Postal/Courier Services - Good, bad, ok? Post your thoughts :)

[Deleted member 473940]

Ordered A BUNCH of things last night.
I will get delivered through DHL, EMS(their partner is Parcelforce in the UK), DPD and Yodel.

Different sites use different courier and shipping method lol. Lets see how this goes I have a feeling that the EMS-Parceforce one is gonna be the screwy one. Thats my PS vita coming from Japan.

 

[sudeki300]

citylink is the worst for deliveries in the uk , they claimed to put a card through my letter box after i had waited all day. when i called the depot and asked for the driver to tell me which colour my door was he couldn't get the colour correct, i was livid after wasting a day.

the best are FedEx, why? because i work for the company and get 75% off worldwide shipping and free travel on their aeroplanes if they have room.............................sudeki300

 

[Madridi]

because i work for the company and get 75% off worldwide shipping and free travel on their aeroplanes if they have room.............................sudeki300

Seriously?

 

[trumpet-205]

The only good experience I have is from DHL.

FedEx: They once couldn't deliver a package because the truck driver ain't familiar with the route. I had to call FedEx and gave them turn by turn direction on how to reach my house.
UPS: They once left I package I ordered in open walkway while it was raining. Luckily the content of the package wasn't damaged.
USPS: A postal worker once threw a package I ordered onto my doorstep. I did have a surveillance camera that caught this. Showed it to a local postal office and they apologized. Never saw that postal worker again.

 

[Deleted member 473940]

The only one I cant complain about is Yodel. yet again another good delivery
they are sometimes slow, a day or two(AT MAX) late but I get my parcel safely delivered. thats a good thing.

 

[sudeki300]

Seriously?

yep seriously on the things i mentioned above, plus loads of other perks that i cannot remember...................sudeki300

 

[Deleted member 473940]

Ok, so here is my recent experience with DHL.
They clear the custom/duty charges in the country of origin before it even reaches the destination. At least thats the case with japan.
From where I ordered, I already paid tax(including import charges). If it came to Uk and they saw my package in custom, they would release the parcel.
BUT NO, since DHL themselves wants to charge me beforehand, I had no choice but to pay. But apparently, I can get it refunded.. I have to go through HM Revenue tax office to get the refund. Too much hassle.

I have a feeling this "tax money" is DHL scam, they are making extra cash by handling charges.

(estimated Express delivery? MONDAY! Which was shipped 2 days ago(monday))

 

[Deleted member 473940]

4 Arrived at Sort Facility FRANKFURT - GERMANY FRANKFURT - GERMANY
18:33

Now I am worried. When this happens, hardly any parcel gets delivered. What would my parcel be doing in Frankfurt - Germany?

DHL by the way.

 

[geishroy]

Now I am worried. When this happens, hardly any parcel gets delivered. What would my parcel be doing in Frankfurt - Germany?

DHL by the way.

Shipments that go by Air Travel usually get sent to Frankfurt for sorting and then get sent by freight or air depending on the country it is getting imported to. We do not typically get direct flights in my business from where we are sending from, O'hare/Chicago, to the various countries we are shipping to around the world. Frankfurt seems like a central hub for all of the imports in the different European countries. It's really all about what flight the exporter/forwarder has available at the time.

 

[Deleted member 473940]

Shipments that go by Air Travel usually get sent to Frankfurt for sorting and then get sent by freight or air depending on the country it is getting imported to. We do not typically get direct flights in my business from where we are sending from, O'hare/Chicago, to the various countries we are shipping to around the world. Frankfurt seems like a central hub for all of the imports in the different European countries. It's really all about what flight the exporter/forwarder has available at the time.

Last time I had something in Frankfurt, I never received it.
Once it was sent over to the US for some reason.
But I hope you are right

 

[geishroy]

Last time I had something in Frankfurt, I never received it.
Once it was sent over to the US for some reason.
But I hope you are right

Sounds like an issue with the shipper. Maybe they thought you lived in the US because of a similar zip code or something.

But yes, Frankfurt is just a hub that mostly all of my European shipments go.

 

[Deleted member 473940]

Sounds like an issue with the shipper. Maybe they thought you lived in the US because of a similar zip code or something.

But yes, Frankfurt is just a hub that mostly all of my European shipments go.

Received it today, after paying custom charges AGAIN last night.
So basically paid custom charges two times(consider it 3, if you include that the seller already included a note that tax has been paid).
Contacted DHL regarding it, and they are gonna issue the refund. The charges I paid to DHL directly, BEFORE even reaching UK customs wasnt accepted.

