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