh!

Post by Michel »

Gibbo2286 wrote: 17 Nov 2019, 10:41 I've done a lot of Ebay trading, mostly selling off new 'old stock' from my business days, only on rare occasions have the Post Office/Royal Mail been able to beat the other couriers on price, and the service has been no better.

I've used Hermes for the last two or three years (through parce2go.com) [url]https://www.parcel2go.com/?
Same here Eric. I sent a motorbike screen - quite a large, but light item to a guy in Chelmsford on Thursday last week. Box was 60x40x40cm, so not small. £5. 75 picked up from my door by Hermes.. including insurance to cover the value of it.
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Re: Parcel Force Ugh!

Post by van ordinaire »

At the end of the day, we can only speak as we find &, of course, I have no experience of sending stuff by courier - frankly, I just couldn't be bothered finding out what was involved!

The cost element I find so objectionable is the way it's calculated - & their insistence everything goes in a box the size of a shoebox full of unnecessary packing when often it could just've had a label (& a stamp) stuck on the original box - or even put in an envelope!

DHL went up a notch in my esteem yesterday when they offered me alternatives, if no one was in, once they'd picked up the package (a battery, as it happens so post wasn't an option) rather than after 2 failed deliveries, which has been my previous experience. However, I was less than impressed with being told I'd be given a delivery slot today - useless, I'd need that before I left for work in the morning - at the very latest! Still, less than 24 hours from Abergele to S. London IS, in fairness, quite impressive! Not quite in the same league as Citylink (remember them?) who could get me CCTV hardware from Belfast overnight!
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Re: Parcel Force Ugh!

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

I used to regularly use City Link (work related), and they normally were very good. However, on one occasion they got it badly wrong. I had been told (the previous evening) about a very urgent call that I HAD to attend first thing the following morning. I arrived at the City Link depot I used, collected my parts, and checked through them all to organise them. I found that the urgent part was missing. I asked the depot where the part was, and (after a few minutes) they were able to tell me where it was. I then had to call into Control to explain that I could not attend that urgent call, as the part I needed for the call was currently in EDINBURGH!!! Oops. My depot was in Reading.
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Re: Parcel Force Ugh!

Post by admiral51 »

I think it all depends on what suits the end user. I have had some bad experiences from all of the companies mentioned, however i will pay more to make sure my package/parcel is not delivered by Yodel, they have maybe the most complicated and user unfriendly way of tracking a package and getting information from them in my experience makes getting blood from a stone a much easier option.
We have to remember that the majority of couriers are self employed, they work a set route/area and given time they get to know their customers, the good ones stick around because they adapt and remember when people are probably at home.
I am happy to use Royal Mail/Parcel Force as it suits me, my local sorting office is 1 mile away and my parcel force depot is 1.2 miles away, both my wife and son pass them on a daily basis so if i am not in it is easy for us to collect, may not suit everyone but for me it works
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van ordinaire
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'05 (yes, really) C15
'97 Xantia Exclusive estate
others:-
'96 Jeep Cherokee Limited - the "donor"
'99 Jeep Cherokee Orvis - the green one
'97 Jeep Cherokee Limited - the red one
'99 Cadillac Seville STS
'96 Cadillac Eldorado ETC
& numerous what might be described as abandoned projects!
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Re: Parcel Force Ugh!

Post by van ordinaire »

BUT, who is the "end user"? I would've thought it was the consignee - whose interests are of no interest to anyone: the consignor wants the cheapest delivery & the the courier just wants a signature, it doesn't matter whose - or where it's obtained.
I think when referring to "couriers" we mean the companies, not the drivers - although the blame for putting a card through the door, rather than knocking/ringing must lay with them, whatever pressure they're under.
The reason why courier companies are totally unsuited to domestic deliveries, as it seems their drivers know, is that many people are always at work, at least during the week & it's dealing with that that the postal service wins hands down. (although there was a DHL van outside a neighbour's this afternoon)
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'05 C15 :!:
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Re: Parcel Force Ugh!

Post by Gibbo2286 »

My nephew who I mentioned earlier has now left his zero hours job with the Post Office and got a job with UPS on a proper contract, his first three weeks he's been on a defensive driving course before moving on to the job proper.

He's done courier work before but spent the last three years in the PO sorting office.
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Re: Parcel Force Ugh!

Post by mickthemaverick »

I have just unearthed this picture of a parcel delivered to our house while we were out and "half stuffed" under the back gate. I'm afraid I don't know the courier but it was not DHL or Hermes as I know the chaps from there would not have done that!! :shock: :)
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van ordinaire
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'05 (yes, really) C15
'97 Xantia Exclusive estate
others:-
'96 Jeep Cherokee Limited - the "donor"
'99 Jeep Cherokee Orvis - the green one
'97 Jeep Cherokee Limited - the red one
'99 Cadillac Seville STS
'96 Cadillac Eldorado ETC
& numerous what might be described as abandoned projects!
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Re: Parcel Force Ugh!

Post by van ordinaire »

Nor would a postman!

How could you not know? All those e-mails, the label - &, of course, the invitation to rate the experience.
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'81 2CV Club :cry:
'05 C15 :!:
'97 Xantia Exclusive estate [-o<
others:-
Jeep XJ Cherokees x 3 :?
'96 Cadillac Eldorado
'99 Cadillac STS :|
& the numerous "abandoned projects" #-o
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Re: Parcel Force Ugh!

Post by mickthemaverick »

Good point Van, I should have been clearer. The labelling had come off apart from a bar code sticker, and on opening the package we found it to contain a collection of small flower pots and paper bags of seeds which we had not ordered. None of our neighbours had any knowledge of it and as you quite rightly said the royal mail also confirmed no parcel had been delivered to us on that day. I was slightly suspicious of the possible type of seed so they were consigned to our brown bin and the pots donated to a gardener up the road. I concluded that the parcel may have been "dumped" by an incompetent delivery person who had lost the labelling and couldn't be bothered to go through his company's "undeliverable" policy, whatever that may have been. However there is of course another possibility which may have been the answer!!! :-D
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Re: Parcel Force Ugh!

Post by myglaren »

Should have planted them, you could make a fortune - or alternatively get free board and lodging for a year or two.
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Re: Parcel Force Ugh!

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

Well, Parcel Force (or should that be Parcel FARCE?) have really screwed my Brother AGAIN! For three months they have denied knowing anything about some items he had ordered (in time for some of his customer Christmas orders). When he got the Border Police involved they found said items in the Parcel Force warehouse (where they had been for quite some time, and never moved). He has now started legal proceedings, as (among other things) his company reputation has been damaged (and as it is a fledgling company that could be 'dangerous'). He also is trying to get The Monopolies Commission involved, as it seems that only Parcel Force/Royal Mail are allowed to handle Customs items such as his.

He also, on 17th December, got a list of the new Customs tariffs. Almost every country now has increased tariffs when importing to the UK. How come? We didn't even know if there was going to be any sort of trade deal with the EU at that time, yet Royal Mail/Parcel Force have added a hefty chunk onto his costs. Even if the trade deal does NOT increase the tariffs I will bet that the new costs will remain in force.
Last edited by Hell Razor5543 on 30 Dec 2020, 18:17, edited 3 times in total.
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