[Chris R]

I am sending a wand that I sold on eBay using a courier called Nightfrieght.
Just had the following email from them,
Please remember that if you do miss your collection, there is a charge of £10.50+vat that will be applied to your card as per the terms and conditions you agreed to when booking. This will also apply if your collection is refused for being inappropriately packaged or your recipient is not in when delivery is attempted the next working day.

The key part is the last sentence, if no one is in when they try to DELIVER the package they will charge me £10.50 + vat 

Be Warned !

[John Kelly]

Courier companies are a national disgrace. There not a good one among them.

[Jamie Pearson]

It makes you wonder when you can have a package shipped from Denmark or Netherlands 2 days for less than 10 Euros.

Some of the manufacturers we deal with now hold machines in stock in UK and when you order the accessories come from abroad by courier as it works out cheaper for them.

We sold an industrial vac the other day and the machine, hoses, pipes and brush ware each came from seperate countries.

John and I use the same courier company.

He raised the point the other day with me about the change in their insurance policy. This is something everyone should be aware of when shipping items as they may not pay anything like the value of your item should it go miising.

[clinton]

Its just another add on now to boost there takings.

Not a bad thing if its multiple drop offs and charge each one extra.

[Teddycare]

Hi Chris, I'm the one that bought your wand on eBay, there is normally someone at home to receive packages but not guaranteed, obviously if we knew when it was going to arrive we could make sure somebody would be here, what couriers normally do is pop a card through the door with their phone number on so you can arrange a different time, never heard of them charging extra for the fact that you didn't know when they were coming (not exactly your fault is it)

[Warren Aldridge]

Well I hope this bloody courier has some sort of top notch tracking with GPS and pin point reporting on delivery times with that kind of nerve

[jim mca]

Most parcels are now only covered up to £50 you need to pay a premium on top to cover the difference up to market value
last time I checked it was about £200 for £2000 of cover absolute rip off

[John Kelly]

Welcome to the world of 'suppliers'!    Couriers are the absolute bane of my life.  This is why I always try and obtain instructions from customers as to where any consignment can be left safely should they not be in when the Courier calls.  Most Couriers usually have a policy of automatically knocking on either side neighbour (if there is one) even if no 'leave safe' instructions are left.  Lets face it...they really don't want to have to take the parcel back to the depot and try and deliver it again the next day.  For a start the parcel has a high chance of being mislaid (and sometimes lost for good) and for another, these drivers are usually self-employed and they are paid peanuts for deliveries and usually only paid when they actually make a delivery so having to call back a second, and sometimes third, time is not to their advantage.  Also, Couriers will sometimes have a limit on the number of times they will attempt delivery (usually twice).  If, after the second time, delivery is still unsuccessful then the parcel will be retained in that depot until you, or your customer, pays a surcharge.  If you need to get it returned to you then this surcharge is usually vastly more than you originally paid to have it delivered in the first place (we are charged over three times as much to have an 'unsuccessful' parcel brought back to us).

Lynn (Mrs K)

[Knocker]

Hi Guys

What you have to remember is that all courier companies compete on price, ie lowest price will win the business 95% of the time.So there is not much profit left to pay the staff that drive the vans or  that work in the distribution centres.

We have used a few over the years, the company we use at the momnet are called APC they are not perfect but they are better than most of the courier firms that I have used over the last 10 years

[garybristow]

just slightly off subject,i sent a pro valet aquarious back to merseyside yesterday £24 the cheapest way !!!
is that expensive??
gary