Hermes Parcels

DPD recently just lost a parcel of bird seed,supplier just resent a new supply, Placed an order fromScrewfix,courier is Parcelforce,parcel returned to depot "unable to locate address " parcel still on system as "back at depot" Local post office told me that Parcelforce changed distribution depot for our area and their drivers are not familiar with our area,its a business and they should be trained,or perhaps they cannot read as there is a house name on either side of the drive. Its all blamed on virus 19 but they are still charging the same for a poor service , I think I shall give up on ordering from the internet for a while. The snag is that all these type of services have no means of direct communication,only help on the website or automatic phone systems .

If only!

I use (or at least used to use) Hermes through eBay. They just put the price up for a 2kg parcel from £2.85 to £4.36

As an ebay trader I have seen an increase in trade but also an increase in costs. If a parcel goes missing it is the suppliers responsibility to replace it and I have had to do this several times. On cheaper items it is not worth the bother of trying to claim.

David.

This is what i received from my Hermes.

Dear customer,

We hope that this email finds you safe and well.

We’re writing to inform you that we have recently experienced a technical issue which resulted in barcodes not generating correctly.

This happened to a very small number of parcel labels printed between 2pm on Friday 29th May and 10am on Monday 1st June. As a result, there may be a delay in getting parcels to those identified recipients.

Our systems show that you sent one or more parcels with a label impacted by this, which could result in a delay. You may wish to inform any recipients about this and that the tracking information for these parcels may be inaccurate.

We understand the inconvenience that this will cause and would like to apologise that we have not met the high standards we set ourselves on this occasion. We can assure you that the problem is now fixed and that any labels printed after 10am on the 1st June will not be affected.

Many thanks,

The Hermes Team

....................................

the label had the correct address and name on it and the regional area code (sou) for Southampton.

so what does the bar code do?

why does the parcel take 10 days now when the barcode is wrong..everything else is good ?

Edited By Ian Parkin on 10/06/2020 10:29:21

They use a standard warehouse barcode reader system to send stuff between hubs. Operative is given a barcode gun loaded with a pick for a lorry. It tells him where to go, bay, shelf etc. it all goes on the trolley, gets dumped on a pallet wrapped in acres of cling film, which goes on the lorry and so on.

Your postal address is only useful at the far end.

They only find your item with a duff barcode when the same bay, shelf gets allocated again and they find the space occupied.

Hermes in the past was very poor in this area, East Sussex, I had complained about them on this site but recently there has been a marked improvement. Received a parcel recently that was damaged externally, the operative delivering it wanted me to open it and check for damage before he left, fortunately the contents were intact. I am currently awaiting two items from China, the sender has confirmed that they have arrived in UK and are probably with customs awaiting collection and delivery by the UK carrier, at this time I don’t know who the carrier is so trying to track it down is not possible. Then again even if I knew the carrier, being able to communicate with them will be nigh on impossible, they don’t talk with customers only the senders. A lot of us have had to rely on internet delivery since the virus crisis and the system seems to have at times been overloaded making delivery times much longer.
Dave W

Hi all, my limited experience (thankfully) of Hermes came about when I purchased a Pratt Burnerd 6" 2 jaw chuck from a woodworker who had acquired it in a job lot of gear relevant to his craft, he sent it via Mr Hermes & when it turned up here the driver threw it up my concrete drive resulting in serious damage to the rather elaborate custom box that the woodworking gentleman had fitted around it, even I was amazed by the length of the woodscrews securing it in place so fortunately no damage was done, more by luck than good judgement I fear, as I was in at the time, I then checked the operation of the doorbell which turned out to be loud enough to wake the dead, seeking an explanation I rang Hermes & was basically told that "you just can't get the staff", I have never used them again in all the years since!

However & at the risk of incurring a jinx, in my own selling of tools & equipment online I use Collect Plus & in a good number of years they have not dropped the ball once, if it suits you can print off their address/ bar code label online & coincidentally their nearest drop off point is within walking distance of my home, (other walking distances are available) result.

BobH.

While reading this had to go to the door for a parcel to be delivered.

Parcel OK

Contents OK

Both 'fragile' stickers torn, half of one missing !!

I've been trying to contact Hermes but the 'phone number given on their website returns a message that the number has changed!

