jonny777 Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 My only problem with Royal Mail is the cost. I recently returned a faulty laptop to a supplier, and was going to use Yodel because it would have cost me about £6 judging by the weight of the package. However, they said they had no courier to deliver to the postcode and as I had the item parceled up and ready to go, I decided to take it to the Post Office where the cheapest cost was £15, and if I wished it to be guaranteed 24 hour delivery the price quoted was £25. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 My only problem with Royal Mail is the cost. I recently returned a faulty laptop to a supplier, and was going to use Yodel because it would have cost me about £6 judging by the weight of the package. However, they said they had no courier to deliver to the postcode and as I had the item parceled up and ready to go, I decided to take it to the Post Office where the cheapest cost was £15, and if I wished it to be guaranteed 24 hour delivery the price quoted was £25. I bet the cheaper option did not give insurance of the item's value either; RM are pricing themselves right out of the domestic parcels market and some of the other's collection or drop-off facilities are more convenient given there's been so many sub-office closures. Unfortunately the people least likely to avail themselves of the alternatives are the elderly and non-internet users who are possibly the ones who can least afford the increases. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 They (RM) do seem to be pricing themselves out of the domestic market, that's for sure. Last week, I saw my elderly neighbour coming back to her house with a sizeable parcel. Offering to help (I thought it was heavy), it turned out to weigh next to nothing and was simply full of knitted items for her granddaughter's new baby in Sheffield. She'd been to the post office and told me she couldn't afford to send it and was quite upset. I had a "Hermes" parcel to book so I offered to send it for her. Collection from her (my) door was £3.98. She would have had to pay more than 3 times that at the post office (large parcel, even though it weighed nothing). Say what you like about the cheaper Hermes-type carriers, but they triumphed on this occasion. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crosland Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 My personal preference these days would be Yodel. NOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo!!!! They are far worse than Hermes. IMHO Had an e-mail yesterday to say they were delivering. Then another to say they had delivered. That was interesting as no one was in. Get home, no parcel anywhere to be seen. No calling card to say where they left it. That's not on. Andrew Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crosland Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 The cheaper delivery services tend to rely on part-time couriers using their own vehicles to make the final delivery so the service you get can depend a lot on who your local courier is. Even the larger firms work like this. DHL@Home for instance is a right pain to arrange collection from the depot if you miss a delivery, as it will be in the back of the local agents car and you have to wait for him to take it back to the depot first. Andrew Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 My only problem with Royal Mail is the cost. I recently returned a faulty laptop to a supplier, and was going to use Yodel because it would have cost me about £6 judging by the weight of the package. However, they said they had no courier to deliver to the postcode and as I had the item parceled up and ready to go, I decided to take it to the Post Office where the cheapest cost was £15, and if I wished it to be guaranteed 24 hour delivery the price quoted was £25. On Thursday I had to send an urgent letter to a client, and it had to go by Special Delivery. I was told that if I wanted it to get to the client by 9am, it would cost.....get this.....EIGHTEEN QUID!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Jonboy Posted November 15, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 15, 2014 Didn't DHL at home become Yodel? I sent 16 loco's with Hermes last year and all made it. A couple to outlying areas were a couple of days later than their website promised at booking.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrushType4 Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 I use a independent parcel courier based in Bury St Edmunds and they are excellent. They even save money on ordinary letters. The Royal Mail is having a tough time and is losing business because of its high charges which they can't reduce because the unions are slow in allowing RM to change its work practices. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jbqfc Posted November 15, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 15, 2014 i got a parcel today from the Queen on line store sent by DPD as he gave me the parcel he pointed to one left on my doorstep it was one from Hattons sent By Royal mail had been there from at least Thursday as i was in all day Friday the parcel was a bit wet but the contents were ok so i have sent a complaint off to royal mail no card through the door or anything i must say i was impressed with DPD got a Email saying when the parcel was coming and a chance to change this if not convenient Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Gilbert Posted November 15, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 15, 2014 Having seen one of the cheaper couriers using a station car park as a distribution and sorting centre with parcels being thrown into a collection of plies on the floor destined for a number of unmarked vans from a slightly larger lorry i feel less than trusting... