Couriers for bikes

Recommendations? Got to get a packaged bike from Dorset to East London as cheaply as poss.

Cheers.

Paisley Freight has the most user-friendly website for bikes. But beware, they are just acting as agents for the dreaded TNT who once wrecked a bike for me, so pack the bike well and tell the consignee to check the package carefully and sign for it as “damaged” if there’s any doubt at all. My buyer’s wife signed for it in good condition despite the bike box being wrecked and I had a hell of a job getting anything out of TNT as a consequence.

Cool. Top tip. Cheers.

I used Cyclesent this week to send a boxed mtb.

£24.99 next day + £1.99 to some areas of Scottish mainland and £7 for insurance up to £1k.

Positives:
Good price including insurance (also check out their website to apply for a 10% discount code)
Next day delivery
No damage to the bike

Negatives:
On booking I wasnt sure I would get their day I asked for (some form of proper, definite confirmation would be best) so I FB’d them to ask but they were quick to reply and confirm.
No tracking reference sent, I had to email them for this and again this was replied to quickly. The link they sent wasnt much use though and I ended up tracking it through APCs own tracking when it was at the depot and updating.
I had no idea if I needed to label it – you don’t, the courier does that but I did plaster it with address labels for the guy it was going to. Again this was confirmed quickly in the email about tracking.

The lack of confirmation, label and tracking did make me squirm wondering if it was legit and I was tempted to photograph the couriers van but it was nice to see it was APC. I would use them again but next time I would check the email tracking update option which I missed this time (50p extra) as this might keep me up to date a bit better.