Tried dialling the new number and all I get is a whining noise.

Will keep trying but couldn't find an email address.

Brian

I avoid using Hermes like the plague - no end of problems. For piece of mind, pretty much guaranteed next day deliver and reliable tracking I tend to use DHL, UPS, TNT etc via one of the many resellers. Saving a couple of quid just isn't worth it unless the item is of very low value and easily replaced. I had a parcel (20kg and not small enough to slip down a gap!) go missing with Hermes after being scanned into their depot!

Must be quite a tough job being a delivery person. My niece ordered some £6 wellies for the little one and when the box came it contained a brand new iPhone. She called the carrier who sent her a lovely note and flowers - when the delivery guy came back to collect a couple of days later he was very grateful as they were trying to pin the blame on him and were going to charge him for the loss! Luckily for him the box he retrieved from my niece proved it was incorrect labelling. Can't say I'd like to work under such conditions, but that's how things are going I guess.

Having been an online seller for over 15 years I've had plenty of experience with most of the parcel delivery companies.

I can tell you Hermes is way down the list in terms of service. I used to use them a lot but after I started monitoring their performance I dropped them like a hot rock. I found more than 1 in 50 parcels was being lost or damaged! That might not sound alot but compare that to Royal Mail which is more like 1 in 1000 and you get the idea.

If you want my advice. Stick with Royal Mail for small lightweight parcels and UPS for bigger stuff. Interestingly I have never had a single lost or damaged item with UPS. Quite amazing really.

I have nothing but praise for Hermes, never had a any problems.

Jim

I received two clocks via Hermes recently, both with large glass parts, all fragile stickers intact and all in good working order inside and out, I will say that suppliers packed them very well.

Martin P

Edited By martin perman on 10/06/2020 19:17:50

My opinion, both from doing the Xmas postie thing, and 20 years' experience in the removal business, is that if you need to write "Fragile" on a box, you haven't packed it properly.

(OK, if I'm doing a packing job, I do write "Fragile" on glassware etc., but mainly because the customer likes to see it)

Hermes stuff is delivered by a sub-contractor up here - like all of Hermes - it is VERY hit and miss, depending upon who the driver is. DPD UPS DHL etc is a different subcontractor - they lost a parcel in transit in less than 20 miles, which turned up months later returned to sender, but the guy delivering is excellent. I've also heard horror stories of Yodel which comes in the same blue van as UPS / DPD - it ALWAYS takes at least a day longer than they say.

But nothing beats the Post Office, none of this 'you live north of Watford Gap so its £20 extra' nonsense. Our posties are amazing, and are keeping the place going in difficult times delivering papers, prescriptions and groceries to people who cannot or are unable to get down to the local office / shop. They are unfailingly brilliant. One parcel left here on a Thursday and was in Canada by Tuesday.

.

Brian

It’s worth looking at this page: **LINK**

https://new.myhermes.co.uk/contact-hermes.html

and, if you’ve got the stamina, try using ‘Holly’

This seems to be the only line of communication that they have active.

I did manage to send an eMail to [email protected]

and they [probably an automated system] raised an incident number ... but I received no actual help.

MichaelG.

If you send goods by Hermes you probably don't want to watch this investigation by Joe Lycett on Chanel 4 a few weeks back...

YouTubeVideo

Thanks for the info Michael but I've been there and done that. 'Holly' is next to useless because 'she' gives up after a while and just keeps asking if you have another question.

I'll try the email address that you give and I did find another, for one of the executives,

[email protected]

No reply as yet but one lives in hope.

And the tap has still not surfaced.

Brian

I don't know the size of Hermes in the UK but they are very big in Germany, a huge warehouse beside the autobahn is always packed with trucks picking up/dropping off packages.

I have used Hermes in past times but gone over to Royal Mail for most of my packages now, just because of the service issue.

Emgee

Try here for some help.

https://www.hermesworld.com/int/our-services/distribution/parcel-shipment/united-kingdom/

Edited By Emgee on 10/06/2020 22:47:45

Must admit that I am giving most suppliers and couriers plenty of slack during the current pandemic, they have loads of extra work.

Hermes have delivered three parcels to me ok and I tracked the deliveries at the hermesworld.com website.