Best Couriers?

Royal mail at the moment is struggling....

I guess I must have been lucky with two RMSD one sent and one received last week, both arriving the next day. Perhaps the situation has deteriorated since then.

DPD every time.
I no longer breathe a sigh of relief when I see the goods I am waiting for are to be delivered by DPD, I don't quite have the same confidence I used to have in them. I've had a couple of issues with them over the last year. The worst one was a parcel which was meant to be delivered on a Tues via next business day delivery but for some unknown reason was held up at the central hub. It didn't arrive at my local hub until the Fri. Despite being 4 days late they wouldn't deliver on a Sat because it was next business day!
 
Hi, Well since my OP I have used RM special Del and have to say first class, sold a lot of Canon gear as I switched to Sony and everything arrived next day and all in good order.
Just sent one out today 22/12/20 and will be there tomorrow.
Have a good Christams. Russ.
 
I guess I must have been lucky with two RMSD one sent and one received last week, both arriving the next day. Perhaps the situation has deteriorated since then.

RMSD have been mostly fine. Its the rest of the RM services that's gone to s***. My current average is around 10 working days (1st class, 2nd class, signed for all makes no difference).
 
I have used Hermes around 10 times just in the last month. All collected and delivered door to door, no issues within 4 working days and has semi-decent tracking. More than I can say for non-RMSD posts.

I am sure there are some bad eggs but I don't think Hermes is all that bad in my experience.
 
Just checked the tracking for my Wilko order via Hermes (I paid extra for next day delivery):

08:35 NOT DELIVERED - DAMAGED PARCEL
07:49 WITH LOCAL COURIER DELIVERY WITHIN 24 HRS
06:41 IN TRANSIT TO DELIVERY COURIER
03:34 PROCESSED AT DEPOT
21:26 HUB OUTBOUND
19:36 HUB INFEED SCAN
19:30 PROCESSED AT HUB
19:29 RECEIVED AT HERMES HUB
10:20 PRE-ADVICE LOADED
 
Royal mail is struggling, there could not be a more accurate statement. I wanted to send a parcel over to my son and family but when I found out the parcel which weighed just under 3 kilos would cost me £69 because it would have to travel by Parcel Force Worldwide. The lady in the PO suggested if I could split the parcel in two to send them they would go via Royal mail tracked from collection to delivery and the saving would be around £30, That is what I did. That was on the 6th of December. I tracked it to leaving England and being accepted by the Dutch mail service, but there it has disappeared and It still has not arrived. It appears that the Dutch are quarantining parcels from elsewhere than internal mail.

I sent an identical parcel to my daughter and family who live in Chippenham the following day - cost £12- that too has still not arrived! Update it arrived this afternoon

Now HERMES or should that be called HERPES because they are a disease. In the 1st week of December I ordered an item for my other half and all was well, then I got an E mail from Hermes telling me the estimated delivery time was 28 DAYS! As usual getting in touch with them was fruitless - they are so secretive! I am not surprised considering their track record.
I fact the package was delivered intact after 12 days.

But it doesn't end there. Yesterday I was working in my office upstairs, The office door was open and heard the postman drop a shedload of mail onto the door mat. I did not hear a parcel delivery by Hermes some time after. No knock, nothing. When I came downstairs again there was a parcel on the floor but the packaging a large jiffy style bag was still jammed in the letterbox - the contents had been forced out of the bottom of the bag ripping the envelop to shreds and jamming the letter box. I had to remove the letter box to clear the blockage! Fortunately the package does not appear to have been damaged. A written complaint to the CEO was sent last night. I am not expecting a reply.

HERMES really are the dregs of the courier business and don't deserve to be allowed to handle anything more than a tea bag.

For anyone who is interested the CEO's E mail address is:-
martijn.delange@hermes-europe.co.uk
 
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I have just found that there is a professional association to which courier companies can belong and they have a set of rules which to remain as a member they have to agree to comply. Guess which company is not a member, no prizes for naming or shaming
 
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The issue with Hermes, is most of the couriers use their own cars and vans, they aren’t “proper” liveried vehicles like Dpd and the rest.
We have a Hermes ”depot” next to our yard , I say “depot” as it’s a tiny single unmarked unit on a industrial estate. Every morning a 7.5 truck turns up and unloads a load of cages stuffed full of parcels which are then left outside until about 50 battered cars turn up and you see the drivers shoving the packages into every conceivable space in the car with little to no care.
If I didn’t know what it was, I’d honestly think the place was being was being robbed, the speed the people are lobbing stuff in the cars.
 
The issue with Hermes, is most of the couriers use their own cars and vans, they aren’t “proper” liveried vehicles like Dpd and the rest.
We have a Hermes ”depot” next to our yard , I say “depot” as it’s a tiny single unmarked unit on a industrial estate. Every morning a 7.5 truck turns up and unloads a load of cages stuffed full of parcels which are then left outside until about 50 battered cars turn up and you see the drivers shoving the packages into every conceivable space in the car with little to no care.
If I didn’t know what it was, I’d honestly think the place was being was being robbed, the speed the people are lobbing stuff in the cars.
'08:35 NOT DELIVERED - DAMAGED PARCEL' is making a lot of sense at this point.
 
If the self employed delivery drivers are as sloppy with their vehicles as they are with the customers parcels, I wonder how many are not insured for business use? Apart from the legal niceties, no insurance to cover the job and if the goods are damaged, who pays for the damage - I bet you Hermes would not! There again how do you get in touch with them to make a claim?
 
Sending an E mail direct to the CEO seems to have worked - at least initially. They got back to me today requested more information off the packet address lable so they can investigate and deal with the matter. They stated that they will get back to me with the result. Hmmmmm! I will wait and see!
 
