Parcelforce - Keep Away This Xmas

In uk.comp.vendors Palindr?me wrote:
Postman Pat wrote:
"Tony Sutton" wrote:


How? Many online stores doesn't tell you what delivery companies will do it.
Some of them use mixture of CityLink, UPS or ParcelForce depending on the
size of the parcel/package.


The trouble, and I speak from pretty extensive experience on this, is
that Citylink (and the similarly named Businesslink) employ a load of
monkeys, and Parcelforce (the old Royal Mail "send and forget" Parcel
Post service) is a complete joke.

One has to pay a bit extra to get reliability, and delivery drivers
with something resembling a brain.

I've never had any problem with CityLink - just received some stuff via
them this morning.

ParcelFarce - says it all really, doesn't it?

The opposite of my experience, which only goes to show that it's
individual depots that are different and you can't really generalise
ParcelForce - Bad, CityLink - Good (or vice versa).

--
Chris Green

In message , Postman Pat
writes

One has to pay a bit extra to get reliability, and delivery drivers
with something resembling a brain.

a real courier company like Omega Express perhaps?

--
dave @ stejonda

Beyond the farmyard the wind in the trees.

wrote:
Living in a rural area I am delighted by Parcel Force adopting this
practice and particularly as our local PO/convenience shop in Cropwell
Bishop usually have parcels available for collection outside normal PO
hours.

Although I sometimes hear complaints about City Link they have rarely
let me down BUT their local depot isn't local enough when it comes to
collecting undelivered parcels.

With increasing on-line shopping it will be interesting to see how the
parcel carrier industry evolves.

John


You'll probably find it won't as the world and his dog want things
cheaper & cheaper.

Hence the complaints against eBuyer but they have done wonders for the
price of goods, no-one remembers that. When they started they drove the
price down for the goods, granted that could & sometimes was at the
expense of customer services & the like. The same can be said for the
courier companies they are always under immense pressure to reduce
costs, no defense for them but the recent increase in fuel prices must
be causing them some problems.

It is all too easy these days to have 6 shopping carts open from 6
different on-line suppliers with the same goods in. Then what is the
deciding choice in the end, how much is the total package to the door,
the courier pricing may swing the deal.

You folks may or may not have your favorite supplier, you may boycott
certain suppliers but the mass populous won't all they want is the cheapest.

Cheap Cheap Cheap that's all it's about.

Trevor wrote:
wrote:

Living in a rural area I am delighted by Parcel Force adopting this
practice and particularly as our local PO/convenience shop in Cropwell
Bishop usually have parcels available for collection outside normal PO
hours.

Although I sometimes hear complaints about City Link they have rarely
let me down BUT their local depot isn't local enough when it comes to
collecting undelivered parcels.

With increasing on-line shopping it will be interesting to see how the
parcel carrier industry evolves.

John


You'll probably find it won't as the world and his dog want things
cheaper & cheaper.

Hence the complaints against eBuyer but they have done wonders for the
price of goods, no-one remembers that. When they started they drove the
price down for the goods, granted that could & sometimes was at the
expense of customer services & the like. The same can be said for the
courier companies they are always under immense pressure to reduce
costs, no defense for them but the recent increase in fuel prices must
be causing them some problems.

It is all too easy these days to have 6 shopping carts open from 6
different on-line suppliers with the same goods in. Then what is the
deciding choice in the end, how much is the total package to the door,
the courier pricing may swing the deal.

You folks may or may not have your favorite supplier, you may boycott
certain suppliers but the mass populous won't all they want is the
cheapest.

Cheap Cheap Cheap that's all it's about.

The courier pricing *may* swing the deal.

It didn't for me yesterday when I bought some kit - it
cost me 10% extra on the goods and almost double the
carriage costs to buy from a company that I knew and trusted
and who uses a carrier that I have good experience with.

But it arrived within 20 hours of placing the order. They
were well-packed and the courier actually delivered them -
without giving up as the place is hard to find or because he
had too much to deliver today.

Result? One happy customer. The kit was in and working
before lunch. But, if it hadn't been - I know my emails
would be answered promptly and that phone calls would
actually be answered by a human. And that anything returned
would have been dealt with efficiently.

