Citylink in good service shocker...

The only reason I've ever been reluctant to order from Tekheads
is their use of City Link as courier. I've personally had
damaged parcels (Insight/City Link) and heard about digital
cameras (original order and then the replacement) going missing
from my local depot.

Service locally (I'm served by the Stoke, Staffs depot I think)
seems to have improved though. No problems with the Tekheads
order, from items packed to delivery time. And the items
ordered (4.1 speakers, keyboard, mouse) arrived without so much
as a dent or rip in the boxes. City Link must have postponed
their nightly five-a-side games.

(As I only ever come here to moan, I figured it's worth posting
a positive experience when it involves a courier that often gets
it all so wrong.)
--
Lee J. Moore
http://cafe-society.com

Service locally (I'm served by the Stoke, Staffs depot I think)
seems to have improved though. No problems with the Tekheads
order, from items packed to delivery time. And the items
ordered (4.1 speakers, keyboard, mouse) arrived without so much
as a dent or rip in the boxes. City Link must have postponed
their nightly five-a-side games.

My order from Tekheads was a disaster thanks to City Link - they didn't
deliver when I was at home (The driver couldn't find out house!!!!) and then
I arranged to have it redirected to Work. Mmmm, yes, they found the house
instead...

Anyway, it turned out OK, as they said I could go and pick it up despite
saying they shut at 6:00. THe only problem is that the "Coventry" depot is
in a lousy location, out in the countryside...

Ah well. Tekheads service was excellent, by the way.

On Tue, 16 Sep 2003 18:35:54 +0100, "Martin Nike"
wrote:


Service locally (I'm served by the Stoke, Staffs depot I think)
seems to have improved though. No problems with the Tekheads
order, from items packed to delivery time. And the items
ordered (4.1 speakers, keyboard, mouse) arrived without so much
as a dent or rip in the boxes. City Link must have postponed
their nightly five-a-side games.

My order from Tekheads was a disaster thanks to City Link - they didn't
deliver when I was at home (The driver couldn't find out house!!!!) and then
I arranged to have it redirected to Work. Mmmm, yes, they found the house
instead...

Anyway, it turned out OK, as they said I could go and pick it up despite
saying they shut at 6:00. THe only problem is that the "Coventry" depot is
in a lousy location, out in the countryside...

Ah well. Tekheads service was excellent, by the way.



City Link are having a nightmare right now, IMO. They seem to be
employing drivers of a very low quality and I was today told, quote

" If a driver can't quickly find a collection point, he is under
instruction to mark it down as nothing to go and move on".

I have the name and depot of the person stating this on record. And
boy, do they fail to make collections as booked.

If they mess up a collection, they will also do nothing to sort it
out, except rebook the collection for the next day, clearly with no
guarantee that they will get it right next time.

They offer a double money back guarantee, but in reality I have proof
that they often fail to credit this without several written requests
from the user, as the depots do not seem to admit their errors to head
office.

Compare this with dear old Interlink (prior to the Gepost buyout) who
would arrange a dedicated sameday courier nationwide if they screwed
up a collection. To my knowledge, no company offers a service to
match that these days. If anyone knows differently, PLEASE post your
findings.

Bear the above in mind if considering City Link as a delivery option.
They are currently not performing and they seem to be getting
progressively worse.

We are even considering TNT again (God forbid), unless we can find a
credible alternative for our 250 odd carriage forwards a week.

Crossbow wrote in message
...
On Tue, 16 Sep 2003 18:35:54 +0100, "Martin Nike"
wrote:


Service locally (I'm served by the Stoke, Staffs depot I think)
seems to have improved though. No problems with the Tekheads
order, from items packed to delivery time. And the items
ordered (4.1 speakers, keyboard, mouse) arrived without so much
as a dent or rip in the boxes. City Link must have postponed
their nightly five-a-side games.

