The best and worst delivery companies

Status
Not open for further replies.
Soldato
Joined
6 May 2009
Posts
19,885
Is there a name and shame / appraisal website for delivery companies or a good place to leave reviews that impact people (companies) choice of delivery service?

Most recently Hermes have been terrible. They lost an item my parents were sending, they contacted Hermes but took them 2 weeks to reply! Then they replied that it was outside the time it needed to be reported, but this was only the case because it took them 2 weeks to respond!
Hermes have in the past been ok for me but have also left valuable parcels in places where they could have been stolen

On the other hand, I have used DPD a couple of times recently, on eBay and an OCUK competitor. I ordered something yesterday at 18:00 and it is being delivered today between 13:00-14:00. Similar story for when I purchased an item on eBay. Purchased Sunday and item arrived Monday morning at 9am!

Some serious logistics must go into delivering items that fast. More so with Amazon same day or even 1 hour delivery
 
Soldato
Joined
28 Feb 2006
Posts
6,044
Location
Beds
Couriers are hit and miss depending on where you live. Generally most of the couriers are pretty good where i live. The one thing that annoys me is that some don't read the sign to use the side door and just leave parcels on the front step which anyone walking by can see.

I had the same company send a parcel via first class royal mail and one by Parcel Force 48 hrs. Both parcels were sent at the same time from the same place in Ireland. Royal Mail delivered next day but due to the weekend Parcel Force took 4 days :rolleyes:
 
Soldato
Joined
16 Aug 2009
Posts
7,728
Hermes are bargain basement cheap as chips you get what you pay for, delivery service. Large retailers use them because they can afford to absorb the losses of generally low value items if it disappears/gets lost/thrown into a hedge they just send out another, if you want a reliable tracked delivery that you can rely on to get your valuable and probably solitary parcel to where its supposed to going you use someone like DPD.
 
Associate
Joined
15 Jun 2009
Posts
2,494
I've stopped buying from a company that used Hermes, paid for a year's subscription to their delivery saver scheme and out of maybe 10 deliveries, they were all late or I had to get them redelivered because they had "attempted" delivery 3 times despite being in for all of them

DPD and Amazon have been by far the best for me. Royal mail are spot on too but generally only for smaller items that'll fit through the letter box.

Can't actually remember a time I've had a deliver from anything other than the above
 
Soldato
Joined
16 Mar 2004
Posts
13,474
Location
UK
In all fairness, have had no issues with any companies since I've moved from a flat to a house. Always had issues with cheaper companies in the latter but it was a big, painful to navigate complex of flats.
 
Associate
Joined
18 Apr 2020
Posts
766
Most couriers where I am are good - the Hermes one really depends on how bothered the driver can be and what kind of car they have, how many other couriers they deliver for.

Always found our Parcelforce driver good and DPD are consistently excellent.

Amazon logistics can be hit and miss. Had a few expensive items never arrive (damaged in transit seems to be the message when I ask Amazon what's going on).
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Mar 2009
Posts
3,516
Location
Hereford
I always groan when I see Yodel as the courier but to be fair the last 3 times they've been excellent and even been quicker than they said.

Hermes can do one though. Takes days and days.

Our dpd and parcelforce drivers are great. DHL ok but sometimes don't bother turning up for collection.
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Mar 2010
Posts
12,305
Is there a name and shame / appraisal website for delivery companies or a good place to leave reviews that impact people (companies) choice of delivery service?

Very unlikely.

You could probably post a bad review on trustpilot, but lets face it, no one is going to check trustpilot for delivery comments before they place an order. In most cases, people don't even know who the courier will be until they've had a shipping confirmation come through.

It's also usually a case of you get what you pay for. If you're choosing a retailer and they're offering free delivery, then you've gotta expect they're going to go with the cheapest courier they can get.
 
Caporegime
Joined
13 Jan 2010
Posts
32,495
Location
Llaneirwg
I've lived in 4 places over last 4 years.

Never had an issue that's been really serious, just annoyance of Dpd not coming on Saturday one time when they were supposed to.

Actually find hermes really good.
Royal mail paid out when they lost my parcel no issues
Ups. Can't fault them for a 5 pounds service for quite big parcels!
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Apr 2013
Posts
12,371
Location
La France
DPD have always been really good to me.

ParcelFarce, Yokel and My Herpes were utterly useless every time I had the misfortune to have goods delivered by them.

They have no interest in customer feedback, even when you send them CCTV footage of their employees throwing parcels over the side gate with a force that DDR shot putters would struggle to match.

A pox on all of them.
 
Associate
Joined
19 Aug 2016
Posts
477
Location
Bristol
Hermes failed to come and collect a parcel from me 3 times, and it took ages to get a refund. Also, they are always already driving away by the time I get to the door, with the parcel just left there. Maybe that's "Covid", or maybe not but luckily nothing has gone walkies yet!
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
6 May 2009
Posts
19,885
I will add that my location does not change. DLH, Royal Mail and DPD have been great recently.
Only Hermes that have been guff
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Oct 2010
Posts
5,230
Amazon have always been spot on for me.

Mixed bag with everything else, I actually worked for DPD a few years back and the quality of service you get absolutely depends on the area you're in/depot you deal with and to an extent the time of year.

I regularly had to contact various depos up and down the country, some were fantastic and others just couldn't give a crap, absolutely disgraceful behaviour when you questioned them or asked them to do something. They also have a tendency of taking on bulk temp staff during busy periods and giving them next to no training, which obviously doesn't help.

I suspect most courier services have similar problems.
 
Soldato
Joined
30 Jan 2009
Posts
17,175
Location
Aquilonem Londinensi
Hermes are the worst I've experienced around here. Constant lies about attempting to deliver home and worse for my work address. I avoid buying things if they are the courier but have been caught out twice on eBay purchases to work (cables, connectors and whatnot)... "Your parcel is out for delivery between 7PM and 9PM" when the work address is obviously going to be closed.

Amazon and RM, always spot on. Not sure if Amazon's system is clever enough to know my work address is business hours only, never had them attempt to deliver after hours over what must be hundreds of orders
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom