ParcelForce are completely incompetent. Avoid them if you can. And don’t send any large parcels to the UK without warning the recipient.
I bought a pushchair / pram from Ebay just over two weeks ago.
First I waited. Nothing happened. I gave it a week, then emailed the seller to check that they’d shipped it. They had indeed sent it off that Friday, and gave me a tracking number. I went to ParcelForce’s web site to see what’s happening.
It turned out that they had tried to deliver the parcel 3 times. First Monday morning 9:25. Then that same Monday afternoon 17:43. Then Tuesday 17:00.
It’s pretty absurd to expect anyone to be at home at those hours. Even someone with a 9-to-5 job wouldn’t be home at such times. But that’s OK, I was fully expecting them to turn up unannounced in the middle of the day, because that’s what ParcelForce does. It’s stupid, but at least it is predictable. They do that, then they leave a card, you call them and ask to redeliver on a Saturday or send it to the local Post Office. Fine.
But this time I did not get any notice of any of those three attempts: none of the usual cards (“we tried to deliver but you weren’t home”). No letter telling me that a parcel was waiting for me. Had it not been a parcel I ordered, I’d never have known that it had been sent, and it would have gone right back to the sender.
So on Monday I called ParcelForce’s call centre to ask them to send it to the local Post Office. (Their call centre is, of course, closed on weekends.) While the web site promises that it will be available after noon the next day, for some reason they told me it wouldn’t be there until Wednesday, but at that point another day’s delay didn’t concern me much.
Today Eric and I went to the Post Office to pick it up.
The Post Office knew nothing about our parcel, couldn’t care less about our parcel, and definitely weren’t going to do anything to help find out why it wasn’t there. We went home again and checked the web site, and sure enough, there was no notification there about it having been sent to the Post Office – it was still sitting in the depot.
By now I was getting slightly worried, because they only hold the parcel for 16 days – any longer than that, and it gets returned to the sender. I couldn’t ask them to deliver it on a weekend, because that would take me past that 16-day limit. And if I asked them to deliver it to the office instead of home, and they for some reason couldn’t get it done within 1 day, then that would again be past the limit. And I’m sure that it wouldn’t matter to them that the delay was because of their procedures. So I decided to bite the bullet and pick it up at the depot.
The web site told me where the depot is. Out in the boondocks, of course: in Charlton, which is 10 minutes by tube + 20 minutes by train + half a mile’s walk.
What it didn’t tell me was the opening hours. You have to call the depot for that. So I tried to call the depot to check their opening hours, and to confirm that I could turn up to pick up the parcel without advance notification. After 15 minutes of queueing, the voice on the phone said they were too busy to answer, and forwarded my call to the call centre again. Which, as I’d already discovered, was closed on weekends. The next call ended the same way.
Not seeing any other option, I went to Charlton anyway, hoping that they would be open. After a bit of wandering around in an empty industrial estate, I found the depot – only to see a man pushing the gate closed. It was 12:28 and it turned out they closed at 12:30. (Of course there was no sign saying that. If I had arrived 3 minutes later, I would probably have spent then next half hour looking for an open gate – because there was also no sign saying that this was actually the entrance.)
Anyway, he took pity on me and let me in, and found the parcel for me.
He also explained why the parcel wasn’t at the Post Office (after I complained about that). Apparently it was simply too big, and the Post Office wouldn’t have space for it. Which I can totally understand, after having seen the Post Office from the inside… But then why did they not tell me that on the phone? Or send me a notification? Or at least put a note in the tracking system? How was I supposed to know this?
It shouldn’t be a two-week adventure to get your parcel delivered. It shouldn’t take 40 minutes on the phone, one wasted trip to the Post Office, and then an extra 2-hour outing to somewhere that’s barely within our street map. It shouldn’t require lucky guessing of opening hours. It shouldn’t require advance knowledge (or a crystal ball to tell you) that a parcel has been sent to you.
Parcel Force head office directors office
01908 687 000
good luck – Charlton depot is hopeless….. you are not alone…..
Cheers for the 01908 number, has been most helpful after spending 40 mins trying to contact the charlton depot for 50 mins on the phone with no answer.
