Parcel delivery firms: who are the best and worst?

A question about : Parcel delivery firms: who are the best and worst?

Poll started 2 Jan 2014

Parcel delivery horror stories range from no-shows to “they threw the goods over the fence” or “they lied that we weren't in”. Last year, we asked who the good guys and cowboys were – now we want to see if anything’s changed.

Please rate your overall experiences with these major firms (don’t rate if you haven’t used them).

Vote in this week's poll

Did you vote? Why did you pick that option? Are you surprised at the results so far? Have your say below. To see the results from last time, click this

Best answers:

• Lots of people seem to have had Yodel nightmares! I've had expensive items (trainers) just plopped on the doorstep and catalogue deliveries deposited in the bin.
  Hermes have been great because I've known the delivery lady for years and she will drop off and pick up if I'm not home, leave things in the shed and collect from an agreed collection point when I'm not around - so it may depend on the individual couriers and whether they can be bothered or not ...
• I think it's still hard to find a good word said about Yodel, though they were ahead of schedule on a delivery I had from them about a month ago, which made a nice change.
  I've come to the conclusion that if you're a frequent user of delivery services, they will probably all let you down eventually. It seems so much down to the quality of the drivers and it seems to be the kind of business where there's a "race to the bottom" in terms of wages and conditions, so I'm not optimistic that standards will improve.
• We tend to get the same courier when ordering from QVC and he is fantastic, he often brings things from other companies as well, I'm not sure who employs him but he is fantastic, I'll have to ask next time as he uses his personal vehicle/unmarked vehicle.
  I've had very good experience with UPS as well.
  Yodel is the worst for us, my partners company phone, an Iphone 5 resulted in multiple 'loses' 7 in total, she even saw one being pocketed on the driveway, but she couldn't get in her wheelchair and out of the house quick enough.
• the best delivery service for me is Amazon Lockers. Quick, easy, automated and i live in a block of flats so I never actually get any missed delivery slips etc from other couriers.
  Also Phoenix Delivery used my Co-operative Electrical is really good. Next day delivery and they SMS you a 1 hour time slot the evening before.
• Yodel worst
  The local postmen and women are brilliant, they always try and leave any parcels with a neighbour but if not my local collection point is close by anyway so no hassle
• In fact last time yodel delivered to where I work they left the parcel outside in the pouring rain, I phoned the company who sent the goods and told them to get another carrier to deliver for them!!
• Results so far bear out my impression that Yodel are the worst and DPD possibly the best. My own stories:
• Yodel recently squashed an expensive laser printer into my wheelie bin, leaving a card through the door saying it was in a "safe place". Luckily it wasn't a waste collection day.
• DPD have an excellent tracking website so you can follow your delivery's progress and know more or less exactly when to expect the bell to ring. UPS and the rest can't seem to give you any clue as to what time of day their driver might turn up.
• I second the comment about Amazon Lockers - very efficient and convenient. It's just a shame they can't deliver everything to the lockers, and that other companies don't have a similar system.
• How can this poll be accurate when all Collect Plus Parcels are delivered by Yodel, Yodel get bad rating and Collect Plus get a good one ?
• So some parcel companies only deliver premium services others are used by retailers to deliver the lowest cost services possible so they can offer free deliveries. A service that folks on this forum will applaud.
  So when you get your free delivery that takes 3 days to arrive please do not compare it with the 15 minute delivery slot you got from the retailer who added Ј5.00 plus to your order. You get what you pay for but this is determined by the retailer not the carrier.
  For the avoidance of doubt I am not saying it is acceptable for a free delivery to be a problematic delivery. Just don't expect all the bells and whistles for a free delivery.
  Yodel and Hermes tend to get pigeon-holed as poor providers when they are in fact delivering to the low price specification they have contacted with the retailers to ensure a free delivery option is available to you the consumer.
  Also I understand that when a retailer's web site offers customers to suggest a likely safe place, the single largest request is recycling bin because it hides the parcel and keeps it dry. So what should the delivery driver do...the vast majority of leave safe options are recycling or wheelie bins...yet on so many consumer feedback fora this is seen as a lazy and stupid choice chosen by the delivery driver....
  Before anybody asks,....yes I do work in the industry and am proud to do so. Tens of millions of parcels are delivered every day and the vast majority without incident. In the UK we have the best range of parcel carriers in the world and this is amazing given we have the lowest margins in the world. Most parcels are delivered across the country for prices less than a pint of beer paid to the carrier and margins are pennies - if lucky. So, if folk want better then recognise free delivery will not give you this and you need to pay a price that will allow the parcel carriers to invest in improvements.
  My vote is all parcel carriers are acceptable to good.
  Thanks to all those trolls who take delight in making this a meaningless survey. However, you trolls probably achieve your aim by depressing lots of delivery drivers who work their socks off to provide a good service and see themselves described "cow boys"
  I can predict the outcome of this survey...but then any one with a brain can do. You can't compare parcel carriers being paid less than a price of a pint per parcel with those being paid more than a good bottle of wine eg compare Hermes to DHL international. It would be like doing a survey to ask which is better a Mondeo or a Rolls Royce. I for one prefer the value for money of a Mondeo but I recognise it will not have the external appeal of a Rolls Royce.
