I’ve bought something online, they’ve sent it via UK Mail and it’s turning into a right PITA getting hold of the damn thing.
If they just sent it RM I’d either have it by now or could just drop by the delivery office on the way to work.
Is it much cheaper for the retailer to use couriers rather than RM? Because there seems to be no possible benefit to the customer if they have, you know, a job or something.

Usually the couriers are cheaper, yes – especially when they’re trying to win business from each other.

There’s a general expectation of free delivery these days too hence going with the cheapest option.

Royal Mail have all sorts of restrictions on what they won’t deliver. If you have a mixed catalogue of products that you sell its more cost effective to use one courier to do all.

Had a nightmare with hermes this week

When I paid on the online checkout it asked for any special courier instructions, to which I wrote leave with a neighbour

2 attempted deliveries, although no card left. I only found this out by looking at the online tracking. Online chat with hermes, they said leave a note on the door saying I’m not in

Spoke to retailer, asked if they could get in touch with courier, they said they would try. I told them leave with a neighbour and I will leave the back gate open so they can also leave it at the back door

Got back to find the parcel in the middle of the back garden with a slightly squashed box. It had just been launched over the gate (which was open)

On the address label was printed ‘if out leave with neighbour’

The swines

All other couriers round here are great and leave stuff with neighbours or in a garden box at the back of the house. Royal fail however always take it back to the depot so its a wait till a saturday then having to deal with mr mega grumpy at the sorting office. Worse if they take to the post office who are shut before 9 after 5 at lunch and all weekend bar saturday morning!!!

I’ve had parcels carded before when I’ve been in. Asking the postman for my parcel only to be told he’d not brought it with them anyway.

Because Royal Mail are utter sh*te
DPD on the other hand can be tracked to your doorstep, and you know where the parcel is to the nearest few miles nd you can give them instructions at any time via text on what to do with it

Conversely, ordered from eBuyer on Friday at 4pm, order delivered by Yodel at 8.30am Saturday morning. Impressed.

As ever, whichever company has it, you’re at the mercy of whether your parcel passes through the hands of their decent staff or their cretins.

DPD on the other hand can be tracked to your doorstep, and you know where the parcel is to the nearest few miles

Interesting.
I’ve just had a dreadful experience with DPD failing to deliver my parcel 4 times. Not once did I get any tracking information like this. It makes me think they were never going to deliver and took it straight to the collection shop in the next town on the first day and pretended they’d redeliver all the other times.

I’ve just had a dreadful experience with DPD failing to deliver my parcel 4 times. Not once did I get any tracking information like this.

That’s strange. Are you sure it was DPD?

I regularly order from a supplier who always uses DPD. I get excellent tracking information and get notified of which hour slot the delivery will be made, at 9.oo in the morning. I have never had a problem with them.

http://www.dpd.co.uk/content/products_services/predict_fmp.jsp

Never had a problem with Royal Mail and like the way you can collect from a Post Office or the sorting office.

Yodel on the other hand are absolutely hopeless.

For me, it’s mostly because RM are much more involved to post something.

If I want to ship with Fedex (my usual UK courier), I just quickly go to their website, enter the delivery details, press a button to print out the label, stick it on the parcel, and put it by the front door for the friendly driver to collect.

With RM, need to go to their much slower website, log in again, go through several pages of deciding which size of envelope I’m printing onto, enter the address, work out the weight and size of the parcel, make sure it’s something they’ll actually deliver, not destroy because they think it’s dangerous, try to pay for the postage using the prepayment option, find it’s still not working and pay with a backup credit card, then download the postage label which never prints out the right size so have to faff about sticking it to the parcel, then have to take the parcel home with me, stopping off on the way to stand in a queue with lots of pensioners so I can hand it over to the counter clerk and explain yet again that it’s prepaid so it doesn’t have to go on their scales and they don’t get to charge me more money. Then it vanishes into the postal system with no tracking info, and little recourse if it never gets there.

That’s why I rarely bother with RM.

It was definitely DPD I just got the delivery time slot email, no tracking which I’ve had before. They claimed to have called but no one was in. I was in the garden the times when they claimed to have called and would have had to walk passed me to get to the front door! To be far it’s not just DPD that are rubbish all of them except Parcel Force and Royal Mail are here!

DPD have been great in my experience and i generally try to use a retailer who use DPD

The whole concept of delivering it to a local mini-mart who are generally open until 11pm is just genius

RM are great for letter which fit through your post box – bugger all else

great for letter which fit through your post box – bugger all else

To give them their due, round here they are quite good at delivering anything, so long as it will fit in your wheely bin, on top of all your food waste and grass cuttings!

I think the trouble with RM is that they siphon off a proportion of high value items that are sent and flog them on ebay for their own profit with no comeback from the sender.

… or is that just for private senders ?

Disappointing to hear about DPD.
I choose DPD from Bike24 and they have repeatedly been excellent. Would recommend as an example of a good courier.
RM for me always involve a card and trip to a depot.
Seem to know when I’m out better than the wife

Because some couriers are more of a guarantee they’ll deliver on time, if not before. Got one today from Amazon. RM deliver on a Sunday? Ha! Fat chance you’ll get what you want even on a Saturday, though they’ll happily shove junk mail through the letterbox on a Saturday.

Couriers however suck when it comes to things returning to depots. They’re fine if they leave it somewhere safe, but I dread the courier card saying it’s back at the depot. Many of the places I have to go are an hour’s drive and a right faff, but their redelivery options are often a nightmare also. Delivery to work is generally not an option for me and many won’t offer delivery to a local PO or even a collection point in a shop even though you can order something to be delivered to a collection point.

DPD…

They’d been fine for me until recently when despite a parcel that could be left under the mat as they usual do, they decided to return to depot. Carded, no details on who to contact so had to look it up. Online system didn’t recognise the number on the card. Turned out he’d missed a number off. Eventually got them to recognise it. No can’t have it redelivered to another address, no to the Post Office, only options were redeliver to the house next day (can’t ask for a specific day) which was no go, or pick up (hour’s drive). Asked for it to be held at the depot, go to collect and pass through the airport security system to get in, hand over the multiple bits of ID including a utility bill (printouts not accepted… all mine are online!), oh it’s not here. It’s on the van. Aggghhhh! Had to try again another day.

Parcel Farce used to be the worst for me. Amongst many, one similar story was back and forth to depot only to be told it’s on the van despite saying I’d pick it up. Three times they tried a delivery and then returned it to the sender… in America! This despite the clear note on the card that they’d hold it for a couple of weeks. 👿

We receive about 5-10 deliveres a day from various suppliers using various couiers, RM/parcel force are easily the worst – it’s a complete lottery, they claim we were “out” despite it being a full staffed office open from 8am to 6pm, they’ve delivered thousands of pounds worth of computer equipment to the wrong address and claim they didn’t and personally the only time I’ve had to contact someone to say something hasn’t arrived and they need to send another was with Royal Mail.

DPD and TNT seem to be the best, but we’re always here to receive stuff

We should create a map of which courier is most reliable in your area so we know who to use!

i just had a courier fail to deliver a parecel but its ok becasue i can pick it up from their depot which is further away than the retailer it came from..and its my fault

The current Planet X offering is interesting. Three couriers to choose from at different prices (if under the free delivery value) – rm, yodel & dhl. All take the same time. Given it’s the retailers responsibility if their courier cocks up it feels kind of weird to have to pay more for the better quality service when ‘quality service’ means just delivering your purchase to the right place vaguely on time.I suppose they’ll say you might want to choose the more expensive option because the depot is closer. But it still feels odd.

Crc do. Well parcel force for bigger items.