23rd January 2007
This is an e-mail I just sent to ParcelForce. I’m not holding much hope for any action on it, but I just wanted to post this to a web-site so others could be warned about their dismal customer service in the case quoted below.
My sister mailed a parcel from the UK in November 2006 (the last week I think) via Parcelforce to me here in Japan.
She paid around STG39 to post it ‘International Economy’ I think she said. It weighed a little over 3kgs.
I live in Japan and still haven’t received the package – it’s now the 23rd January – it was a Christmas present.
She phoned a couple of times to find out what happened, and the first time was told that it would take 4 to 6 weeks, and the second time was told that information was incorrect and in fact it could in theory take up to 3 months!
My complaint is as follows:
1. This is very expensive – probably more than the present actually cost. I can mail a package to the UK via SAL (cheaper than airmail but almost as quick) for a fraction of the cost – I think when I checked the rates it was less than half the price! (JPY2,080 for 2kgs = STG8.65 + 1kg = STG4.40. Total = STG13.05)
My job in Japan involves mailing packages and letters of various shapes and sizes on a regular basis to various countries in the world.
2. I didn’t realize that there was actually a postal/parcel service that was SLOWER than seamail. Since the price for 3kgs is exhorbitant – no matter what any competitors in the UK are charging, why was she not advised to split the shipment into two parts and then both would have weighed less than 2kgs and she could have got a small packet rate with Royal Mail?
I guess I’m e-mailing this, not because I expect any sympathy or understanding, but just to express my extreme disappointment with your service.
I think that good customer service would involve letting people know the most cost effective options for mailing parcels – when they turn up at the post office with their package, and of course warning them of the time it would take the package to get to it’s destination.
I really don’t think she would have paid almost STG40 to post something that she knew would take (almost 2 months – and counting) to get to it’s destination.
She has been so embarassed by this whole fiasco, that she didn’t even want to tell me how much she paid to post the parcel – my mum had to tell me that!
I realize that the person reading this may not be able to do a whole lot about the situation apart from write me a nice e-mail reply, but anyway, maybe it will be read by someone with some authority who can do something.
Here’s hoping.
Thank you.
Parcelforce is certainly useless. Recently I had cause to return a radio to the manufacturers via a contract with Parcelforce. With this you have to phone Parcelforce and get them to collect. They give you a tracking number and a day for collection, although they can’t state a time.
FIVE times I phoned, they gave a date and a (new) tracking reference. They apologise profusely each time but cannot give a reason why the parcel wasn’t collected.
I was told that if the parcel is not collected on the stated day then the collection is effectively cancelled – you have to phone again for another day. It makes you wonder whether it is a scam to get revenue from phone calls: you have to phone at peak times and there is a laborious message before you get to speak to an advisor.
Best of all is the boast “we guarantee 24 hour delivery”. They tell me, however, that they do not guarantee collection so how the hell can they guarantee 24 hr delivery?
The complaints mechanism is through the web site and very slow. Eventually my package was collected (a few days after the last stated day for collection presumambly triggered by the comlpaint)but, despite promises, I received no contact or apology from the local depot manager.
I’ll never use Parcelforce voluntarily and I recommend others follow suit.
I will never buy anything off anyone who uses this firm.
The Parcelforce24 delivery service hadn’t delivered my package in 6 days. They ignored 2 redelivery requests so I eventually refused delivery. 3 Weeks on they still haven’t returned it to the sender which I need to happen to get a refund. Countless phonecalls and emails have had no effect on the b*st*rds. I contacted their head office by phone and in writing but I doubt the that will make a blind bit of difference to the absolute f*ckwits. They are total c*nts and deserve to go bankrupt and all their sh*t-for-brains employees made unemployed.
Yes i am from Australia, and unfortunately had to leave before my british passport was ready. i didnt see it being a problem it was only a few days away from being finished. so when it was ready two days later, the folks back home sent it express courier, wich without choice has gone to parcelforce, its now 3 weeks later i cant seem to get an answer out of them where it is, how the delivery driver is and so forth i am currently sitting here waiting to get through. So its getting to the stage where i will have to cancel the passport and reapply to prevent someone else from using it. Never ever use parcelforce
Hah! In addition to everything else, I complained several times to Parcelforce, my local depot and the head office by e-mail and phone both to no avail. I then took it upon myself to complain to the head office in good old fashioned writing thinking that this is not as easily ignored. How wrong can you be. 5 weeks after sending my written complaint to the head office I recieved it back saying that the letter was incorrectly addressed, utter cr*p as I had previously phoned their head office at that address. Not only this buth the letter had been opened and taped back up, surely an offence if someone has opened this and it was not addressed to them! I can only stress again, NEVER EVER EVER trust these people with anything no matter how trivial.
