Couriers

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Discussion

The Moose

Original Poster:

22,820 posts

208 months

Friday 11th April 2014
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I'm probably going to have to move couriers in the next month or so and of course am looking around at all the usual suspects.

In the past, on these threads, people have said things along the lines of "this is what I deal with, PM me"...so if this is something you do, please PM me and we can sort something out.

DSLiverpool

14,670 posts

201 months

Friday 11th April 2014
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Changed from interlink to uk mail , saving 87p a parcel on circa 200 a day - no more hassle than others and when we have had an issue they have been good.

Sixpackpert

4,538 posts

213 months

Friday 11th April 2014
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We use UK Mail as well, best service we've had to be fair and tried all the majors. Our largest customer also changed to them on our recommendation and are very happy (large industrial catalogue firm).

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 11th April 2014
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Royal mail always try and deliver since privatisation smile

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 11th April 2014
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mattdaniels

7,353 posts

281 months

Saturday 12th April 2014
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The Moose said:
I'm probably going to have to move couriers in the next month or so and of course am looking around at all the usual suspects.

In the past, on these threads, people have said things along the lines of "this is what I deal with, PM me"...so if this is something you do, please PM me and we can sort something out.
How many per day are you shipping, what sort of average size/weight, and is it uk domestic, EU or international? (or all three?)

Roverload

850 posts

135 months

Sunday 13th April 2014
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Steer clear of Hermes. TNT are the best IMO, not the cheapest but you get what you pay for.

Du1point8

21,604 posts

191 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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Had masses of issues with UK Mail... missed 4 pick ups on the trot.

Excuse 1 - Ran out of time, despite someone waiting for the pick up time of 1-3pm to not get a pickup after 6pm

Excuse 2 - No one in despite specific instructions to ring a telephone number that they have done several times before and saying they had rung the number.

Excuse 3 - No one in at pick up time, we had an arranged pick up time of 2pm - 3pm and the guy turned up at 10am for a pickup when everyone was out on business.

Excuse 4 - person that answered the door said that there was no pick up due and no one by that name was at the address. No one called Ribbon is at the address, no one else around but myself waiting most of the time staring out of the window after first 3 missed pick ups.

Got hold of the drivers manager and he drove out personally after 6pm and took the whole consignment that was due for pickup apologising for his driver, saying he would have a word and he would be there at the alloted time on the Friday.

Friday comes and Im heading back from the trade fair to make sure Im there a good 60 mins before the driver is scheduled to turn up... bastid turns up and hour early and it was just good timing that I was around.

They are great when they turn up at the times that they are supposed to be there, but that would involve someone waiting around all day for them.... suspect its just the driver we have at the moment that is a PITA, as before we have had no issues at all.

chowiekid

330 posts

158 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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To be against most here we have had exceptional service with Hermes since we started with them last month.
Just send our 4000th parcel today.

We use UK mail but slowly removing them from use due to constant failure to deliver.

We use Interlink who are very good.
And we use Royal mail who we also think are pretty good they send over 50,000 parcels a month for us with very few issues.

DPD is the one ive heard however best price we could get really isnt good enough for us to change.


It all really depends on your volume, I also think its down to how good you local guy is.
We are lucky, all of our couriers who come here seem to get on with everyone and seem like nice gents.

But you do hear horror storys with many of the companies we like
Hermes and Yodel we have been told are rubbish but we think Hermes is very good. Normally a 2 day service for 2.90 on anything up to 20kg

Yodel are in fact terrible though so stay well clear.


If you want a premium service and can afford it i would say go DPD
if you want the next best go Interlink (same company)

After that the choice is very different whoever you speak to, so might be worth trying them all.



MyM2006

222 posts

143 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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Roverload said:
Steer clear of Hermes. TNT are the best IMO, not the cheapest but you get what you pay for.
Couldn't disagree more, TNT have given us the most consistent poor service out of all the couriers we've used. Our delivery/collection guy was great but the rest of the service was poor, lost a few £3000+ parcels that had extra insurance on them, when you rang to complain they just told you to claim on company insurance rather than through them, on cheaper items they would more or less put the phone down on you as if to say how dare you complain. We even had one turn up after missing for 4 months, no apology, just delivered to the customer.
Admittedly we don't send much out through couriers so maybe they treat bigger customers better.

