Any Parcelforce delivery issues during strike?

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Very often the service provided will depend on the individual worker.

After being made redundant, for six months I worked as a parcels courier.

One driver was prone to throwing parcels around the depot, in the general direction of his van, for loading.

One morning he threw a box of wine, with the inevitable result. A few days later he did the same again!

And the boss thought he was good!

The problem was that wherever you were, the office wanted you somewhere else, five minutes earlier!

Under that sort of pressure, the temptation to cut corners is almost irresistible.

It kept me fit, but was glad to be able to return to my old job, on contract.

Howard

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

I ordered some printer inks online from HP Wednesday afternoon and received a confirmation email for Friday delivery.

Shortly after an email from Parcelforce arrived stating the same.

Yesterday morning Parcelforce emailed me to say the delivery would be made between 09:50 & 10:50 the fully branded Parcelforce van arrived at approx 10:30 and driver handed the parcel to me at my door.

I call that good service from HP & Parcelforce.

[BazParticipant @baz89810]

Placed an order with Arc Eurotrade yesterday 8th December for some Xmas goodies and got an email at 2:30pm saying delivery tomorrow Friday 9 December, I was due to go out so re arranged everything so I could be in all day also opted for delivery to a safe place, the porch, because then they won’t be able to put a card through the door saying no ones in. Got up this morning and at 9:01 got an email from DPD saying sorry your parcels delayed in transit, we will update you when your parcel moves. Doubt anything will happen now until Monday,. I have no complaint with Arc, their stuff is OK but I think their delivery partner is c**p, this is not the first time they have said next day delivery and pulled the delayed in transit trick on me, sorry Arc but DPD are letting you down.

[Ketan SwaliParticipant @ketanswali79440]

Apologies Baz,

In addition to Royal Mail, we only use Parcelforce and DPD. Earlier you mentioned that Parcelforce is crap, so we used DPD this time.

At present we and a small percentage of our customers are finding delivery delays from all carriers. We are trying our best, using premium services. The diversion switching from 2nd to 1st class, or 1st class to courier, or switching from one courier to another has cost us 11% over and above what we would normally pay. This is not a moan or sob story. I am just explaining what we at ARC are doing to deal with the situation. We are getting goods out as quickly as we can. For Royal Mail, there will be strike dependent delays in transit – currently between 1 to 2 weeks for 1st class depending on U.K. destination, regardless of what you buy from all shippers who use Royal Mail.

There is higher pressure on the carriage system at present due to execution of Black Friday deals, and strikes which are outside our control. Certain large corporates are switching from the cheapest e.g.EVRI to other carriers, and then from Parcelforce to carriers like DPD when Parcelforce is on strike. This has put an increased load on DPD… as in our case, and it is clear that they are all having difficulties coping. It’s a case of crap rolling downhill!….

This afternoon as I write, just been advised… don’t use DPD for shipments to Stoke or Cardiff as their depots are well and truly backed up and will need senakot to relieve their constipation … Parcelforce on strike today….so we are removing such parcels from the system now, and will switch them over to Parcelforce on Monday!

Yes, the result is that we are hearing about these problems every day, and we are switching between services as and when we hear about expected problems with a service or destination area. Had we participated in Black Friday deals, our problems would have been greater.

Ketan at ARC

[Rod RenshawParticipant @rodrenshaw28584]

Not sure if this is quite on topic but it seemed like useful information.

Yesterday I ordered something from Machine DRO, I selected DPD as recommended, and the parcel arrived this morning at about 11.00 am. Hertfordshire to Cheshire. Pretty fast footwork by both supplier and courier.

So it's not necessarily too late to get something for Christmas whatever it says on the News!

Rod

[Ketan SwaliParticipant @ketanswali79440]

Lucky you Rod!

Based on the delay calls our team are having to deal with, we are less optomistic… especially for orders sent out by Royal Mail.

I hope this link for DPD Operations works, as it is showing delays in different parts of the country for their service:

**LINK**

Yesterday we tried to ship to an Oldham OL postcode, and the DPD booking system stopped us from continuing, requesting us to book on a different date as that destination has a back-log.

Ketan at ARC

[Ian McVickersParticipant @ianmcvickers56553]

Ordered something from Stuart Models on November 30th and it hasnt arrived either. Thankfully they will send me a replacement. Deliveries from Amazon and deliveries via DPD are arriving next day without any issues here. My order from ebay posted 21st November still shows as being in Heathrow but on contacting Royal Mail this morning they are now advising to claim for it as its lost.