London, 23 June 2007
I want to go back to the Parcelforce Charlton depot. This depot is responsible for losing a parcel sent from Los Angeles, US to the UK. It was sent with USPS on the 2nd June and reached the UK 10 days later.
It passed customs and last status of tracking shows “in Charlton depot – out for delivery – 13 June”. I was away of the country and when I came back to the UK on the 16th I was hoping to get a card left by them saying something like “attempted delivery, etc”… nothing was left. The first weekday after arriving, following monday, I called Parcelforce Charlton as to the whereabouts of the parcel, this was on the 18th June. They had no idea where the package was and would start a “depot search”. One day later I called again and nothing. One day after somebody called Winston called me from the Charlton depot and told me the parcel had been lost, it was not found, they didnt know where it was.
My parcel was an ebay item, a laptop computer, very rare in the UK, that new costs �1300 and I got it for �450.
An item cannot go lost in a depot, not after it has been tracked as “in depot – out for delivery”, this must had suffered a detour, and went somewhere else but my house.
I am now trying to get something out of this but I have no hopes.
Worst of all is I am a director of a company and we have a contract with Parcelforce, we have been using them for the last 5 years, with the odd problem here and there, I am now considering working with another company.
This is my sad story, I hope it warns anybody buying stuff from another continent, if its not sent with DHL, FEDEX, UPS or the like it has a great chance of being lost and you will never see it again.
I will come back to this website and post on what happended to the claim.
Regards.
My wife sent a package from here in the US to London via the USPS (United States Postal Service), which then gets handed over to ParcelForce. It was handed over on May 8th, 2007 according to ParcelForce’s web site:
Status: Handed Over
Parcel tracks
Date Time Location Tracking Event
08-05-2007 13:00 CAPE FOREIGN CENTER JERSEY CITY NJ 099 Left origin country
ParcelForce is unable to tell me ANYTHING about this package. They say that the above information is all that they have, and that they are not responsible for it until it arrives in the UK. It is now July 4th. Does it take 2 months to arrive in London once it leaves the US?!?!
The worst part is that the USPS (United States Postal Service) website shows 2 delivery attempts:
Label/Receipt Number:
Detailed Results:
Bullet Attempted Delivery Abroad, June 11, 2007, 9:36 am, GREAT BRITAIN
Bullet Attempted Delivery Abroad, June 08, 2007, 7:50 am, GREAT BRITAIN
Bullet International Dispatch, May 08, 2007, 1:00 pm, N. J. BULK
Bullet Acceptance, April 26, 2007, 2:31 pm,
How in the HELL is is possible that the USPS is able to see ParcelForce’s delivery attempts but ParcelForce themselves cannot?!?! My wife’s friend never received any notices that delivery attempts were made.
I spend sometime on the phone today calling ParcelForce UK numbers. After being transferred twice, I ended up speaking to some girl I could barely understand with what sounded like forklift sounds in the background. She got confused on whether it was being delivered to the UK or the US even while looking at the ParcelForce tracking information. And at the end she said something about the package being sent back, but I cannot be 100% sure about this since there was a lot of confusion and uncertainty in our discussion. At the end, she gave me some numbers for another depot. Carlton I think? I tried those and only one of the numbers worked, but no answer.
The ParcelForce customer service line says that I need to take the matter up with the USPS. What?!?! How in the world can the USPS be responsible for the package once it is in the hands of ParcelForce???
I will try to contact the USPS to see if they can assist me in tracking down the package or tell me who it is EXACTLY that is sending them the data for delivery attempts. If they cannot, I will have to try to collect the $100 insurance we purchased for the package.
I truly feel sorry for anyone who is forced to use ParcelForce. After reading all of the trouble people are having with this company, it has become more than obvious that my problem is not an isolated incident.