DSLiverpool

14,670 posts

201 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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My thinking - they are all going to cause you hassle so go with the cheapest - if the cheapest causes more hassle than expected we will re-evaluate.

Du1point8

21,604 posts

191 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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DSLiverpool said:
My thinking - they are all going to cause you hassle so go with the cheapest - if the cheapest causes more hassle than expected we will re-evaluate.
I think it depends on the pickup drivers myself, not had any issues with delivery, just pickups and because we were using the same depot it was always the same driver.

Now we have progressed on to a large managed warehouse we no longer have any issues and use DPD.

DSLiverpool

14,670 posts

201 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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The 87p saved per parcel and considering we still use Interlink as a back up / for Europe is a handy saving option. Half of our business is a one time hit so if it goes wrong it doesn't jeopardise further orders as in most cases the one order is it.

Roverload

850 posts

135 months

Monday 14th April 2014
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MyM2006 said:
Roverload said:
Steer clear of Hermes. TNT are the best IMO, not the cheapest but you get what you pay for.
Couldn't disagree more, TNT have given us the most consistent poor service out of all the couriers we've used. Our delivery/collection guy was great but the rest of the service was poor, lost a few £3000+ parcels that had extra insurance on them, when you rang to complain they just told you to claim on company insurance rather than through them, on cheaper items they would more or less put the phone down on you as if to say how dare you complain. We even had one turn up after missing for 4 months, no apology, just delivered to the customer.
Admittedly we don't send much out through couriers so maybe they treat bigger customers better.
I'm quite shocked by that, I've always found them to be 100% on the ball and eager to help, I've done work for them in the past aswell as dhl, yodel, Hermes, uk mail, city link, ceva and maxi, and TNT was the better carrier for sure. I could tell you stories about the others that would make your toes curl.

Chris200

591 posts

236 months

Tuesday 15th April 2014
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The Moose said:
I'm probably going to have to move couriers in the next month or so and of course am looking around at all the usual suspects.

In the past, on these threads, people have said things along the lines of "this is what I deal with, PM me"...so if this is something you do, please PM me and we can sort something out.
This is what I deal with, I will PM you...

richatnort

3,018 posts

130 months

Wednesday 16th April 2014
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I work for one of the above mentioned companies so if you want any info let me know. Happy to give some advice.

The Moose

Original Poster:

22,820 posts

208 months

Wednesday 16th April 2014
quotequote all
Everyone has been replied to, thank you.

Will also speak to some of the suggested.

In the past, we have used some of the named companies so I'll investigate some of the others.

I'd like a single point of contact if at all possible for our UK (outbound), EU and International exports and our International imports also if at all possible.

Cheers

DSLiverpool

14,670 posts

201 months

Wednesday 16th April 2014
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The Moose said:
Everyone has been replied to, thank you.

Will also speak to some of the suggested.

In the past, we have used some of the named companies so I'll investigate some of the others.

I'd like a single point of contact if at all possible for our UK (outbound), EU and International exports and our International imports also if at all possible.

Cheers
You won't be using the same courier for both unless the guys on here are miracle workers.

The Moose

Original Poster:

22,820 posts

208 months

Wednesday 16th April 2014
quotequote all
DSLiverpool said:
The Moose said:
Everyone has been replied to, thank you.

Will also speak to some of the suggested.

In the past, we have used some of the named companies so I'll investigate some of the others.

I'd like a single point of contact if at all possible for our UK (outbound), EU and International exports and our International imports also if at all possible.

Cheers
You won't be using the same courier for both unless the guys on here are miracle workers.
Why not? I have been for the last 4 years.

DSLiverpool

14,670 posts

201 months

Wednesday 16th April 2014
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Take interlink for example, great uk, great Southern Ireland but nuts to Northern Ireland and totally rubbish to France so we use ups for NI and France - we definitely couldn't use one courier for all destinations.