Hi, Well hats off to the Royal Mail, sent asmall package from Carlisle to Ipswitch yesterday and the lady at PO said maybe not arrive tomorrow but at 0915hrs delivered today. Russ.
 
The Post office did their job for me as well. Going back to post 47, the missing parcels I sent to the Netherlands were tracked until they were handed over to the Netherlands postal service 2 days later whereupon they seemingly disappeared. I received a txt from my family at 7pm on Xmas eve to say they had arrived!
 
Hermes eventually dumped about 1/3 of the contents of my Wilko order on my doorstep (a 'secure location', according to their tracking) in a plastic bag, 2 days late, on Christmas Eve. The status of my shipment is now 'delivered'.
 
I have had a reply about my complaint and to be honest I expected nothing other than a complete whitewash. I have replied to them as follows but they are so insensitive it will probably be taken as a compliment.

In other words a complete whitewash!

If you insist on employing people who do not have the common sense to deliver a package properly and intact, then your company does not deserve to be solvent!

Your management should look at the likes of Royal Mail or DPD and learn lessons about customer satisfaction. Whilst they are not perfect, the service and ability to enquire where items are after they have been posted or collected leaves yours floundering in the dark ages
 
I don't know anyone that hasn't had a bad experience with Hermes. I was months trying to resolve a simple problem with them. I got a £20 credit in my account but I have never used it and will never use them again! You summed it up in one of your earlier post.........

HERMES really are the dregs of the courier business and don't deserve to be allowed to handle anything more than a tea bag.
 
I don't know anyone that hasn't had a bad experience with Hermes.

That'd be me. Haven't had a bad experience with them yet.

Though I tried returning something from Amazon today and their dropin locker was broken. So I need to find a shop or wait for locker to be fixed.
 
I don't know anyone that hasn't had a bad experience with Hermes. I was months trying to resolve a simple problem with them. I got a £20 credit in my account but I have never used it and will never use them again! You summed it up in one of your earlier post.........


It isn't a case of never using them again, if you buy something on line and the company that sold it uses Herpes (not a spelling mistake) you really are stuffed.
 
Out of three parcels recently sent by RM two on the 22nd and 23rd the first took 24 hrs the latter posted SD in the morning arrived that night , a large parcel I sent 1st class tracked yesterday arrived today .. can’t knock that
 
I tend to use UPS for any parcels I want delivering- they collect from my front door and deliver within 24 hours- cannot fault them

Les :)
 
I moved into my new flat last Tuesday. I've been waiting for a week for this 'next day' delivery from Amazon.

Guess who the courier firm are - you guessed; Hermes. The courier couldn't even be bothered to knock the door - this is what greeted me when I went to take the dog for a walk:


20201231_153931.jpg
 
Sorry to disappoint you all, I had yet an another Hermes parcel delivered with no issues today.
Even had a nice chat with the delivery driver, very nice guy.
 
I moved into my new flat last Tuesday. I've been waiting for a week for this 'next day' delivery from Amazon.

Guess who the courier firm are - you guessed; Hermes. The courier couldn't even be bothered to knock the door - this is what greeted me when I went to take the dog for a walk:


View attachment 303878


Complain to them in writing, it probably will be whitewashed like my complaint was, but create as much unrest as you in the company to stir the mud at the bottom of the pond. Who knows there may be a decent driver living down there.

There has to be some standard they have to conform to, so after the holiday is over, I may speak to the local Trading Standards to get their take on the matter.
 
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No problem with Royal Mail tracked next day delivery. That has never failed me. There is a weight limit of 2 kilos which is quite a bit and after that the costs go through the roof because it has to carried by Parcel Force.

I sent a parcel via Royal mal track and trace to the Netherlands for Xmas. It followed the usual next day delivery as far as the Dutch postal service then was stuck for 21 days before delivery.
 
Sorry to disappoint you all, I had yet an another Hermes parcel delivered with no issues today.
Even had a nice chat with the delivery driver, very nice guy.
I don’t think the problem lies with the actual delivery drivers ,but rather with there distribution centres where stuff gets lost? Misplaced?mishandled? Address labels obscured on purpose? In other words a nest of thieves doing it on purpose so it can be sent to auction houses , you will probably find that money changes hands all along the management team to look the other way .. it’s a age old game that’s still being played ..
When I worked in Covent Garden market as a teenager they had a dedicated wharehouse to sell stolen / shoplifted goods the best customers were from bow street magistrates court , solicitors,judges, and policemen most still in uniform ... you could even order specific items !
 
took to the drop off shop 1030hrs Sunday not picked up until after 1700hrs Monday

I’m not a fan of My Hermes but to be fair to them if I took a RMSD parcel to my local post office on a Sunday morning it wouldn’t leave after 5pm on Monday as that’s the next post collection.

Dropping off at a collection point isn’t going to be any faster than collecting from home. It’s likely to be slower as once dropped off a collection needs to be scheduled in by the shop which is likely to be by end of the next working day (unless you’re lucky and another parcel is sitting waiting collection).

I’ve just seen My Hermes now do next day delivery. Personally I’d use a service that has a proven track record if I wanted next day delivery and pay more for it.
 
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DPD are setting up a net of places where you can drop of a parcel. They cannot be any worse. There are 3 near to where I live.
 
Hi, I have a Godox AD360 to send weight is approx 2.5 KG looking at the post office there price jumps from £11.00 for up to 2KG to £26.60 up to 10KG for this package that is more than double the price for 0.5KG over the 2KG limit so I am looking at DPD but there web page states that batteries are not allowed but the AD360 comes with the large battery pack otherwise it would be no good to anyone. There seems to be quite a heafty list of what you cannot send with DPD but there next day delivery is coming up at £10.79 so when they state batteries are they talking ALL batteries or just the type you would use in a torch etc? Thanks, Russ.
 
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