Returned to Sender (Parcel2go.com)

Member Name: nickyturnill

Product:	Parcel2go.com
Date:	16/07/07 (559 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: eeerr it's cheap

Disadvantages: Poor customer service, difficult to contact, failed deliveries, generally rubbish

Last week I was waiting for an important delivery to my work address in Newcastle, a laptop to replace the one I’ve been using the last five months which actually belongs to a lady about to return from maternity leave. The company who were meant to be delivering said laptop was parcel2go and things went far from smoothly.

The economy UK collection and delivery with parcel2go is £8.49 plus VAT which is very good value. This provides a 2-4 day delivery time across most of mainland Britain. There is an automatic £50 compensation cover for losses with the option to specify up to £1000 worth of cover. This deal allows deliveries between home address postcodes only and the parcel must be below 25kg in weight with a maximum of 100cm parcel length and 5 cubic feet maximum parcel size.

This minimum price is likely to increase significantly for faster delivery, for large or expensive items, for deliveries to businesses and for deliveries outside of mainland Britain (parcel2go will deliver worldwide). For more details about delivery rates for your personal circumstances please see there website.

Pacel2go claim that they have a 96% collection and delivery success rate but given the reviews published online and my own experiences I find this hard to believe.

Delivery request should be made online and the process seems fairly simple and the website easy to navigate. Parcel2go accept payment using all major credit cards, in addition to paypal and offer a 10% discount to ebay customers which must be tempting for those who regularly sell through this site.

My delivery was arranged and collected from a location in the South of England and I received an email on Tuesday 3rd July confirming the order and my delivery address, stating that I should except the parcel within 2-4 days.

Having received and heard nothing from parcel2go by Monday 9th I attempted to find out what had happened. I searched for their webpage and here I found that the option to track your parcel online. However, when I input my reference number into this system they were unable to locate it. Useless then.

Consequently, I rang them on the number specified on their website. It would have been nice to have been put through to an actual person but no, the whole thing is automated and then you are simply told that they will email you will a new delivery date, no explanation offered, nothing.

Unsatisfied with this I went back to the website and found an alternative option. Parcel2go offer an online instant messaging service through which customers can contact a parcel2go representative. This is an interesting idea that I’d never come across before and which could be successful. However, I found that this service was unreliable and the text box often had to be refreshed a number of times before a connection could be established. Additionally, the responses to my questions appeared less than rapidly.

Once connected I was told that my delivery had not arrived because there was no one to sign for it. At this point one has to wonder why no-one at the company bothered in this knowledge to call or e-mail either myself or the sender about this issue, but there you go. As I work at a huge site and I could understand that they might have had trouble finding me or finding someone willing to sign but surely this is something they are used to dealing with regularly? What do they usually do?

The parcel2go employee suggested that I contact reception and let them know I was expecting a delivery. Although this was a reasonable suggestion I explained that there are three site entrances and thus I was unsure which they would be arriving at. I asked that someone give me a ring on arrival on either my mobile or my internal number and I would come down and collect and sign for the package personally.

The representative explained that she couldn’t guarantee that they would ring me on arrival but that she would put my numbers and a note on the delivery form. I was then told that the delivery had been rearranged for the next day.

The next day comes and so I waited patiently for a call. At 3.30pm I got back in touch with parcel2go through their online messaging service to ask if their had been a problem. I was told I would have to wait until past 5.30pm until which deliveries would still be arriving. I asked if representatives would still be available after this time and was told they would be.

I waited until 5 and wanted to go home so I attempted to get back in touch with parcel2go only to receive the message that all representatives were no longer available and to get in touch during business hours…. Having been told that staff members would be available I was not impressed at all.

The next day I got in touch with them again and was told that the parcel had now been returned to sender as once again no-one would sign for it. When I asked why no-one had rung me I was told that legally drivers are not allowed to have phones on them. Seriously? What if there’s an accident or they need to get in touch with family members or with the company. What rubbish. Anyway that wasn’t even the point as it would have been easy for them to call from the reception they arrived at. Seemingly though, this was too difficult for parcel2go to manage.

The representative was very apologetic, as much as you can be using an instant messaging service anyway, but there wasn’t much she could do. I was told all I could do now was get in touch with the sender and wait for the parcel to be returned.

The laptop was thankfully returned to the sender the next day and delivered this morning without issue by another company.

My experiences with Parcel2go are the worse example of customer service and satisfaction I have come across in some time. It’s difficult to get in touch with them and they don ‘t seem to able to manage the simplest and easiest things to ensure that goods are delivered to the recipient on time. My experience with parel2go was stressful and irritating. Steer well clear of this company, they may be cheap but the fact is, you get what you pay for…. Parcel2go is not recommended and they don’t deserve anymore than a rubbish one star rating.

www.parcel2go.com

Summary: Don't bother with Parcel2go, they're rubbish.