UKC

hello ,

could anyone give me some recommendations on a courier for delivering a bouldering pad ? 

tar. 

Anyone but DPD - recent delivery from them arrived so smashed up the original company had to send us brand new replacements.

In fact, for one of the boxes, they delivered the replacement themselves!

My experience with DPD is generally that they're the best of a very bad bunch.  And it'd be quite hard to smash up a bouldering pad.

Hermes is almost certainly cheapest for a large parcel like that, but we all know how good they are.  Other options likely to be quite expensive.  So it might be one where it's worth putting up with them.

In one case, the outer packaging was completely mangled and had been taped back together with DPD tape, so just because it's a bouldering pad doesn't mean they can't damage the contents.

But yes, it's probably a case of whichever is the balance of cost and confidence.

^This.  I just ordered some fairly expensive second-hand electronic kit, and was actually glad to see it's being delivered by DPD.  Especially as it's likely I won't be in when they're due to bring it.  Perhaps I've just been lucky so far.

I know I've been lucky with Hermes, because the "self employed sub-contractor" they exploit, er..  i mean employ, to deliver around here is actually really good.  Though even he is not above ticking the box to say I've signed for it and just dumping the parcel outside if I'm not in when he comes.  (There's a motorbike with a cover over it outside my back door, so he does at least generally tuck it under there out of sight and out of the rain so it's a bit less likely to get nicked and/or soaked before I get in.)

Reading about how hard it is for those guys to make minimum wage, I have to say I can't really blame him all that much.  He uses his own car, so I can only imagine it's getting more difficult with fuel prices going through the roof.

Hermes is indeed very variable as they appear not to have any kind of quality management.  It went from great to awful here when the local contractor changed.

I'd also recommend against using hermes.

We posted a pretty valuable item (~£2k) to Australia, complete with their full insurance. The item seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth and it took 12 months and some letters from a lawyer before they'd actually admit it had gone missing and paying out. In the end the insurance pay out probably wasn't even worth it (I must have spent 50+ hours chasing it) but you do it out of principle!

I would do it via Interparcel.com
 

DPD good IME

Tuffnells not so bad, but no tracking IME

TNT, OK

This is Ugly freight, that a lot of carriers will not touch.

Pack it very well, as if it will be hurled around a van, then thrown out, then stood on, then thrown back on, stood on. This is what carriers offer, so pack it accordingly, or pay for a much more expensive service.

Volumetric weight is at least as important as actual weight, Length x Width x Depth.

Do a test run on the parcel website as the initial cost you will see will not show VAT and Insurance.

Read Terms and Conditions before sending, not after, and watch out for insurance excess and restricted goods.

On the whole carrier drivers are hard working people, doing a tough job for shit pay, and they do generally an excellent job.

thanks for all of the suggestions , and warnings 

DPD have generally been good for me.

APC overnight - very much the worst I've ever had the misfortune to deal with to the point I cancel orders if they are the courier the company are using

Hermes and yodel - bad but very marginally better than APC.. 

I always feel like the email from Hermes saying they have your parcel reads more like a ransom note.

I work as a last mile courier with one of the major companies and I just want to defend the drivers. As the front end of customer experience we get all the blame and all the shit when it goes wrong. I care about customers parcels and doing my job properly. But the parcels go through so many hands before I have them, and they're sometimes damaged before then. Depot staff, including managers, throw parcels around, kick them etc. There's been times when the parcels are in such a state I've refused to deliver them. I can get 'fined' for this and lose money! But if the parcels look OK but are damaged internally how do I know?

Dpd but pack it carefully to protect edges etc.