My order from Tekheads was a disaster thanks to City Link - they didn't
deliver when I was at home (The driver couldn't find out house!!!!) and
then
I arranged to have it redirected to Work. Mmmm, yes, they found the house
instead...

Anyway, it turned out OK, as they said I could go and pick it up despite
saying they shut at 6:00. THe only problem is that the "Coventry" depot
is
in a lousy location, out in the countryside...

Ah well. Tekheads service was excellent, by the way.



City Link are having a nightmare right now, IMO. They seem to be
employing drivers of a very low quality and I was today told, quote

" If a driver can't quickly find a collection point, he is under
instruction to mark it down as nothing to go and move on".

I have the name and depot of the person stating this on record. And
boy, do they fail to make collections as booked.

If they mess up a collection, they will also do nothing to sort it
out, except rebook the collection for the next day, clearly with no
guarantee that they will get it right next time.

They offer a double money back guarantee, but in reality I have proof
that they often fail to credit this without several written requests
from the user, as the depots do not seem to admit their errors to head
office.

Compare this with dear old Interlink (prior to the Gepost buyout) who
would arrange a dedicated sameday courier nationwide if they screwed
up a collection. To my knowledge, no company offers a service to
match that these days. If anyone knows differently, PLEASE post your
findings.

Bear the above in mind if considering City Link as a delivery option.
They are currently not performing and they seem to be getting
progressively worse.

We are even considering TNT again (God forbid), unless we can find a
credible alternative for our 250 odd carriage forwards a week.


I'm looking for a courier at the moment and have experiences with all of
them except UPS, but they charge an arm and a leg.
Currently we use Business Post but they are getting progressively worse at
delivering as well as getting arsey about paying out for lost parcels,
damages etc...

If city link are just as bad then I will stick with business post as they
are a lot cheaper and they rarely weigh anything

On Tue, 16 Sep 2003 22:42:25 +0100, "Crossbow" wrote:

snip

We are even considering TNT again (God forbid), unless we can find a
credible alternative for our 250 odd carriage forwards a week.

My mate does all his courier work via TNT. After several years he has
never had any significant problem with them.

--
This post does not reflect the opinions of all saggy cloth
cats be they a bit loose at the seams or not
GSX600F - Matilda the (now) two eared teapot, complete with
white gaffer tape, though no rectal chainsaw

"Chimp" wrote in message
...
snip

I'm looking for a courier at the moment and have experiences with all of
them except UPS, but they charge an arm and a leg.
Currently we use Business Post but they are getting progressively worse at
delivering as well as getting arsey about paying out for lost parcels,
damages etc...

If city link are just as bad then I will stick with business post as they
are a lot cheaper and they rarely weigh anything



City Link's prices depend on which branch you use, and if it's a franchise
or not (my g/f works in the admin dept, so I know this). It's probably best
to arrange a meeting as you can always haggle on the prices with them.

--
Scorpio

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 10:31:39 +0100, Bagpuss
wrote:

On Tue, 16 Sep 2003 22:42:25 +0100, "Crossbow" wrote:

snip

We are even considering TNT again (God forbid), unless we can find a
credible alternative for our 250 odd carriage forwards a week.

My mate does all his courier work via TNT. After several years he has
never had any significant problem with them.

All our work is third party collections from our component suppliers
coming back to the local depot for us to collect at 07.30hrs next day.
For some reason, certain overnight courier companies seem to be able
to handle this type of work, while others struggle.

In our experience City Link and TNT can't, Amtrak and Interlink sort
of can but are too expensive when their third party collection
surcharges are added.

We have about 80 of these collections every day, all from regular
venues.

Haven't tried Securicor Omega, Nightspeed, Nightfreight, Business
Post, UPS, DHL, Parcel Force (and won't be), NCN or APC, so any
experiences of those (or others I've forgotten) appreciated.

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 13:50:06 +0100, Crossbow wrote:

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 10:31:39 +0100, Bagpuss
wrote:

On Tue, 16 Sep 2003 22:42:25 +0100, "Crossbow" wrote:

snip

We are even considering TNT again (God forbid), unless we can find a
credible alternative for our 250 odd carriage forwards a week.