Knock on wood, I truly feel blessed that we have a good postal system and good private parcel companies here in the US.
I will make an update if I have any luck.
Ryan, US
I ship small flat rate packages to UK from Florida. Most times is seems to work well but we just had a major meltdown from Parcel Force UK. A customer requested a package sent USPS Global Express. We charge $35.00 as a flat rate as we expadite and some countries charge more than others. Canada is one charge and Germany is another. The onliine store would take forever to sort out different shipping charges. So, it arrives in the UK and Parcel Force charged the customer $27.76 in addition to the $35.00. How can that be that PF gets to charge that in addition?
Al
Dear Bloggers,
The best solution to problems like these you face is to send parcels via appointed parcel force agents. Found easily on ebay. They take all the hassle out for you by dealing with failed collections and failed deliveries. Plus there is no 0870 number to dial which can cost an arm and a leg. Try parcel2send or even better parcelworks. Both are accredited re-sellers and to my knowledge Problem free. Have used them both.
I have been back in England for just 3 months. Using Asshole Force for transatlantic shipments has reminded me why I left this country in the first place. Useless. You can’t get F$
help !!! i sent a parcel with parcelforce on 7/11/07 it was tracked at cambridge then coventry then again 4 more times at coventry ,it was on a 48 hour service and it has been 13 days and the buyer still not got it ,i have left 6 emails done 14 phone calls but only spoke to 3 people one said “dont worry it is on it’s way” the other said “it is still in hub” and now it is still in hub but the lable has come of and we have to find your box ,bear in mind in is a pram in a big box,if it is stitting about someone will know well you would think so ,i have just rang 01908 687000 who seam to be helpfull but he said i can not see why it has been scanned so many times,he said he will go and look into it,will he ring me back ??? we will see ,i got though to coventry hub and a man called del rang me back and said he was going to find out were it is he never rang back,can i get the police to help ??? any advice would be great, could postwatch help ?? the poor buyer is pulling her hair out so am i HELP PLEASE !!! AMANDA
well the comments fill me with horror. i am expecting to get a wheelchair delivered which i need for my elderly mother for a trip this weekend. i am now researching if i can get one elsewhere if it doesnt arrive. oh joy………..
Parcel Force is utterly utterly incompetent. Who knows the head of Parcel Force? because he or she should be hung, drawn and quartered. I have waited in on two successive days (because they couldn’t find my address) for a parcel and despite trying to get them to answer the phone which they never EVER do and sending them email after email, and two letters of complaint I still don’t know when or if I will ever get this parcel. I could KILL!!!!
parcel force suck. A seller sent an item through them. They tried to deliver it but didn’t leave a notification. As a result of their incompetence its been 6 weeks and my product hasn’t arrived when it should only take a week to arrive
Why are ParcelForce so incredibly expensive? Royal Mail requires you to use ParcelForce for international parcels over 2kg. I obtained a quote from ParcelForce to send an item from the UK to my home in Australia and the cost was 100 pounds.
I have previously ordered and received the same items from the USA to Australia via US Postal Service and it cost the equivalent of 20 pounds. Sending the same items from Australia to the UK via Australia Post would cost the equivalent of 32 pounds. What a rip off by ParcelForce.
I cannot comment on the ParcelForce standard of service as I decided not to get the item from the UK due to the ridiculous shipping cost. I will buy from USA when it becomes available. ParcelForce is losing UK retailers international business due to these exorbitant shipping costs.
Glad to hear I’m not the only one…I sent payment for a keyboard that I won on Ebay on October 29th. I paid $40 to have it shipped from the UK, and the seller unfortunately used ParcelForce International Economy. It is now December 18th and still no sign of it. Worst of all, there is no method whatsoever to track the package. An e-mail I sent to ParcelForce garnered only a reply saying that there is no tracking info available for the service, that it should be delivered in 14-28 days (already well past that) and that they’re not responsible if it gets lost.
I’m never again doing business with a seller who uses ParcelForce.