• MSE - please add Amazon Logistics to the survey. This is a new name that delivers many low value items sold by Amazon or fulfilled by Amazon. My experience so far has been mixed. Sometimes it resembles the HDNL/Yodel end of the market, with very poor/sparse tracking info and items disappearing into a black hole called "in transit" for 48hrs with no updates for reassurance, and twice not delivered on the day "guaranteed" by Amazon Prime (free trial). But to give credit where it's due, they did deliver all of my weekend-before-Christmas orders on Christmas Eve.
• Amazon are good as long as you don't order anything liquid.
  Collect are reliable about taking my parcel at collect shop but as for receiving guy had attitude problem (expected me to hear him at shared entry door).
• DPD a clear winner so far then, as reflected by my experiences. VERY professional company, great rates and 99% success rate for me. The text providing a one hour delivery window is just the icing on the cake.
  There was no "should be banned from ever delivering anything ever again" category, so I had to label Yodel as "BAD" which doesn't even BEGIN to cover how awful and incompetent they really are!!
• The thing to remember with hermes and yodel is the last step of the chain is effectivly someone who has responded to a work from home advert. The quality vairies enourmously, they often work on a self employed basis and do not get a wage in the normal sense.
  I had one guy who would not redeliver or allow pickup outside Monday-Friday 9-5, but I had another person who was really good and popped round the same evening as I found the card.
• Hermes have broken literally every single thing I've sent with or received via them. And my company uses TNT daily; we have dozens of problems each month - they once delivered a broken cardboard tube to us. Empty. Why aren't FedEx on this list, is there something I'm missing? They're by far the best in my experience.
• I started using Hermes several years ago after becoming disillusioned with the pricing structure at Royal Mail. I discovered that sending very small items is better through Royal Mail, but when it comes to larger items Hermes beats the Royal Mail hands down on pricing.
  One thing that really irritates me about the Royal Mail is their greedy stance on sizing of packages and their use of that silly size gauge at the Post Office to squeeze more money out of your pocket.
  I recently posted a very small item in a bubble pack envelope and thought the postage wouldn't be that expensive through Royal Mail, but because it barely wouldn't fit through that stupid plastic gauge, it cost me a whopping Ј2.60.
  I also posted an item recently through Hermes that was picked up at my door for Ј4.20 which would have cost me over Ј8.00 via Royal Mail and with Hermes, I can track every package I send online free.
  I am currently waiting for an item of clothing that I purchased online, and the company is using Hermes for their delivery. I can view the tracking information every step of the way, and I am also waiting for two things from companies that use Royal Mail, and the tracking is rubbish.
  With hermes tracking I get an update every few hours, but with Royal Mail it just says 'being progressed through our network' and then suddenly it shows up at the door when you least expect it.
  With Hermes, I have literally timed when I need to be home to receive packages but with Royal Mail, it's many times impossible to know when it's out and ready to be delivered.
  TK Maxx uses Hermes, by the way, and they even sent me two text messages when the item was about to be delivered and then when it was delivered. Awesome!
  Go Hermes!
  UPDATE: Today my Lakeland order arrived and the Hermes delivery person rang my bell and delivered in the pouring rain with a smile on her face.
  Now the bad news: Royal Mail also was scheduled to deliver a pair of trousers today per the tracking number on the parcel. When the postie came and went, I checked the tracking number on the website which before read 'out for delivery' but now reads 'The addressee was not available on 2014-01-04 and so item JC266665236GB is being held at DO. It will be delivered on the day requested by the addressee.'
  I personally saw the postie pass my door and the really bad news is that they didn't even bother to leave a red while-you-were-out card.
  How do I claim my package without a red card?
  ROYAL MAIL SUCKS!
• It find it extremely frustrating to read some of the comments made about delivery companies on various forums when most people commenting are far too quick to point the finger at the delivery agent rather than the customer that they have purchased from.
  Your supplier tells the delivery agent how they want the goods delivered i.e. signed for or left on the door step. Their choice and that drives costs for them.
  How many customers actually thought how easy it is for a delivery agent to find you ? Do you have the house number on your property ? Is the address that has been provided accurate with the correct address and a contact number. If you live in a house that is named, can it been seen from the road ? Imagine actually being that driver for 5 minutes trying to find you.
  I purchase a lot of goods on line and have received deliveries from all companies and the service has been excellent from all of them because when I purchase on-line, I know that someone I be in the house to receive the goods or someone else will be and not expect the courier to be physic to know when I am in or not ?
  From my experiences of being in the industry, many customers actually claim to be in all day when evidence can now be provided to pinpoint where the driver is during the day to have to prove that they are outside your house but nobody rang the door-bell rubbish !!!!
  I think that many internet purchasers should think a bit more about where they are going to be to receive the goods before ordering and then blaming the delivery agent and having a rant about poor service.
  I also read complaints about damaged goods all the time. Do you think that courier companies practice trying to be Johnny Wilkinson with every parcel ? The main reason that goods become damaged when traveling through a sortation network is poor packaging and cost cutting from the supplier, not the delivery agent again.