My mate does all his courier work via TNT. After several years he has
never had any significant problem with them.

All our work is third party collections from our component suppliers
coming back to the local depot for us to collect at 07.30hrs next day.
For some reason, certain overnight courier companies seem to be able
to handle this type of work, while others struggle.

In our experience City Link and TNT can't, Amtrak and Interlink sort
of can but are too expensive when their third party collection
surcharges are added.

My mate's business is a bit different in that respect. He just wraps
up his work in bubble wrap drives over to the TNT building and leaves
it with them to send off. I guess thats why he has more success with
them.
--
This post does not reflect the opinions of all saggy cloth
cats be they a bit loose at the seams or not
GSX600F - Matilda the (now) two eared teapot, complete with
white gaffer tape, though no rectal chainsaw

"Bagpuss" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 13:50:06 +0100, Crossbow wrote:

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 10:31:39 +0100, Bagpuss
wrote:

On Tue, 16 Sep 2003 22:42:25 +0100, "Crossbow" wrote:

snip

We are even considering TNT again (God forbid), unless we can find a
credible alternative for our 250 odd carriage forwards a week.

My mate does all his courier work via TNT. After several years he has
never had any significant problem with them.

All our work is third party collections from our component suppliers
coming back to the local depot for us to collect at 07.30hrs next day.
For some reason, certain overnight courier companies seem to be able
to handle this type of work, while others struggle.

In our experience City Link and TNT can't, Amtrak and Interlink sort
of can but are too expensive when their third party collection
surcharges are added.

My mate's business is a bit different in that respect. He just wraps
up his work in bubble wrap drives over to the TNT building and leaves
it with them to send off. I guess thats why he has more success with
them.
--
This post does not reflect the opinions of all saggy cloth
cats be they a bit loose at the seams or not
GSX600F - Matilda the (now) two eared teapot, complete with
white gaffer tape, though no rectal chainsaw

Im Considering this option myself, with Amtrak as they have a depot only 5
miles away from me , whereas Citylink who i have an account with is miles
away, and having to wait anytime from 10am til 6pm can be a huge pain if you
have other stuff to do, so to drop at their depot is a very good idea for
me, more expense slightly, but much more time to myself, and can get drops
after normal pickups aswell i suppose.

Citylink have give me excellent service so far with no breakages ect, but
their admin is bad, and im invoiced for 35kg packs which are really no more
than 22k, this costs a lot more and i have now refused to pay over a £1000
of invoices, although im well pleased with the parcels turning up when they
should, im considering knocking them unless they will re-negotiate the debt,
and going over to Amtrak.

best prices i got for 3rd party was Amtrak and ANC so far.

andy

Crossbow wrote in message
...
On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 10:31:39 +0100, Bagpuss
wrote:

On Tue, 16 Sep 2003 22:42:25 +0100, "Crossbow" wrote:

snip

We are even considering TNT again (God forbid), unless we can find a
credible alternative for our 250 odd carriage forwards a week.

My mate does all his courier work via TNT. After several years he has
never had any significant problem with them.

All our work is third party collections from our component suppliers
coming back to the local depot for us to collect at 07.30hrs next day.
For some reason, certain overnight courier companies seem to be able
to handle this type of work, while others struggle.

In our experience City Link and TNT can't, Amtrak and Interlink sort
of can but are too expensive when their third party collection
surcharges are added.

We have about 80 of these collections every day, all from regular
venues.

Haven't tried Securicor Omega, Nightspeed, Nightfreight, Business
Post, UPS, DHL, Parcel Force (and won't be), NCN or APC, so any
experiences of those (or others I've forgotten) appreciated.

I'd give Nightspeed a miss. My previous job used to use them and, although
they came on time every day for collection, the rate of damaged goods and
late deliveries increased.

--
Scorpio