--
Sue

On 11 Nov 2005 05:39:36 -0800, "
wrote:


With increasing on-line shopping it will be interesting to see how the
parcel carrier industry evolves.


Especially in today's labour market with 50% of the over 50's not in
productive employment, but the parcel courier market being the one
possibility,

DG

wrote:
Living in a rural area I am delighted by Parcel Force adopting this
practice and particularly as our local PO/convenience shop in Cropwell
Bishop usually have parcels available for collection outside normal PO
hours.

Although I sometimes hear complaints about City Link they have rarely
let me down BUT their local depot isn't local enough when it comes to
collecting undelivered parcels.

It's not just rural areas either. I live in North Leeds, and to get to
the 'local' depot I would have to drive around 15 miles around the ring
road with the associated hassle of trying to find the bloody place.

Compared with popping half a mile down the road to the post office on my
lunch break.

I certainly don't want a courier leaving a parcel behind my wheelie bin
(like Omega did yesterday) or with a neighbour who I may or may not know.

With increasing on-line shopping it will be interesting to see how the
parcel carrier industry evolves.

I'd imagine that we may start seeing premium services for evening
deliveries, etc. However I'd rather have more retailers delivering to
customers' places of work rather than just the cardholder address,
cutting the need to worry about it in the first place.

John.

On Sat, 12 Nov 2005 10:25:52 +0000, JM wrote:

However I'd rather have more retailers delivering to
customers' places of work rather than just the cardholder address,
cutting the need to worry about it in the first place.

I have never had a problem finding somebody that I'd deal with sending
to my chop-shop (dental surgery g).

Occasionally, they may wish an initial purchase to go to the card
address, just place a cheap initial order...small price to pay for
shopping at a good retailer.

--
Cheers,

Guy

** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
** out of someone who richly deserves it.

JM wrote:
wrote:
Living in a rural area I am delighted by Parcel Force adopting this
practice and particularly as our local PO/convenience shop in
Cropwell Bishop usually have parcels available for collection
outside normal PO hours.

Although I sometimes hear complaints about City Link they have rarely
let me down BUT their local depot isn't local enough when it comes to
collecting undelivered parcels.

It's not just rural areas either. I live in North Leeds, and to get
to the 'local' depot I would have to drive around 15 miles around the
ring road with the associated hassle of trying to find the bloody
place.

You're lucky then, my nearest depot is nearly 60 miles away.

Compared with popping half a mile down the road to the post office on
my lunch break.

Local (post office) sorting office would suit me better as I drive past it
on the way home from work but Parcel Force's system won't let me have
packages diverted to there, except as a 'divert to 3rd party' which costs a
lot more than the 50p 'call and collect'.

I certainly don't want a courier leaving a parcel behind my wheelie
bin (like Omega did yesterday) or with a neighbour who I may or may
not know.

One firm delivered a parcel to me by dropping it into the space behind the
garage at the side of my house and the fence next to it, now that wouldn't
have been so bad if they'd left a note to say as such but they didn't. It
was only when I complained to the seller and they traced the delivery
details through to the individual driver that the item was found,
fortunately it was in one of those plastic courier bags and wasn't damaged.

With increasing on-line shopping it will be interesting to see how
the parcel carrier industry evolves.

I'd imagine that we may start seeing premium services for evening
deliveries, etc. However I'd rather have more retailers delivering to
customers' places of work rather than just the cardholder address,
cutting the need to worry about it in the first place.

Firms like Ebuyer offer a range of delivery dates (and prices to match), I
can safely order something during the week and be sure that I'll be home on
the day it's to be delivered, ie go for a Sat AM service. Other times I'll
use the cheapest service offered and have it delivered to my work address,
but at least I get to choose.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?S5E05262C

got away lightly then? :-)

blockhed wrote:

Time to find another carrier.

I recently had a very good experience with Interparcel
(http://www.interparcel.com) sending an unusually large/heavy package -
it all went like clockwork. When I made a query about the delivery the
phone was answered within about 30 secs.