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium TheQ Posted November 15, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 15, 2014 Yodel/dhl are a disaster they regularly fail to deliver claiming no one at home but my wife is semi disabled and only goes out when I take her and I don't get many days off work. I ordered some batteries on 24th October which failed to arrive by the 7th Nov a promised delivery date of the 2nd.. After a phone call to the suppliers batteries arrived on the 8th by Royal Mail The original batteries have just arrived to day (15th Nov) by city link with a sent date of the 24th Oct on them!.. I know RM are more expensive but round here they are the only reliable deliverers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 Conversely I could say that round here RM are the poorest at successfully delivering; I've caught them out half-a-dozen times now not bringing the parcel but stuffing a card through the letterbox without ringing. Each time it's "Oh we didn't have space for them on the van but we wanted you to know we've got it". So if it's something I urgently need I have to do half of their job for them and go and pick it up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Hughes Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 i got a parcel today from the Queen Name dropper. sent by DPD You'd think she'd use Royal Mail though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jbqfc Posted November 15, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 15, 2014 Name dropper. You'd think she'd use Royal Mail though. Wrong Queen this one is the rock group Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
37pits Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 I always use RM to post out parcels no problems with them, but I tend to receive a few parcels from Hermes although a few have not arrived & when using the tracking number given to me by sellers they've appeared to have got stuck in the sender's local depot, no explanations of why they got stuck. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob hughes60 Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 I have more confidence in Royal Mail - though that is due to our phenomenal postie. When buying from Ebay increasing numbers of sellers seem to be using Hermes. Our local Hermes lady Hettie is brilliant and it is because of her that Hermes delivery works. Apparently she gets 45p a parcel but does a brilliant job; nothing is ever left in the garden,or on the step always delivered. So the most interesting point for me is that it is the individuals who make the service work and inspire confidence in their firm. But don't mention UPS/DHL. Cheers Bob Hughes Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium rab Posted November 16, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 16, 2014 Went to a 1\2 day course on 'Buying and Selling on EBay yesterday. The lady running the course said she nearly always uses Hermes as its a standard of £4 for anything up to 5kg or 2m cube so it makes it easy to know what potage to include in the price. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith George Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 I have been praising up MyHermes, but now I find a parcel that was collected from me by them nine days ago as not yet arrived at its destination. Also to put a tin hat on it, their website will not let me in to my account. Keith. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiDAS Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 It appears Hermes are on Watchdog next week. I wonder why cant be just one complaint Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith George Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 I have been praising up MyHermes, but now I find a parcel that was collected from me by them nine days ago as not yet arrived at its destination. Also to put a tin hat on it, their website will not let me in to my account. Keith. And as a follow up I have just received a message that a parcel I sent last week as arrived, but smashed. I spent ages packing that parcel I thought it was bomb proof.! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sheep Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 I have been praising up MyHermes, but now I find a parcel that was collected from me by them nine days ago as not yet arrived at its destination. Also to put a tin hat on it, their website will not let me in to my account. Keith. They were having technical issues today, I was having problems logging in too Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold colin penfold Posted November 22, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 22, 2014 I dont like Yodel and the last time I used Hattons they ignored my preference (chosen withthe radio buttons on ordring) to use RM and sent by Yodel. The item was left outside my door in the elements, despite my safe place (an outside loo) being in arm's reach. Lucky for them and me it didn't rain before I got home. Hattons response was that they will ignore your preference if they think that using another service "will be quicker" Aparrently it's not good enough to use the radio buttons to select your choice, you need to write in the special delivery instructions too. Guess this applies whichever way your preference lies, RM or Yodel. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Radford Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Apart from RM all the parcel carriers seem to use local concessions consisting of anyone with 4 wheels so I think I would be hard pushed to know who any parcel was transported by. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crosland Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Apart from RM all the parcel carriers seem to use local concessions consisting of anyone with 4 wheels so I think I would be hard pushed to know who any parcel was transported by. I think you mean cut price "parcel carriers", in which case you get what you pay for. The others, e.g. Fed Ex, UPS, etc., employ their own staff. Andrew Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Re6/6 Posted November 27, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 27, 2014 I think you mean cut price "parcel carriers", in which case you get what you pay for. The others, e.g. Fed Ex, UPS, etc., employ their own staff. Andrew It would seem that you're correct there Andrew. Yodel have had some just awful press this morning. They have been given the contract by the British Legion(?) to deliver the ceramic poppies for the Tower to subscribers. There have been some horror stories on the radio this morning regarding wrong deliveries, damage, some have been smashed and disrespect to the contents. One was thrown over a gate into someone's porch. Yodel were asked for for a response. They refused. Says it all really. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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