Courier woes

[Acerforestry]

Occasionally one or two of us on here may need to courier a saw, for a few different reasons. I buy the odd old school saw from ebay, and recently secured a Husqvarna 362xp Special, a rare thing now and I was pleased as punch to get it. I set the courier up as the seller usually preferred collect, and given he is in the rear end of nowhere in Scotland I had myhermes pick the saw up from him. 5 days later the issues started...saw had been temporarily held up according to tracking, then a further 2 days later, no tracking at all and item showing as "invalid". I managed to get through to a virtual assistant initially on Thurs and yesterday came the reply. Essentially the item had somehow been damaged (securely packed in a double skinned wine case apparently), and deemed to be a risk to staff..and destroyed. I'm a pretty reasonable bloke, I understand that items get dropped, go astray maybe; but what does my nut in is how the hell did they damage a very durable item like this to begin with, and how is the thing deemed a risk when emptied of fuel and dissembled - its not a canister of plutonium, is it. I have every reassurance from the sender who seems a very helpful and genuine bloke that his men (its a business) emptied and packed it properly, he saw one of them packing it. I've sent an email to hermes saying I want the thing returned no matter what the condition but what they've done with it is anyone's guess. Furious, really - don't use these clowns if you need to send anything to Spud, for example

[rapalaman]

I stopped using Hermes a couple of years ago - used to send out 15-20 parcels a week and it got to the stage they were losing, damaging or customers were disputing receiving parcels 10% of the time. Was too stressful and time  consuming chasing these up so went back to Royal Mail for under two kilos, collect plus for a bit heavier and then TNT, DPD etc for anything bigger.

hermes are cheap for a reason - they’re crap!

[Acerforestry]

I've really got nagging doubts that it's just been disposed of, you can't just lob a petrol chainsaw in an incinerator. I'll be watching ebay, gumtree and the like for the next 6 months if need be to see if someone lists it

[billpierce]

Sorry to here this. I have had similer issues. My bet is it was poorly packaged so sharp bits where exposed or leaking fuel

[spudulike]

I have seen it from both sides, I used to use Hermes, right up to the point they said one of my parcels was overweight (it wasn't) and stuck a £20 surcharge on the delivery....never again. They seem to have the self employed section that are a bit iffy and the van lot that are a bit more commercial.

 

I get many parcels in and TBH, some are packed by morons. One 395XP, loose in a box two times too big for it. Saws with fuel and oil still in them, saws NOT placed in a plastic bag leaking oil and petrol, no padding around the dogs, two saws in a box with no padding between them, saws with no packing around them, one 201 came in with a cracked fuel tank due to this, boxes with no info on the sender, dogs sticking out of the end of the box, bars rattling around in the box or having eaten through the box and lost, saws with a bit of bubble wrap around them and placed in a bin liner.....how the feck am I going to send THAT back!!!!!!

 

This summer, I have backed off courier work, local kit is soooooo much easier to deal with due to the above!!!! The last guy was planning to send a saw in two months later than we had agreed......no checking to find out if it was OK in light of holiday restrictions being lifted and it being the middle of summer!!!!

 

My view on couriers - they work excessive hours, often picking up boxes up to 8.30pm, most are pretty polite, considerate and do a good job. They have a lot to deal with and having a badly packed saw, stinking of petrol in a closed van with sharp bits sticking out isn't great.

 

I photograph saws being packed sold on ebay as it cuts the crap - no idea on this 362 and the reasons it has gone missing - saws can have a strong residue smell of fuel and the dogs can stick through the box - most common issues.

Rant over and calm............

 

[Cowmop]

I find UPS the most professional set up by a long way.
They employ their own staff to deliver stuff.

[Bunzena]

I'm not convinced that any one of the courier companies is better than any other.  If you have a duff driver or someone in the back office or warehouse that doesn't care - that's where the trouble starts.  

 

I agree with Spud.  Many of the drivers are working crazy hours and delivering too many parcels.  We're at the end of the runs - so often don't get a package until the end of the day - sometimes eight-thirty at night.  I feel for those guys.

 

Acerforestry - I feel your pain.  I can't believe that Hermes can simply dispose of an item without getting in contact with you first.  They've acted as judge and jury here.  I'd be tempted to escalate.

 

I've used the 'Resolver' service before - with decent results.  For Hermes the link seems to be:

 

Hermes Customer Service Number and Email | Resolver

WWW.RESOLVER.CO.UK

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Find Hermes phone number. Resolver can help you raise your issue with Hermes for free. It's easy to submit it via Resolver. We will show you your rights and deliver your complaint to...

 

 

 

 

[Squaredy]

UPS are really good, and DPD nearly as good.  All couriers have their problems as has been said - it only takes one stressed or lazy worker to ruin a customer experience.

 

Thankfully Citylink have now gone as they were by far the worst of the bunch I would say.

 

If the person paying for the delivery always chose which courier to use the worst ones would have disappeared years ago.

[AHPP]

They can all be bad but Hermes are head and shoulders the worst. A friend experienced six months of Kafkaesque hell trying to get her stuff back from them. Great when they work though. I got a 15kg winch overnight from Devon for £16 the other day. You couldn't cycle that far for that money.

Edited July 4, 2020 by AHPP

[Acerforestry]

2 hours ago, Bunzena said:

I'm not convinced that any one of the courier companies is better than any other.  If you have a duff driver or someone in the back office or warehouse that doesn't care - that's where the trouble starts.  

 

I agree with Spud.  Many of the drivers are working crazy hours and delivering too many parcels.  We're at the end of the runs - so often don't get a package until the end of the day - sometimes eight-thirty at night.  I feel for those guys.

 

Acerforestry - I feel your pain.  I can't believe that Hermes can simply dispose of an item without getting in contact with you first.  They've acted as judge and jury here.  I'd be tempted to escalate.

 

I've used the 'Resolver' service before - with decent results.  For Hermes the link seems to be:

 

Hermes Customer Service Number and Email | Resolver

WWW.RESOLVER.CO.UK

---

Find Hermes phone number. Resolver can help you raise your issue with Hermes for free. It's easy to submit it via Resolver. We will show you your rights and deliver your complaint to...

 

 

 

 

Thanks for this- and for the record, all I would have wanted here was for them to mention the incident before binning it. I appreciate a lot of people can't pack a saw very well and that must cause issues