I’m in the same position: the USPS and Parcelfarce both show a parcel having left NJI on 21st December; since then, nothing. Parcelfarce today (when I finally found a human to talk to) say that it’s still in NJ and can’t explain why it shows as having shipped. The woman I spoke to said “maybe they’ve shut down for Christmas” – yeah sure – for 10 days ???
I’m on the point of giving up ever seeing it.
18-12-2007 09:03 CAPE FOREIGN CENTER JERSEY CITY NJ 099 Left origin country
15-12-2007 11:42 Delivery Agent – UNITED STATES AMERICA Collected from customer
guess mine is in the queue behind Vik :-(
same here, a package registered as being in cape center new jersey on dec. 14th. nothing after that and it’s now jan. 8th. i talked to someone at “parcel fuck” today and he says that things will be shipped within’ 7 days!?! huh? what, 7 days from now? why were things not shipped earlier…like when they arrived!!! If Parcel force indeed gets their hands no my package instead of the post office, and then tries to charge me money for my christmas present, i’m going to have them deliver it so i can pay the delivery guy. before i pay him, i’ll take the package and shake it, then put it down behind me and tell him to fuck off and shut the door! when he knocks again i’ll answer it like i’ve never seen him before! haha! my word against his! the driver could have sold my box to some YOB on the street, but “he certainly didn’t deliver anything to me!?! In fact i didn’t even know i was receiving anything!”
Parcelforce….Oh dear just another of the ‘not so proud to be British firms’!!
The U.S.P.S I find to be very good and on the ball… however when it leaves the U.S.A the flight must be by pigeon as it seems to avoid all tracking notes!!
I have a package that shows leaving Cape Foreign Center N.J. on December 24 th at 5.35 am…. and nothing since… perhaps it went to Santa and he has marked it for delivery Xmas 2008… oh the joys.. you save a little buying in the U.S.A. even with the tax and duty added here in the U.K. but once you add the cost of calling, emailing and the hassle Parcelforce put you through..is it worth it???
Perhaps Parcelforce should have a simple D.I.Y service so we can all go to our local depot and rummage through the piles of undelivered and unscanned items they must have.. perhaps the scanning rate of 2 parcels every hour needs to be improved.. the joys of living in the U.K.!
My every sympathy goes out to all of you who have experienced disasters with Parcelforce … in my many years of experience using them, when things are good its really good, but when its bad … wow, it sure is bad !
We are a large Electrical Distributors and distribute 10,000 products around the UK everyday and also dispatch Internationally.
In the 20 years of dealing with the Mail Order side of our company I have used just about every major carrier there is .. and have had good and bad experiences with all of them.
Couriers seem to go through phases of being good … but as soon as they have ‘staff issues’, depots that are understaffed or managed badly or your hit a peak time like Christmas, invariably the problems begin.
A lack on investment in a Carriers infrastructure or development of IT seems to cause a lot of problems too.
We started our Mail Order side using budget couriers like Parceline / Securicor, etc .. but after a year or so the amount of problems with non deliveries and damage in transit meant we had to look towards using a dearer and supposedly more quality Courier like DHL.
Sure the amount of deliveries arriving on time improved and the damage was less … but customers were upset with having to pay high carriage charges to have goods delivered.
So, begrudingly .. I looked to Parcelforce.
And I have to say, for the volume we are sending out via them everyday ( 1000 + ) the amount of problems with have with them are minimal.
BUT … and here is a big BUT … We have the added bonus of being a premium account for Parcelforce and that means we have a special hotline to ring, should a parcel go astray and that team will pull out all the stops to track down where the parcel is and get it delivered a.s.a.p.
Not all Companies using Parcelforce have this and when placing a Mail Order on-line, it may be worth asking the question as to what they will do for you should teh parcel go astray ( I hear horror stories everyday of Companies putting the onus on the customer to find out where his parcel is .. we are not like that )
Our Company having the benfit of a special Parcelforce team makes a lot of difference, instead of the good ol’ days of us having to use their awful automated Customer Services number ( hanging on the phone for 15 minutes +, wading your way through a selection process … and ultimately never knowing when they would phone you back, if at all )
So far all UK and Scottish deliveries are going well … but as for International .. you can forget using Parcelforce .. disaster.
