I used this service to book a home collection for shipment to Australia with Evri - the new name for Hermes. Living in the Highlands I was very pleased as previously, none of the major courier's would pick up from my location. The service was also cheaper than other providers... maybe too cheap so I started to look into it. Oh dear! Parcelcompare runs a scam operation whereby they accept your package, take it to their distribution centre where they find reasons - valid or not - to add surcharges. Even then, they sometimes cancel the service and charge a cancelation fee! I found all this out from various internet searches and consumer experience sites. Oh, and they retain your bank details to continue charging your account! I've talked to my bank about this but as I've entered into an 'agreement' with parcelcompare.com I will have to spot fraudulent activity and they (the bank) will then reclaim the amount. So... if you're looking to send a lantern anywhere, avoid this bunch like the plague! BTW anyone know a trusted method of sending to Australia that isn't a scam and won't charge me a small fortune?
Oh, and Evri/Hermes don't have a customer telephone number (they use an online chat robot) and won't address issues with parcelcompare. I did find a contract number via an internet search but that's useless too. There is no complaints service that I could find.... so beware of Evri as well! All in all, it turned out to be a swirling cesspool of scammery!
Colin I’ve never had a lamp sent to me from the UK, but almost everything that has been sent to me from the UK has been sent Royal Mail and I’ve not had a problem at all. Cheers Tony
Yes, I agree @Tony Press, not the cheapest but haven’t let me down with parcels going to Japan and elsewhere. Also they collect on date booked unlike Evri. What’s with this name change anyway?
I’ve had lamps delivered by Royal Mail with no issues. Now, don’t get me started on evil bay’s Global Shipping.......
Yep your better off using another way to ship goods because evil bay can and does destroy stoves and lanterns dirty rotten bunch of scoundrels.
I read that too... but do they really think a change of name is going to solve all their problems? Corporate stupidity!
Thanks for the Caveat Emptor there Colin .. I remember when you could ring hermease and actually speak to someone.. it’s all getting like that now with useless ‘chat bots’ everywhere With Royal Mail you do seem to get what you pay for… I hope it lasts
I did wonder about these ones that looked like a "shell" or brokers for other couriers. Never used one but I could see that their websites had lots of content to bring them up above the real ones in the search rankings. If I search for Hermes Tracking I get 9 results on the first page - 1 of which is actually Hermes in the middle of the other entries. No wonder people get caught.
@ColinG I have used Hermes now Evri for five years, mainly because my drop off point is a one minute walk away, sending within the UK/Europe and only had two issues, both got sorted without too much of a problem and had to phone them yesterday, once i got past the robot that couldn't understand the way i said the letter H when giving the tracking number (some choice words were shouted at it!) everything went fine and i was refunded straight away, Evri 0330 808 5456 I used to use Parcel2Go until i sent a lantern to China which arrived safely but then received a message from them saying the 5kg lantern i sent actually weighed 115kg and that i owed them another £250 odd, since then i ALWAYS photograph each parcel against a tape measure and on a set of scales, I now use Parcelhero which i believe is Norsk, they use many of the big companies, aren't too badly priced and Evri often collect (well i drop off over the road) and take to Norsk's distribution centre, so far i have sent quite a few all over and ............. i'm not going to jinx myself but you get the gist, although their tracking details can get a bit confusing for buyers, It seems that most couriers have a bad name, i have found it quite easy to find bad feedback on most of them if you look for it, I have heard/read quite a few times that Royal Mail/Parcelforce like to confiscate pressure items and destroy them as being unsafe to transport plus they are expensive on anything over a small parcel, i sent something Internationally with them the other day so hope it arrives ok! And i only ever pay any of them by Paypal.
It's definitely getting harder to find a good deal and to find a courier I trust! I used to use Hermes all the time but haven't posted much over COVID. Hopefully shipping costs will settle down a bit now things are getting back to normal.
Hopefully but i wouldn't bank on it, it seems that most International couriers seem to be charging on average £20 more to the far east etc although some are still fairly well priced but it takes around four weeks to get there, i sent something somewhere a few weeks back and the covid charge was £2.40, that's the most i have come across iirc, not a fortune but i'm not sure why that was needed now.
Talking of unreliable couriers, UPS were meant to collect a parcel yesterday, stayed in till 7.30 pm, nothing, you wouldn't think it would be that difficult to send an email stating they are running late, hopefully they come today!
Unfortunately, by closest drop off point for international parcels is Glasgow! UK mainland is fine but none of the couriers will cover the highlands round where I live
