Postage caution!

Wazmeister

RaymondLin said:

inewham said:

How does special delivery do differ?

Minimum compensation for SD is £500.  Signed for is like £25 or is it £50?  

SD is tracked through a different system, not the normal post.  SD do not deliver on Saturday unless you pay extra.  Signed For it's basically normal post and can arrive on Saturday. 

Not quite right… ive posted many that arrived on Saturday, where I havent paid the extra

FelineGuitars

Wazmeister said:

RaymondLin said:

inewham said:

How does special delivery do differ?

Minimum compensation for SD is £500.  Signed for is like £25 or is it £50?  

SD is tracked through a different system, not the normal post.  SD do not deliver on Saturday unless you pay extra.  Signed For it's basically normal post and can arrive on Saturday. 

Not quite right… ive posted many that arrived on Saturday, where I havent paid the extra

Compensation on signed for is now a maximum of £20 - it used to be up to £50

Your best bet sending is Special Delivery, followed by Tracked 24 and Tracked 48

These are given preferential treatment by delivery offices.

Sending special D on a Friday for Monday delivery rather than paying the extra for Saturday delivery will actually often get a Saturday delivery anyway, as the delivery office wants to get shot of them ASAP

Dave_Mc

FelineGuitars said:

Compensation on signed for is now a maximum of £20 - it used to be up to £50

Your best bet sending is Special Delivery, followed by Tracked 24 and Tracked 48

These are given preferential treatment by delivery offices.

Oh wow that's good to know. I don't have anything expensive or rare I ever really need to send, but I usually just use Tracked because it seems to have better compensation cover. But I'll definitely heed @OilCityPickups 's and @ICBM 's warnings from now on if I ever do have anything rare or expensive to send!

imalrightjack

I sell a lot of board game stuff on eBay and use Tracked 48. Rarely a problem. However, a word of caution: do not rely on the driver to affix labels to packages. My regular postie is great but a stand-in didn’t bother to apply one label, mislabelled two others - and the complaint process was a joke. Apparently, despite not stating it anywhere, posties aren’t to take more than one parcel when left in a safe space. My stand-in did, but despite their apparent failure of protocol meant it was somehow my fault. They simply closed my query from an email that wouldn’t accept replies. Cahnts. 

OilCityPickups

We use the Post Office 'Click and Drop' site, weigh parcels accurately, buy postage online. print and apply labels ourselves to everything we post out - I would not trust bust postmen or post office staff to always get things right. We never get things collected, we always make a physical journey to the main Post Office and get printed receipts for everything ... one major thing they will ask for in a dispute is a printed receipt which shows the item actually passed into Post Office care. 

26.2

Danielsguitars said:

I sent some pickups recently signed for by royal mail and something very dodgy happened.
It was signed for and not by my guy, it wasn't given to the neighbour they said, the signature wasn't recognised either.
45 mins on a phone a few days later and that day they get delivered no idea wtf happened but won't use that service again.

Exactly the same happened to me last month. Bought a space echo on eBay - sent signed for. Somebody signed for it, but not me. To be fair it did turn up a week later with the pretty feeble excuse that ‘a woman down the road signed for it, but she didn’t know it wasn’t hers’. 

WezV

I had it a few months ago where I Quickly noticed the parcel I was being given wasn't mine, so I handed it back to the postie.  It was for someone the next street over.

Then I check tracking.  My tracking number shows as delivered to me, he had taken a picture of it on my doorstep before ringing the bell.  I'm left with no parcel, and proof of delivery.   

Thankfully a lady from a totally different street turned up a few days later with my parcel.  She had the same situation, and someone else had dropped hers off.  Somehow the postie was one delivery out on his round, but all the tracking was showing the correct parcels had been delivered to the correct addresses


Royal Mail didn't even bother acknowledging my complaint.  I really should have held onto the parcel I was given, even though that seemed like the wrong thing to do

p90fool

My wife's a postie, and special delivery is handled very differently by the staff and can incur serious penalties for non compliance up to and including instant dismissal for a first offence. 

No system is perfect, but believe me, for SD everyone is concentrating a lot harder.  

OilCityPickups

I'm going to post a follow up to this thread as it was prompted by an unfolding issue and I know have all the facts pertaining to that issue.

A customer of mine sent a  vintage pickup for rewind over a month ago and it emerged in the last few days that that the pickup had not been correctly delivered our business address. but to a seemingly random one ten or so numbers up the High Road from us. The Courier had helpfully provided a picture of himself pushing the package through very clearly the wrong door - but sadly those premises are a warren of 'flats' with a communal front door that is almost never locked. We questioned the residents we could ... but trying to trace anything in a communal occupation building is impossible. 

The courier was EVRI 

EVRI 's attitude to their obvious screw-up ... when the customer could get to interact with anything other than a Bot ... amounted to 'tough'. 

Can I reiterate to anybody sending pickups to me for rewinds ... in fact anybody sending anything you value and want to arrive safely DON'T USE EVRI they are truly dreadful and don't care that they are! 