We receive a LOT of orders from the USa and when we have sent parcels out using either ( cheap ) Royal Mail or ( dearer ) Parcelforce all seems to be going OK this end .. but once the parcel reaches America, it gets intergrated into the US postal service and from there you have no tracking and more importantly .. no idea when the parcel will get there.
So I stopped all of that and approached DHL for quotes.
Now the tracking from UPS and delivery speed is excellent, but wow they are EXPENSIVE .. this is a key issue if the value of the item you are ordering is not that expensive … it would hardly make it worthwhile to order.
So I use International Logistics Group ( ILG – 01444 237 123 ) who are a freight forwarder and offer competitive rates for sending parcels Internationally via UPS.
They have an online facility to price up what it will cost to send ( once you input DIMS / Weight of Parcel / country of destination ) and offer a tracking facility for the parcel too.
Cheaper for us than to try and use DHL or UPS direct.
So .. in conclusion .. if you are dealing with any on-line Mail Order company it may be worth asking them what would happen should the parcel go astray .. think about using a freight forwarder for International Shipping which will help keep the costs down but still give you access to a quality carrier.
My last 4 deliveries from Parcelforce have gone wrong – supposed to be delivered by Milton Keynes, the driver never even attempts delivery – instead he POSTS me a collection card from the local post office to say he has left it there.
I originally got a nice letter from someone called Vicki Thomas who said
Parcelforce International Economy – Do not use this service, it is appalling!
I am currently waiting for a parcel to arrive from the US, again much like the rest of you I too get the same message when tracking my parcel CAPE FOREIGN CENTER JERSEY CITY NJ 099 Left origin country, this isn’t the first time I have been waiting for a delivery, and on the last occasion I tried to contact them by email, and it tells you that you will be contacted in the next 2 working days. What use is it having to wait 2 working days, why can no one tell us briefly what is happening with the package we are waiting for to be delivered.
As mentioned on the last occasion my parcel said it that there was an attempted delivery of the parcel, but I had been in all day and knew there had been no delivery, so when I chased by phone to see where it was no one could tell me anything about it and then to top it all off, it was delivered 3 hours later that day. When I asked the delivery driver about them trying to deliver it the day before he told me that they had only just recieved the package that morning, yet when I telephoned in the morning at the depot it came from they told me it wasn’t on their computer.
I massive lack of communication at parcel force seems to be very evident, they then question why people get upset about their service, and it seems to me we all have a very good reason for doing so, I just wish that someone would set up a business very similar to the royal mail but with a really good customer service support, it does not take a genius to provide such a service and I think at times the royal mail should be shut down or either give up the job and give it to someone else, they inflate charges, complain for pay rises, but how do you warrant such things when they can’t get it right.
For all of you waiting for your delivery, good luck because you will need a lot of it like me.
PARCEL FARCE
I won a antique clock on E Bay seller chose to use Parcel Force Economy International to South Africa . Parcel sent 1/9/07 still no parcel it never reached the custom office here 26 Feb 08. I thought we were third world..
Parcel Force what a joke a guy with roller skates would have been more effective.
Useless? You’re not kidding.They say they tried to deliver a parcel three time but they never came near the place. Now I see from the intrenet they have delivered to someone else whohas signed for it. Not me. You ever tried to get on the phone. Never again!”
I sent some sensitive documents from E Sussex to Vancouver Canada on a guaranteed delivery basis. It was picked on a Monday morning by a character that could only be described as “dopey”. He acted as though he had climbed out of his pyjamas a few minutes before. “We promise delivery by Wednseday” they said….guess what, it left Gatwick on Wednesday. It sat in the UK for three days!!!! This was for a $20,000,000 deal. Do you think they care…dream on! NEVER will I use them again and would encourage others not to do so. Do I think the others would be any better….probably not. I write this on the Thursday knowing that it won’t get delivered until Tuesday because of Easter. Meanwhile the executives pull in huge compensation packages and seemingly answer to no one.
Oh dear, im awaiting a delivery from usps then parcel farce, i over the years have completely lost all faith in the company as i have to cold call depot’s on a regular basis to get my parcels, the current parcel was shipped on the 14th of march, it is the 22nd now and im already reading your letters getting anxious.