That aside.


I received a faulty PS Vita
FUCK MY LUCK. I swear one of these days I am gonna go crazy.
Parcels get lost, parcels arrive late(not a big deal), faulty items

Now, if I send that back to Japan, I am pretty damn sure I will have to pay charges AGAIN to receive it. Although if it is marked as "returned goods", i will get refund. But way too much hassle.


Touch screen of the vita isnt working

 

[geishroy]

Received it today, after paying custom charges AGAIN last night.
So basically paid custom charges two times(consider it 3, if you include that the seller already included a note that tax has been paid).
Contacted DHL regarding it, and they are gonna issue the refund. The charges I paid to DHL directly, BEFORE even reaching UK customs wasnt accepted.

That aside.


I received a faulty PS Vita
FUCK MY LUCK. I swear one of these days I am gonna go crazy.
Parcels get lost, parcels arrive late(not a big deal), faulty items

Now, if I send that back to Japan, I am pretty damn sure I will have to pay charges AGAIN to receive it. Although if it is marked as "returned goods", i will get refund. But way too much hassle.


Touch screen of the vita isnt working

Welcome to international trade... It is unfortunate that you did not receive working items, did you destroy the box? maybe you can just issue a return to sender?

Customs can be very tricky though, sometimes we pay more in fees and taxes then the items that we had shipped. Although we do get refunded for VAT taxes, or most of them, sometimes you get shafted. Especially if the person in customs deems the item is worth more than you put on the invoice... Good luck with that though, where did you purchase the item from?

 

[Deleted member 473940]

Welcome to international trade... It is unfortunate that you did not receive working items, did you destroy the box? maybe you can just issue a return to sender?

Customs can be very tricky though, sometimes we pay more in fees and taxes then the items that we had shipped. Although we do get refunded for VAT taxes, or most of them, sometimes you get shafted. Especially if the person in customs deems the item is worth more than you put on the invoice... Good luck with that though, where did you purchase the item from?

Japan. 3dsvideocapture.com
Its a modified PS Vita to record game videos.
Local shops wont be able to repair it, as they would need the time and patience to read the documentation of the capture board.

Its not the first time I received something faulty. I am just annoyed that its gonna take another 2-4 weeks + money to get this sorted. I am most likely gonna get some tax refund, which is a hassle to go through.
Extra headache, extra time.. meh

 

[J-Machine]

for me I hate fed ex and ups.

Fed ex: I live 5 minutes away from them by foot. I was getting some cables from play-asia to finish my rgb-scart to component retro gaming set up. I was there the entire day of the supposed attempted delivery. In fact I was using a day off to clean and make meals for the week so I was always near the door. Next morning I leave for work and notice the failed delivery sign on my door. Call them up asking why the delivery man walked to my door but didn't knock since I never left the house and they apologized for my inconvenience. I then asked when the next delivery attempt was and they said "We do not redeliver packages. it will stay here with us for 14 days before being returned to sender." needless to say I told them I was leaving now on foot to pick it up. got there in 7 minutes, complained and kindly informed them I will not buy from another seller who uses them for shipping.

UPS: We don't have a UPS in my city but we have a purolator on the other side of town (40 minute ride) that will hold onto thier parcels for them. Needless to say package was not delivered but dumped there and I had to find a way to get there as I didn't have a car then and buses don't go near the place. again I won't buy from places that ship with ups.

However if we are talking incompetent postage services that have no excuse Canada post takes the cake. Rarely is a delivery even attempted and I get a delivery failed notice in my apartment mailbox that needs the mail carrier to open and not the delivery man for parcels. the said thing is I have a post office but 7 minutes away on foot but they send all packages to the one 30 minutes away on foot despite it being a much smaller location. (this one is in the mall whereas the closer post office is the size of a grocery store) I have asked several times for them to attempt a delivery and to change parcel pick up to the closer location only to be told they can't do it. Also anything from USPS cannot be returned to sender without paying the shipping for some stupid reason involving the fact they use a different system so once it's delivered they are no longer responsable and removes my ability to make returns.

On the plus side Purolator on it's own and DHS are great services that I've yet to have a problem with.

 

[Deleted member 473940]

Bumping my own thread:

Remember what I said in my original post about UPS?