We are massively overdue for having a governing body like OFCOM  given oversight with all courier companies over a certain size - to set out minimum service standards and ensure proper customer service.

I will repeat - use Royal Mail ... especially Special Delivery for valuable items. 

We are friendly with our local postmen and women, our local DPD and FEDEX drivers - and they are good alternatives - EVRI was just a rebrand to shake of Hermes awful reputation ... sadly the awful service is still there.  

BillDL

Agreed about Evri. I am waiting on some guitar finishing products that I had hoped to use while I was off work on holiday for a couple of weeks.  By the time 8 working days had elapsed since purchase I contacted the seller who in turn provided me with that date the parcel had been left with the "drop off" shop (i.e. the first working day after my order), and they then contacted Evri.  Magically I suddenly get an email "We are expecting your parcel" followed 4 minutes later by "We have received your parcel at the parcelshop".  Obviously somebody had neglected to scan the parcel in at the drop-off shop, or they had misplaced it in the shop, or the driver didn't scan it when picked up from there, and somebody at a laptop logged into the scanning software just pockled the times and dates to make it look as though the retailer had just dropped it off. I know how that's done because I work in the industry.  It then took a further 2 days for it to finally be received at their main hub and not yet at my local delivery depot.  Evri have double-decker trailers running up and down and across Britain "trunking" parcels and the maximum times they drive one way with goods is 4 1/2 or 5 hours.  I have now received a "sorry your package is delayed" email on a Friday and I can bet it won't be here until Monday now.  If so that will have been 15 days in transit.  So much for being able to get my project finished while I was off work.

By contrast I have two other parcels arriving today by DHL and DPD that were ordered about 30 and 40 hours ago and I only paid about £6 carriage costs.  Evri is cheap(er) and the service is "cheap" (it's even part of their slogan), which is why some retailers are induced to use them.  A seller is only as good as the delivery service they use.  I don't mind paying a bit more for a decent courier company if I'm given the choice at the time I buy something.  I dread receiving that first confirmation email with an Evri booking / tracking number.

OilCityPickups

BillDL said:

Agreed about Evri. I am waiting on some guitar finishing products that I had hoped to use while I was off work on holiday for a couple of weeks.  By the time 8 working days had elapsed since purchase I contacted the seller who in turn provided me with that date the parcel had been left with the "drop off" shop (i.e. the first working day after my order), and they then contacted Evri.  Magically I suddenly get an email "We are expecting your parcel" followed 4 minutes later by "We have received your parcel at the parcelshop".  Obviously somebody had neglected to scan the parcel in at the drop-off shop, or they had misplaced it in the shop, or the driver didn't scan it when picked up from there, and somebody at a laptop logged into the scanning software just pockled the times and dates to make it look as though the retailer had just dropped it off. I know how that's done because I work in the industry.  It then took a further 2 days for it to finally be received at their main hub and not yet at my local delivery depot.  Evri have double-decker trailers running up and down and across Britain "trunking" parcels and the maximum times they drive one way with goods is 4 1/2 or 5 hours.  I have now received a "sorry your package is delayed" email on a Friday and I can bet it won't be here until Monday now.  If so that will have been 15 days in transit.  So much for being able to get my project finished while I was off work.

By contrast I have two other parcels arriving today by DHL and DPD that were ordered about 30 and 40 hours ago and I only paid about £6 carriage costs.  Evri is cheap(er) and the service is "cheap" (it's even part of their slogan), which is why some retailers are induced to use them.  A seller is only as good as the delivery service they use.  I don't mind paying a bit more for a decent courier company if I'm given the choice at the time I buy something.  I dread receiving that first confirmation email with an Evri booking / tracking number.

Not to mention that some shops who are EVRI drop off points around here will try and tell you that you 'must buy something from their shop to drop off' or try and charge you for your EVRI receipt! EVRI attract the lowest common denominator drop off shops, the lowest motivation local delivery drivers in a race to the bottom. Then there is virtually no way to talk to a human being about your issues.

The whole courier industry needs an overhaul - especially regarding customer support. 

BillDL

The area that my Mother lives used to be covered by a husband and wife that worked for Evri on a part-time or job share basis.  Those two were lovely people and were incredibly helpful and patient when delivering things to my frail old Mum.  Sadly they jacked it in because they were fed up getting it in the neck from recipients because the parcel hubs or drop-off shops cocked things up and became disgusted by Evri's lack of customer (and driver) support.  It's now an arsehole on that route that leaves things on a doorstep in full view in the rain or tosses it in a bin without ringing the bell.  Just as well they don't run the postcode lottery because they would have to change the jingle to "Someones knocking on your do-oor .... no wait, he's gone".

OilCityPickups

BillDL said:

The area that my Mother lives used to be covered by a husband and wife that worked for Evri on a part-time or job share basis.  Those two were lovely people and were incredibly helpful and patient when delivering things to my frail old Mum.  Sadly they jacked it in because they were fed up getting it in the neck from recipients because the parcel hubs or drop-off shops cocked things up and became disgusted by Evri's lack of customer (and driver) support.  It's now an arsehole on that route that leaves things on a doorstep in full view in the rain or tosses it in a bin without ringing the bell.  Just as well they don't run the postcode lottery because they would have to change the jingle to "Someones knocking on your do-oor .... no wait, he's gone".

