Any Parcelforce delivery issues during strike?

One of the couriers which ARC uses for parcel deliveries is Parcelforce.

Most of the time we consider their delivery service to be reliable.

However, during last weeks Parcelforce/RM strike, we understand that certain Parcelforce deliveries were executed by EVRI on behalf of Parcelforce.

Similarly, we expect/presume the situation will be the case this week.

If this is the case, I would like to understand how big this delivery issue is.

If you get a chance, I request members of this forum to look out for who is delivering their parcel to them if the outside of their parcel is marked as shipped through Parcelforce. Is it a Parcelforce van or a small car/white van man delivering?

Could you please comment on this thread?

If the Parcelforce business model changes to using EVRI or similar, then we at ARC would be concerned about reliability of the service. I am aware that there are good and bad experiences of EVRI. However, we pay Parcelforce a premium for providing a service which we consider to be more reliable.

For this week at least, all ARC parcels which would go by courier will be routed through DPD only. Whilst our Parcelforce collection driver is working, he has been told not to collect any parcels from us, even though he can deliver parcels!

Our local EVRI delivery drivers small car is ram packed with Parcelforce parcels which he is delivering twice a day, where normally he only delivers once a day in our area.

Ketan at ARC.

I ordered an item last week from a supplier and it was sent by Parcelforce, the tracking number showed it would reach me on the first day of their strike, it didn’t happen, the item was delayed by two days but was eventually delivered by Parcelforce two days late. Annoying when as a customer you pay a premium rate for Parcelforce deliveries, at least with them they knock the door and hand the item to the customer not like other carriers, and Amazon are probably one of the worst, just dump the parcel on the doorstep and run, don’t even knock the door, have watched them do it on my doorbell camera. Had a large parcel delivered the other day and the carrier, Yodel, dumped it on the doorstep in horrendous rain, despite having provided information where to leave the parcels when no one is home, a large plastic locker next to the front door, parcel was disintegrating when we arrived home it was so wet, fortunately the contents were unaffected by the water. Dave W

Can’t comment about the evri thing, but last week I returned a dry suit ( other hobbies) using Parcelforce 48hr tracked service and it wasn’t delivered to the company until a week later.

It should have missed the strikes based on the dispatch from me and the 48hrs, but it just sat in a depot after collection from the local post office.

Dave

During the last walkout Parcel force was 2 weeks behind with deliveries in the Birmingham area.

Ha,Ha!

I bought £200 worth of goods on Friday almost two weeks ago and paid extra to have the delivery last Wednesday. To my dismay I found the vendor had used ParcelForce (a delivery company I consider as way beyond bad). They collected the goods on Wednesday and managed to make the delivery two days ago. The delivery box was shredded and the contents sort of reboxed. Fortunately the bottles were not broken and all there.

On receipt I emailed the vendor's sales office asking why on Earth had they used a delivery company whose workforce was about to go on strike. Generally they use Yodel who, I think, are reliable but a bit slow. The vendor has acknowledged my email but I am awaiting a proper reply.

Ketan, thanks for allowing me to have a rant.

JA

No worries JA

ORCA Books are the official distributors for the 'Workshop Practice' series of books supply to the trade.

They use YODEL to ship the books to us. They loose parcels and destroy the outer packing resulting in damage to books, on a regular basis. YODEL in our area is so crap that we have told ORCA that if we had a choice, we would buy from elsewhere. ORCA don't really care.

I guess the service is different from one area to another.

Ketan at ARC

Ketan

I know this depends, as in all "industry", on the quality of your workforce including local attitudes. I have never had a job remotely similar to delivery driver and now, comfortably retired, will not do so. I do not think this is down to luck or even birth.

JA

I ordered an item which was supposed to be delivered by Parcelforce according to the supplier. I found it about an hour ago thrown on my doorstep with an EVRI sticker on top of the parcelforce one. Checked the cctv and the chap never rung the bell just dropped it and left.

I have made several comments on my parcel delivery woes before so will not elaborate here.

regards

I received a parcel* from an ebay seller today, delivered on time by Parcelforce, so no problem here (Kent).

* Chesterman no. 369 height gauge - nice.

I purchased an item from ebay and the seller promptly posted it on 21st with Royal Mail guaranteed next day delivery. Apparently its sitting in a container somewhere near Heathrow and Royal Mail have no idea why its there or when I will get it.

Parcel force delivered a packet from Arc Euro last week at 8.15 in the morning, didn’t knock or ring the bell, wife and I were in kitchen having breakfast and didn’t hear a thing, first we knew was seeing card on mat saying they had tried to deliver. As we have been the victims of many burglary’s over the years the house and workshop are covered in cameras so I went and had a look, up the drive, card through letterbox, turn round and down the drive, no attempt at delivery. I had to go to local post office the following day to collect the packet. Arc Euro service excellent, parcelforce absolute c**p.

Interesting, thank you and apologies Baz. If possible, could you please pm me your postcode so that I can let my team know, for the purpose of monitoring.