3)UPS:
WORST EVER! My personal candidate for being the worst. The closest UPS depot is 10 minutes walking distance from where I live. From the depot, you turn left and come to a T-junction. When you come to the T-Junction, you can see the name of the road that I live in. Quite a big sign post. You can see and read it, unless you are blind or uneducated of course. BUT, apparently the UPS drivers could NEVER find the road that I live in? not one, not two, BUT ON THREE occasions. Apparently the driver didnt know the address and was unable to deliver. I got pissed after the third occasion and walked to the depot to collect the parcel.

Well, unfortunately it happened a couple more times. Happened last friday again.
I was home all day, waiting for my parcel. Nothing from it.
About 9PM, I heard something at the door, so I went and checked. It was a UPS delivery card. The delivery card said that the delivery was attempted at 5.17PM.

Tracked the parcel to see that the guy updated "attempted delivery" at 5.17PM, but put the card through my door around 9PM.

As you can read from my quote above, I live 10 minutes walking distance from the depot... surely its not THAT hard to just knock on my door and deliver it?


DPD:
Again, amazing service from them! every single time, they deliver DOT on time. I mean DOT on time. You get a time slot and they arrive 99% accurately. Every time I order something from shopto, it comes through DPD and amazing service each time.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Suppose I'll expand upon my experience with services so far...

Over the past year and a half since I posted in this thread, UPS has been far superior to just about all other carriers for me. They've delivered the couple dozen of packages shipped from them either on time or early, with only one exception that was during a "storm" and they wouldn't drive up my somewhat steep driveway while it was covered in snow. Otherwise, they've delivered everything perfectly (hell, I have a package being delivered today that I ordered on Saturday, and I only paid for "standard 3-7" day shipping).

USPS has been ok so far, on weekends when I have an occasional package out to be delivered the weekend postman can't be assed to actually deliver it to my door, once they put it on my neighbors porch because it was closer, and once they just didn't bother knocking and set it as undeliverable.

Fedex still has the occasional trouble finding my house, and their shipping takes agggggggggges compared to the above 2, but I don't think they've ever not delivered any of my packages.

DHL is god awful here, it takes them 2-3 days to have the package move from each sorting center, and their routes in the US just make 0 sense to me. I'll have something that ships from CA, travels to OR, then to TN, then move to another TN city, then on to IN, then to OH, and finally it arrives in MI.

 

[Deleted member 473940]

Suppose I'll expand upon my experience with services so far...

Over the past year and a half since I posted in this thread, UPS has been far superior to just about all other carriers for me. They've delivered the couple dozen of packages shipped from them either on time or early, with only one exception that was during a "storm" and they wouldn't drive up my somewhat steep driveway while it was covered in snow. Otherwise, they've delivered everything perfectly (hell, I have a package being delivered today that I ordered on Saturday, and I only paid for "standard 3-7" day shipping).

USPS has been ok so far, on weekends when I have an occasional package out to be delivered the weekend postman can't be assed to actually deliver it to my door, once they put it on my neighbors porch because it was closer, and once they just didn't bother knocking and set it as undeliverable.

Fedex still has the occasional trouble finding my house, and their shipping takes agggggggggges compared to the above 2, but I don't think they've ever not delivered any of my packages.

DHL is god awful here, it takes them 2-3 days to have the package move from each sorting center, and their routes in the US just make 0 sense to me. I'll have something that ships from CA, travels to OR, then to TN, then move to another TN city, then on to IN, then to OH, and finally it arrives in MI.

It seems like UPS is great worldwide, except UK.

Parcel from Japan arrived to UK within 24 hours, but after arriving to the UK... well a whole different story.

edit: https://www.trustpilot.co.uk/review/ups-uk.com

1 star reviews and similar stories to me all the way

 

[Deleted member 473940]

I should have known UPS woudnt deliver. I put through a request to collect tomorrow. Fucking bastards.

"
XXXXX, United Kingdom 26/01/2015 19:17 A delivery change for this package is in progress. / The receiver will collect the package at a UPS facility.
26/01/2015 18:56 Delivery will be delayed by one business day.







edit: out of blue, there has been another status update.
XXXXX, United Kingdom 01/26/2015 7:32 P.M. As requested, the delivery change was completed. / Delivery will be rescheduled.

WTF!? Now, I am thinking that my parcel is probably lost.

 

[Deleted member 473940]

Just to add more to my DHL experience for the past couple of months.

Lied several times about attempted delivery. And driver is too far away within minutes. Blatant lies and fake attempts. Not what I expected.