Anyone else use Parcelforce?

[Mixermend]

I have a Parcelforce account for sending large parcels, mainly within the UK, but occasionally to Europe. I have found this convenient to use and they have proved to be a most reliable carrier.

 

Probably not the cheapest - but offering generally good value - until now......

 

On my latest statement they are making 'Account Maintenance' charges of £5.99 for periods when no parcels are sent - and claim to have informed me of this material change of contract by e-mail, although I can't find this - and certainly don't remember receiving it.

 

Clearly they wish to get rid of small volume users - but the irony is that I will probably now use an on-line parcel delivery service, who make use of Parcelforce to carry out their service!

 

So - I'll be sending the same number of parcels as before, pay lower prices possibly - and the same nice guy will collect from me. So Parcelforce will actually make less money from me than before!

 

So there really isn't much of a problem - but I am wondering whether we all should be charging our customers for periods when they don't make use of our services. I am sure that we won't need to think about that for too long.......

[musht]

Wacky world where services are now a product , which creates secondary markets and brokers who undercut going direct, in years time Pacelfarce will launch Parcelforce Direct aimed at ` the small volume business user`....

 

In meantime this lot appear to act as broker for big name carriers

 

https://www.transglobal.org.uk

[KevinE]

Yep it's the same with me. I have an account with TNT but prefer to book them for collections through an online agent. They are less than Half Price this way, offer the same services, and the same lorry driver collects.

 

I had quotes from UPS who come everyday with the farnell orders and they essentially told me that at £11 under 20kg it wouldn't be worth the driver calling. I also book UPS through online agents and it costs me £5.95 for the same service.

[paulears]

For reference - care to tell us which on-line service you are using and what the limits are? I'd certainly be interested in this.

[Brian]

FYI - I use www.interparcel.co.uk; their 'own' unbranded service is operated by UPS. Register on the site and you get 10% off the list prices.

[StevieR]

Very interesting...

 

I wasn't actually aware of such 'brokered' services. Might have to look into that.

 

Going back to the OP's comments, though, I think that this practice of minimum turnover or the like is becoming more widespread. Last year we looked at changing our current carrier to see if we could save some money. However, they then informed us that they weren't interested in our business unless we guaranteed a minimum monthly turnover. So, we've stuck with our current provider who has not implemented such a policy.........yet!

 

Steve

[Pete McCrea]

Thanks for the heads up on interparcel... We don't courier a huge amount, but when we do it needs to happen swiftly and cost effectively. We've been using a paid-for ticket system, but they frankly don't fill me with confidence, especially when you can't even get them to give you a pick up time...

 

Our unit is about 50 metres from UPS, and I've always found their service to be great, with friendly drivers, so if we can get it cheaper than their 'list' price then brilliant!

[Chris Beesley]

http://www.parcel2go.com are another handy courier service - I (personally) use them quite a bit and so far no hiccups after a good few years.

[Brian]

As a bit of general background to parcel carriers it's worth knowing that there are several different sorts of carrier...

 

1) Vans owned and operated by a global business eg UPS

2) Vans owned and operated by a business based in a specific country eg Parcelforce

3) Vans operated by a franchise at branch level eg ANC

4) Vans operated by a local independent who is part of a countrywide network

 

...which goes some way to explaining the different levels of service you get.

[dwents]

I must admit we use FASTWAY it's a county wide franchise they cover most of the main towns and city's in the uk some of the small outline villages etc may not be covered by there own network for these areas they use parcelforce ups etc

it's a prepay ticket system. so you can send 25-30kg anywhere in the uk for about £6 depending on the deal you get.

The plus point is because each area is a franchise you can deal direct with the boss and if you parcel is slightly oversize ie trilite they will normally agree to send it still because they want your money. also the drivers for your postcode are also franchise operators so you tend to get a great service and they are flexible.

 

PS I DONT WORK FOR THEM

just like the service

[tvi675]

+1 for Fastway. We made the switch to them a few months ago and are making significant savings on domestic shipping when compared to our previous courier, who was one of the broker services. Not great if you want timed delivery (only guarantee is next day), but for those rare occasions we can go back to our old courier. The labels are pre-pay, but booking the collection is as simple as sticking one on the package, give your friendly local driver a ring on his mobile and he pops in to get it.

 

Matt

[Jammie300]

Why can't more couriers be like that Matt at the other end when they try to deliver the parcel to the customer. A happy courier that delivers the right parcel on time and gets everything right FIRST time. I am tempted to go into a customer delivery failure rant, but I shall hold back.

 

James

[stories]

The one comment I would make about the brokered *cheaper* services is to look at the insurance aspect of if/when somthing goes wrong. I usally use Parcel2go when I need to send somthing bigger than a small padded letter(touch wood, great price, great service thus far), but they only offer £50 compensation as standard, once you start adding the better insurace the price stops being as competative.

 

These brokers seem to be the product of the eBay age where people are sending high volumes of low value products, where they can undercut the like of the postoffice.

 

Cheers

 

Matt

[Pete McCrea]

...also the drivers for your postcode are also franchise operators so you tend to get a great service and they are flexible.

 

I couldn't remember the name of the people we'd had problems with, and it was Fastway. Our local office/driver seem to be a bit rubbish. Hence why we're considering alternatives.

 

Only today we've had a problem with TNT. A package shipped on Friday bound for Barco in Belgium. We called Barco, and they weren't too sure if the item had come in. Eventually they decided that it was still in Worcester, which is no bloody use... We then got a phone call from another hire company in Penarth, saying that TNT had just tried to deliver it to him in Penarth.

[Sound In Gloucestershire]

pete, my dads place used to use fastways (sound and vision express, leckhampton)

 

the franchise kept being sold, merged etc sometimes theyd be around for a 5pm collection, other times they could only do 11am, which is useless for a mail order firm

 

he switched to "Cotswold Couriers" which is pretty much the same thing, but its One guy doing the pre-payment ticket thing, he picks up pretty quickly, infact hes been several times in the same day when we've had late but important orders come in

 

like others said, these guys dont tend to worry so much about the weight or size of the package, providing you dont take the mickey