It’s unbelievable to me. To my mind, England is a very advanced country. I never met so upset thing of parcelforce even in China. You know Chinese is a very big area country and it has so many people. We always send big parcels. The parcelforce in China provides very good services to us. Maybe you should suggest your parcelforce officer to visit Japan or China?
As is the case with all of customer service industries,you only hear the bad reports and most people who are satisfied very rarely comment.
Firstly,let me confirm that I neither work for Parcelforce or have any connection apart from using their delivery service for my business.I have ALWAYS found their drivers to be be polite and efficient.When I book a collection,it is professionally handled and the people on the other end of the phone are certainly better than most service sales operatives.
In all of the time I have used Parcelforce there have been minimal problems,but lets face it,no business is perfect.
I can appreciate that their drivers are under a lot of pressure to deliver parcels within their working day and I believe that they do their best.In many cases I have read about people not getting delivery simply because they were not at home,etc.You can hardly blame Parcelforce for this.I have said this before,but a simple “note on the door” can solve the problem just to let the driver know.If you are expecting a parcel then surely this makes sense?
Parcelforce provide a tracking system which works relatively well.I am not saying perfect,but then what did we have before computers!!
I must object to the comments written about the Charlton depot of Parcelforce. They are incredibly helpful. I have been awaiting a parcel of plants from the USA. They were stuck in customs for 11 days – for no reason! When speaking to Parcelforce Charlton depot, they have left a message for the overnight depot manager to remove the parcel from delivery so that I can pick it up myself. They also rang me so that I knew they had done it.
If you are expecting a parcel, why don’t you have it delivered to your place of work? or an alternative address where somebody will be in?
To Fran Low – that’s all very well, but what about when you wait in all day, nobody comes, and then you find on their website a note saying “failed delivery” when they didn’t even TRY? Or when it’s been signed for by someone you don’t know, again on a day when you waited in all day for them to deliver and they didn’t come to your door?
I didn’t deal with Charlton depot so I can’t comment on them, but the depot in north London wasn’t overly helpful; it took several phone calls, several choruses of “yes it’s in the country; no it isn’t in the country; it’s in the US; it’s been shipped; it hasn’t been shipped; it’ll be with you tomorrow; tomorrow; next week; I don’t know when” before my parcel turned up. From the point that the USPS handed it over to Parcelforce (2 days or so after picking the parcel up from my friend), it took nearly a month to get it into the country and to my house. On the other hand, I sent a return parcel via DHL and it got there in 3 days, door to door.
Still, we’ve both learnt our lesson, and won’t use Parcelforce again.
My very sad story is an item I am hoping will show up eventually, although each day those hopes get more faded. I puchased a used pram on Ebay, on April 13th.. and it is now 4 months later with no delivery in sight. The gentleman from whom i puchased it from in the UK said it was sent Economy b/c of its size and he purchased insurance too. He placed a trace on it last week but so far no luck and will mostly likely collect the insurance money.
Is there anything I can do on the US side of this situation? I’m truely heartbroken about the pram, as I spent quite a bit on it for my son born in March, and I would like him to have it before he turns 1!
i am seriously pissed off with parcelforce im 16 and i orded a halo reach for preorder of the game website with a £5 express option via parcel force aka 1 buisness day delivery i have not recived the item on the day of release and their shitty website tracking order does not work fuck you parcelforce i will not be using you again im going back to using standard royal mail.
My sender included money in the parcel to me. I was made to pay R 1720. I paid into capitec bank, but the people at parcel force are now saying they will return that money to me so that I can send it by western union because they are not able to withdraw the money. Its not my fault I did what they told me but they want me to incur other expenses again. this is not professionalism I think.
Please parcel force treat clients professionally. given a choice I would not use your courier facility or recommend a friend to you
My sender included money in the parcel to me. I was made to pay R 1720. I paid into capitec bank, but the people at parcel force are now saying they will return that money to me so that I can send it by western union because they are not able to withdraw the money. Its not my fault I did what they told me but they want me to incur other expenses again. this is not professionalism I think.
Please parcel force protect your image especially in South Africa. I was asked to pay because my sender included money in the parcel. I paid and again they say I should pay R16225 to get anti laundering certificate. If its illegal to include money in a parcel they should just return to the sender. I dont understand this company anymore.