 

Edited By Ian McVickers on 14/12/2022 12:54:29

[Ramon WilsonParticipant @ramonwilson3]

Ordered a plastic kit just yesterday from Models for Sale. Expecting it to take a week or so due to the current circumstances – just come home to find Parcel Force about to leave the area. Order to delivery less than 24hrs so yes, Parcel Force were delivering in this area today for me

Who's a happy bunny then

Tug

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

I received 2 parcels this morning, one by the Postie and one by Parcelforce both rang the doorbell and put them down outside as we have Covid.

Both had been dispatched yesterday in fact one of them had only been ordered online yesterday morning.

 

Edited By V8Eng on 14/12/2022 13:41:10

[Ches Green UKParticipant @chesgreenuk]

Ordered a couple of small end mills and two slitting saws from Arceurotrade around 5th Dec, received them on the 12th IIRC (but it could have been a day or two before that). That timing is OK by me, especially for December..

The package was delivered by Royal Mail 24, to Central Scotland.

I don't know if it has always been the case but recent small deliveries from Arc arrive in a neat rectangular stiff cardboard package around, say, 6" x 5" x 3/4" …. these always fit through the letter box so no need to stay in for a delivery.

Ches

Edited By Ches Green UK on 14/12/2022 15:12:34

Edited By Ches Green UK on 14/12/2022 15:30:51

[Rod RenshawParticipant @rodrenshaw28584]

Ketan

Yes, very lucky, still my lucky experience has encouraged me to order something from you as well, so I am hoping to be lucky twice.

I suppose you have a difficult balance to strike at the moment between offering goods for sale and managing expectations of timeous delivery.

Rod

[Ketan SwaliParticipant @ketanswali79440]

Ches: Glad you got your goods. Yes we have been experimenting with more cardboard packaging this year.

Rod: Thank you for your order. It is in the system for processing. Yes it is fun and games trying to strike a balance. Hoping to get it out tomorrow depending on who allows us to book through their booking system.

Ketan at ARC

[HOWARDTParticipant @howardt]

Just had a parcel delivered by Post Office. Ordered Monday for next day delivery, according to tracking seems to have got hung up in Bristol main depot for most of yesterday before getting to my local office today. Not bad for a strike day.

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Perhaps EVRI is the answer

An item I was informed as despatched by the supplier yesterday turned up today.

Clearly Parcelforce have current issues but with the others it would be interesting to know the ratio of complaints to volume of deliveries.

Rod

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

A few Christmas goodies ordered from ARC maybe Monday or Tuesday arrived this afternoon, just have to wait a week or so until I'm allowed to play with them.

Did not get the EVRI notice myself as someone ordered them having been sent my "wishlist" from ARC's website.

[Rod RenshawParticipant @rodrenshaw28584]

Ketan

Parcel arrived, safe and well, at lunchtime today, delivered by Parcelforce, so I have been twice lucky.

Thanks for the service.

Regards

Rod

[Ketan SwaliParticipant @ketanswali79440]

Posted by Rod Renshaw on 16/12/2022 18:36:26:

Ketan

Parcel arrived, safe and well, at lunchtime today, delivered by Parcelforce, so I have been twice lucky.

Thanks for the service.

Regards

Rod

Good to know – thank you. I will let the team know.

Yesterday, DPD system refused to allow us to book parcel to your postcode. So we booked it on PF. Even though PF were on strike yesterday, our PF driver collected all the parcels which the DPD system refused to accept. So we are grateful for their service.

Ketan at ARC

[peak4Participant @peak4]

Just as an aside, I spotted this on one of our local Facebook groups; I've blanked the name in case they shouldn't really be posting it.

Hello all just a quick DPD post, from tomorrow I will be getting as many parcels out to you as I can possibly do, if by a chance you have a delivery and not going to be in, please could you download the DPD app and choose the best option to yourself, I will do my very best for you all

Merry Christmas from *****

They have always been pretty conscientious around here.

Bill

[BazParticipant @baz89810]

OK so it’s not Parcel Farce this time, it’s Royal Snail. Brother in law posted us a Christmas card on 3rd December, from Herne Bay in Kent. It arrived this morning and close inspection of the franking shows that it went from Kent up to Yorkshire to be franked on the 7th December and since then who knows where it has been as it makes its way south to Hampshire. First delivery we have had from Royal Snail in a fortnight.

[GordonHParticipant @gordonh]

Ketan,

PF notified me on Friday that they had collected my order from you and would deliver it betwen 13:00 and 14:00 on Monday. Delivery was dead on time.

Gordon

Spelling and punctuation correction.

Edited By GordonH on 20/12/2022 23:18:46

[Clive IndiaParticipant @cliveindia]

All good for me yeaterday.

[Ketan SwaliParticipant @ketanswali79440]

It’s good to read that PF delivery services are getting back to normal in more areas.

Thank you all for your feedback.

Ketan at ARC

[Ian McVickersParticipant @ianmcvickers56553]

My missing delivery which should have arrived on 22nd November arrived this morning.

[Author]

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