Reliable couriers - do they exist?
Discussion
A bit of context here. My business uses DX for all deliveries. We generally send 3-5 large items per day to subcontractors around the UK who are working on our behalf. We have a daily collection and pay a minimum charge each week to guarantee this.
Of late, the service has become quite unreliable. This typically happens around Christmas time for obvious reasons but generally it is ok the rest of the time.
On a number of occasions we have paid a premium to guarantee the delivery is made by 10:30 the following day only for the delivery to be made 2-3 hours later. I was under the assumption that the early delivery fee would be refunded and automatically downgraded to a standard delivery fee. However, it appears this is not the case and regardless of when the delivery is made we are still charged the early delivery premium. To say I'm fuming is an understatement! Despite this being immoral how is it even legal?
We have dabbled with other couriers in the past but I haven't looked into this in any great detail for some time. I am now determined that DX won't get our business anymore but would be really grateful if anyone can recommend an alternative. There is a lot of hassle involved in changing couriers and the last thing I want to do is jump from the frying pan into the fire.
Of late, the service has become quite unreliable. This typically happens around Christmas time for obvious reasons but generally it is ok the rest of the time.
On a number of occasions we have paid a premium to guarantee the delivery is made by 10:30 the following day only for the delivery to be made 2-3 hours later. I was under the assumption that the early delivery fee would be refunded and automatically downgraded to a standard delivery fee. However, it appears this is not the case and regardless of when the delivery is made we are still charged the early delivery premium. To say I'm fuming is an understatement! Despite this being immoral how is it even legal?
We have dabbled with other couriers in the past but I haven't looked into this in any great detail for some time. I am now determined that DX won't get our business anymore but would be really grateful if anyone can recommend an alternative. There is a lot of hassle involved in changing couriers and the last thing I want to do is jump from the frying pan into the fire.
I work in this industry
General consensus is:
Evri are the cheapest but most unreliable - they have a reputation for a reason
DX are a step above that, but not too many steps.....the middle ground that they inhabit contains many players.
DPD are the best quality, but also at the higher end on price.
Now, someone will come along in a minute and say that DPD are crap and their parcels always get lost and so on. However, I could name any parcel courier and that would be the case.
Overall, I've found DPD to be the best in terms of service.
General consensus is:
Evri are the cheapest but most unreliable - they have a reputation for a reason
DX are a step above that, but not too many steps.....the middle ground that they inhabit contains many players.
DPD are the best quality, but also at the higher end on price.
Now, someone will come along in a minute and say that DPD are crap and their parcels always get lost and so on. However, I could name any parcel courier and that would be the case.
Overall, I've found DPD to be the best in terms of service.
otherman said:
blue_haddock said:
We use DHL at work and they are simply fantastic. Very rarely have an issue and when we do its swiftly resolved.
Dont think they have lost a single parcel at all.
Huh, they damaged an expensive one of mine, try claiming from them. Impossible.Dont think they have lost a single parcel at all.
Which is a win to me.
As is evident from the posts thus far, they're all frustrating just to different degrees. This could be from a top down corporate culture to the luck of how decent your local depot is.
I've worked for various parcel companies albeit 25 years ago and the difference was stark, some I'm amazed anything found its destination to others that were almost reliable. Depending on volume I'd be tempted to work with more than one and find out where the best service lies, back in 2001 rural Suffolk TNT were excellent but I don't know if they even exist anymore.
I've worked for various parcel companies albeit 25 years ago and the difference was stark, some I'm amazed anything found its destination to others that were almost reliable. Depending on volume I'd be tempted to work with more than one and find out where the best service lies, back in 2001 rural Suffolk TNT were excellent but I don't know if they even exist anymore.
UPS are the same, you pay for the 10:30 service and it then arrives 3 days later. 
The customer then needs to claim a refund, it’s not automatically credited and UPS will then try and wriggle out of the refund and claim circumstances out of their control.
UPS also like to ‘lose’ roughly one in ten of our parcels, they probably took £30k’s worth of laptops last year and trying to claim on their insurance is extremely convoluted.
The customer then needs to claim a refund, it’s not automatically credited and UPS will then try and wriggle out of the refund and claim circumstances out of their control.
UPS also like to ‘lose’ roughly one in ten of our parcels, they probably took £30k’s worth of laptops last year and trying to claim on their insurance is extremely convoluted.
There are all pretty much the same from my experiece.
Evri get really bad press but our regular Evri guy is superb and we've not had a problem since he's been delivering - DPD went really bad for a while for us - every parcel damaged, when we spoke to the company that sent one, they guessed which depot it had been delivered from before I'd given them an address as they have so many problems with that depot - our area is now delivered from a different depot and they are great again.
Yodel haven't lost anything of ours recently, DHL seem OK.
In my experience, and I get a LOT of parcels delivered, many of which are relatively heavy and awkward (20KG of charcoal for example) or super time sensitive (frozen meat for example) it all comes down to what your local depot is like - it always seems to be the final step that is either great or spoils the experience.
Evri get really bad press but our regular Evri guy is superb and we've not had a problem since he's been delivering - DPD went really bad for a while for us - every parcel damaged, when we spoke to the company that sent one, they guessed which depot it had been delivered from before I'd given them an address as they have so many problems with that depot - our area is now delivered from a different depot and they are great again.
Yodel haven't lost anything of ours recently, DHL seem OK.
In my experience, and I get a LOT of parcels delivered, many of which are relatively heavy and awkward (20KG of charcoal for example) or super time sensitive (frozen meat for example) it all comes down to what your local depot is like - it always seems to be the final step that is either great or spoils the experience.
t.DPD end of story. 1000's of parcels sent. 0 issues.
Yodel...absolutely abysmal. Literally will turn up 1 week/7 days later and the driver shakes his head at you for not having the parcel ready for him after the explanation the customer has cancelled.
Royal mail Tracked 24/48 is fine for small stuff and reliable.
Proof...
Yodel...absolutely abysmal. Literally will turn up 1 week/7 days later and the driver shakes his head at you for not having the parcel ready for him after the explanation the customer has cancelled.
Royal mail Tracked 24/48 is fine for small stuff and reliable.
Proof...
Edited by MattsCar on Thursday 24th July 22:40
soad said:
Disappointing to hear poor feedback about the UPS, as we used them extensively during and after COVID-19.
There’s just no consistency with them and when things inevitably go missing that’s it, you won’t see it again and they’ll then send you the generic claims form There’s no UK customer service, so emails and phone calls are all offshore and they lie when you ask where the parcel is.
They even tried to blame me by saying the missing parcels hadn’t been collected from me, even though they were all scanned and clearly showing on the tracker.
All the above has happened many times, but the company I work for are partners with UPS so I can’t change couriers.
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