Ketan at ARC

Leave for Belgium on Sunday morn tried to order online for £500 to euros at barclays to be told no chance before Monday at the earliest a wether they deliver to my house or the branch, it comes via the PO. went to the local PO and got them over the counter - though not at a good rate ! Noel.

In the last week or so Jane accepted a parcel for me, (not from ArcEuro), which I'd thought was coming Parcelforce, but was delivered by a chap in a white van, similar to the one our Evri courier uses; I didn't see him, so not sure of the courier's identity.
Our own Evri guy is excellent, and a good ambassador for the company; I am however sometimes underwhelmed by the company as a whole.

In contrast to one or to other comments above, I've always found both Parcel Force, and Royal Mail parcels, to be good as well.

Very much a second hand tale, but Jane was listening to a program on Radio5 Live this morning, where new Royal Mail recruits now have a different contract, where they are required to supply their own vehicles.
I didn't hear the broadcast, so I can't comment further.

I've just had a quick listen to the replay, and the relevant bits are about 14 & 18 minutes in very briefly, with a further discussion about 21 minutes in.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001flm9
If I've listened correctly, Parcel Force already employ owner drivers, and RM might be exploring options.
As such it's quite possible that my parcel last week came by a ParceForce owner driver (or maybe a regular in a hire van)

Bill

Edited By peak4 on 30/11/2022 21:42:10

Baz's experience with Parcel Farce matches mine; they're not interested in delivering packages. I had one gently put the card through the letterbox when I was standing next to it! It could have been worse, as the parcel was actually on the van.

I've wasted enough time collecting parcels from them that I suggest any supplier using them should reduce my bill by the postage cost.

Thank you all for taking the time to respond.

Bill, I heard the BBC Sounds replay, and I now have a clearer idea of things to come, so thank you for posting the link.

There are mixed views about Royal Mail & Parcel Force service, especially when they are on strike. At the same time, as JA suggests, attitudes of local collection and delivery drivers seem to govern the quality of service.

On the delivery front, excluding events such as strikes, overall we have had good service from RM and PF. Similarly, we would say the same for DPD.

Today my team has been taking calls from some customers who have failed to receive goods sent by RM last week - mostly sent 1st class due to preempting the strike. Had we participated in the Black Friday event, things could have been worse. In the coming weeks we expect further delivery delays due to RM strike.

On the one hand, we are very grateful to RM and PF, as without them small independent businesses would find it difficult to grow over time from the mail order era to the current e-commerce model. How the unions and management resolve their internal issues is really up to them. However, if they introduce and develop third party or independent delivery operator providers, we will have to monitor the quality of service over time.

For UK parcels sent out by courier, we will ship only through DPD during PF strike periods.

Ketan at ARC

Ketan

Ordered from you on Tues lunchtime which arrived via DPD today at 6pm as advised and therefore expected. Previous consignments by RM from you haven't suffered delay, my order from Rotagrip was posted 1st class on the18th Nov and still isn't here. It does seem wholly variable according to area.

Regards

Martin

Hi, I think couriers probably do differ depending what area you are in. Some DPD deliveries I've had have been bad, but mostly when it's been owner drivers, I don't get many Parcelforce deliveries, but those I have had have been OK, My Hermes were terrible and EVRI have so far not been that good but are better than their predecessors. Royal Mail are pretty reliable (when they are not on strike) I don't buy much from Amazon but have had loads of deliveries from them in the last couple of years, that just appear on my doorstep, the trouble is though, the majority have been for an address they've had to pass about 500 yards from me and one time I didn't notice till the afternoon the next day. By far the best courier deliveries I have had, have been by APC Overnight, who have always been in their time window and have a very good tracking system.

Regards Nick.

My guess is locale is a major factor. Folk like to jump to the conclusion that the brand is the problem, but that doesn't explain why Samsaranda gets poor service from everyone, whilst I get near perfect service from all of them including EVRI.

I like to think it's my charming personality that makes the difference, but more likely it's that I happen to live in a low crime village that's just off a not too busy main road, is not far from a major hub city, and has easy parking. I don't own a demented dog, and my doorbell is easy to hear; I wired a loud repeater in the kitchen. I and my neighbours take each others parcels in. From a driver's point of view delivering here is a quick low-stress doddle. A relative in Bristol has frequent trouble with deliveries, which I put down to the city being a continual traffic jam with difficult parking, where stuff gets pinched, and many homes are awkward to reach.

One answer is to use a Collection Centre. Not as convenient as delivery at home, but they avoid theft, wrong address, soaked parcels, hidden boxes, faulty doorbells, and overstressed drivers rushing to meet targets. Self-employed drivers are particularly prone to stress; hard-work, and poorly paid.

I'm not sure it helps to label entire organisations as hopeless unless they really deserve it. Where I live 'Parcel-Farce' and 'Herpes'/EVRI both have a perfect record...

Dave

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The underlying problem being, of course, that the brands want us to believe that everything is rosy, with the same wonderful quality of service across their entire operation !

If they can’t perpetuate that myth, then we would realise by whom our deliveries are actually made.

… I think it’s the ‘business model’ that stinks.

MichaelG.