I think what needs called out as you were doing there is EVRI's policies don't allow them to keep good staff - it's all
volume = profit = happy shareholders, and f--k the consumer or the employee. 

In the theatre they have the production triangle which has 'good' 'cheap' and 'fast' on each side of the triangle ... the rule being: you can have two sides but those two automatically exclude the third. 
So you can have a good and cheap job ... but it won't be fast for example.
and a good and fast job won't be cheap ... 
If you try and have all sides as EVRI do ... the whole edifice crumbles  

This all proves there's no cure for Herpes Hermes

BillDL

Hard to believe, but Herpes / Evri just did it again.  Despite receiving an email this morning that there was a delay and the package would be delivered on the next working day, 90 minutes ago found it leaning up against my front door in the pissing rain and nobody had rung my bell or knocked on the door.  I've just checking the tracking again and it still shows as delayed.

OilCityPickups

BillDL said:

Hard to believe, but Herpes / Evri just did it again.  Despite receiving an email this morning that there was a delay and the package would be delivered on the next working day, 90 minutes ago found it leaning up against my front door in the pissing rain and nobody had rung my bell or knocked on the door.  I've just checking the tracking again and it still shows as delayed.

Obviously they are challenged by ambidextrous posterior location ...
(can't find their arse with both hands)
  

ICBM

The clue is in the name...

Every
Variety of
Random
Incompetence

Dumodal

EVRI and Yodel are the worst, I  wouldn't even consider sending a bubble gum with them, they don't really have official couriers, I think they (EVRI) work like Amazon (Minus the customer service) which they hire whoever wants to deliver certain amount of packets or daily shifts, at least that's what the EVRI guy in my zone explained to me, sometimes they don't even have proper training or even know the roads.

Every time someone sends me a package with EVRI I take a big gulp, btw their compensation is a joke too, even if you pay for it, first trying to communicate with them is almost impossible, they have one of the worst customers service I have ever encountered, and second if your parcel says delivered even if it is the wrong place or like in my case a blurry picture of the pavement for them that counts as delivered and you are on your own.

Royal Mail Tracked and Special Delivery are the ones for small items.

BillDL

Well, DHL seems to have slipped down my opinions chart also, or at least the driver has.  My doorbell rings loudly upstairs and downstairs and I have a clear note with that yellow labelling tape next to the bell saying "PLEASE RING BELL".  I checked the tracker around the time they said it would be delivered to see if it had a more exact time.  The tracker said "Delivered to 56".  I live at 58.  The doorbell had not been rung.  I was listening for it.  I ran out in time to see the driver leaving the street, so I asked the neighbour if she had received my parcel.  Incredibly it had been dumped in the recycling bin clearly labelled 54 that was sitting at the end of the driveway of the house at 54 and the bins were all out awaiting collection.  It's really hard to believe people can be so fucking stupid.

OilCityPickups

BillDL said:

Well, DHL seems to have slipped down my opinions chart also, or at least the driver has.  My doorbell rings loudly upstairs and downstairs and I have a clear note with that yellow labelling tape next to the bell saying "PLEASE RING BELL".  I checked the tracker around the time they said it would be delivered to see if it had a more exact time.  The tracker said "Delivered to 56".  I live at 58.  The doorbell had not been rung.  I was listening for it.  I ran out in time to see the driver leaving the street, so I asked the neighbour if she had received my parcel.  Incredibly it had been dumped in the recycling bin clearly labelled 54 that was sitting at the end of the driveway of the house at 54 and the bins were all out awaiting collection.  It's really hard to believe people can be so fucking stupid.

DHL are the ones who constantly try to deliver to our High Street business premises at 7.00 in the fricking evening!!!! 
The clue DHL is that we are a business address ... not a home address ... so about five o clock ... guess what? WE BUGGER OFF HOME

impmann

ICBM said:

The clue is in the name...

Every
Variety of
Random
Incompetence

EVRi Parcel Lost is what we call them...

TBH, the whole courier industry is the wild west and you can hear the clinking of the spurs as they get out the vans... utter cowboys. One driver we had actually told me of one of the 'hustles' one of his colleagues got busted for...

If a parcel is collected and it doesn't have a label, ergo it isn't scanned, there is no proof they have it. So what he'd do was once he'd done his collection run, he'd park up to 're-organise the van' (ever seen a courier doing this... I have) and anything without a label that looked interesting were shoved into the cab or squirrelled somewhere else. He'd then drop off everything else at the depot - and take the unlabelled one home. He'd open them up, have a look at the contents and then if worth anything for a quick flip he'd pinch them. Anything he didn't understand/know what it was got replaced in the box and retaped with the "damaged parcel" tape and returned to the depot the next day.

NEVER EVER EVER use a service where they "print the label at the depot". You have no proof that the company has the item. If it vanishes, you cannot claim *anything* as you cannot prove you even sent it...