Courier "Lost" my sail

MikeCC

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Hope the sail is located.
On the semantic distinction, I'm with Bru if you're defining the service you expect.
The likes of Hermes and ParcelForce use 'courier' inappropriately to add gravitas to their offering.
 

[163233]

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So, taking into account all the above, which tends to berate most of the parcel shifting organisations. Who do I use regardless of cost to ship a, let’s say sail, from the UK, to let’s say Spain?

DPD. Cheap no nonsense, arrived with no problems. I think the Spanish end was SEUR which you rarely see here, because they're relatively expensive and competent.
Correos Express - More a parcel losing service, or a weird spanish language training program than a delivery system.
SEUR - Only used as the Spanish end of DPD, seem good, prices are high so never sent anything.
Hermes - Just no.
MRW - The tracking is weird, the first half of a delivery turned up, so they marked it delivered on the tracking, but the second half was a couple of days later. Found the place and were quick though, so beats Correos Express.
Correos - Good, but I've never had anything big.
Amazon Locker - Far and away the best. But only for stuff that can go to an amazon locker.

Addresses are complex in Spain because a postcode can cover a very large area, and due to a spectacular lack of imagination it's quite common to have several roads with the same name in the same postcode, so make sure the address describes the local area, as well as the administrative area and the postcode.

Also, every package I have had in Spain has been dropped at some point in the journey from whatever courier. So pack well. A set of small packages might be better than one big one, unless you've got to forklift size.
 

Bru

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So, taking into account all the above, which tends to berate most of the parcel shifting organisations. Who do I use regardless of cost to ship a, let’s say sail, from the UK, to let’s say Spain?

Genuinely regardless of cost?

Any specialist courier company which covers Europe or a freelance courier driver

Yes, we (that is courier drivers) would put your sail in the back of a small van and drive it to Spain

It is not, obviously, going to be cheap! And for a sail it's not going to be worth it but we'd do it (such runs are rare but not unheard of, usually it's high value delicate or irreplaceable goods which cannot be safely shipped by any other means)

More realistically perhaps, there are plenty of companies who specialise in groupage and overseas shipment and who will utilise a UK courier to collect and a Spanish courier to deliver. Still not going to be cheap but a lot cheaper than one guy going all the way!

It's still probably not worth it for a sail though so you're looking at a parcels outfit and making sure it's adequately insured for its replacement value just in case
 

JumbleDuck

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The difference between overnight parcels services and couriers is clearly understood in the light haulage industry ...
Internal jargon within an industry does not have to match general usage. To a specialist there is no such thing as "sandpaper", "the fast lane" or a "seagull" but these words are widely understood by the public. Insisting that "courier" should only be used in the sense used by the man-with-a-van sector is as pointless as insisting that it should only mean someone who carries stuff in aeroplane hand luggage.
 
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Bru

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Internal jargon within an industry does not have to match general usage. To a specialist there is no such thing as "sandpaper", "the fast lane" or a "seagull" but these words are widely understood by the public. Insisting that "courier" should only be used in the sense used by the man-with-a-van sector is as pointless as insisting that it should only mean someone who carries stuff in aeroplane hand luggage.

Well the overnight parcels mob have clearly fooled you beyond any hope of redemption

Hopefully others reading this thread have noted that there is an alternative to them when the need arises

And by the way, "man with a van" is something else again! (That'd an owner driver who hires out on an hourly or daily rate. Often a bit dodgy with an elderly vehicle tand lacking proper insurance)
 

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And by the way, "man with a van" is something else again! (That'd an owner driver who hires out on an hourly or daily rate. Often a bit dodgy with an elderly vehicle tand lacking proper insurance)
Aside from not actually running, in what way aren't they "couriers"?

Is there some kind of courier society that you have to be members of or something like doctors and accountants have?
 

Bru

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Aside from not actually running, in what way aren't they "couriers"?

Is there some kind of courier society that you have to be members of or something like doctors and accountants have?

It's simply the type of work! It's simple enough, I've explained the differences several times already
 

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It's simply the type of work! It's simple enough, I've explained the differences several times already
But you don't run.
You pick up a parcel and take it to another place.
The man in the van doesn't run.
He picks up the parcel and takes it to another place.

I really don't get how you can be a courier without running but even if he ran the man in the van can't.
 

Bru

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But you don't run.
You pick up a parcel and take it to another place.
The man in the van doesn't run.
He picks up the parcel and takes it to another place.

I really don't get how you can be a courier without running but even if he ran the man in the van can't.

What the hell has running to do with anything???
 

Bru

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Well we all had an idea of what a MODERN courier was, you were claiming something else.

Since i am a modern courier i think it not unreasonable for me to point out that some of you have clearly been taken in by overnight parcels companies using "courier" to imply a level of service they do not provide
 

MikeCC

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So, taking into account all the above, which tends to berate most of the parcel shifting organisations. Who do I use regardless of cost to ship a, let’s say sail, from the UK, to let’s say Spain?
Any of the robust parcel services. UPS, FedEx/TNT, DPD, even GLS via Parcelforce (if you use Parcelforce into Europe ensure there is a GLS operation in delivery country). The online brokers usually offer best one-off rates but their insurance varies wildly so check that carefully. eg Parcel2Go, Interparcel and Transglobalexpress.
Or there are UK-based direct van/lorry services taking multiple consignments direct to Spain, Greece etc; some specialise for boat owners.
 

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I bought a kitchen rack from Gumtree and used Hermes through ParcelMoney to collect it. Only half of it turned up: the there brackets were there but the itself had been ripped off and lost. ParcelMoney refused any liability because, they said, it was two different items (only after Hermes got their grubby paws on it) and should have been sent as two consignments. A letter before action did the trick, and they grumpily refunded me in full and paid the full purchase cost of the item.


Good grief. Someone has pinched it from your post, as well.
 

Graham_Wright

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You need to constantly read Hermes Terms and Conditions and their Insurance Conditions. Currently I am suing them for over £600 for insurance I paid for parcels that were covered when I first started using them 5 years ago, however they continually change their T&C's without any notification. You are expected to check them everytime you dispatch. They continually change their insurance terms without any notice and cannot inform me when a subtle change made my parcels excluded from their insurance. When declaring the parcel contents their software does not stop ineligible items from taking out insurance and allow you to assuming they are insured. The claim was all triggered by them delivering a parcel worth only £24 to a wrong address. Insurance was paid as the free limit was £20 and they said the contents of the parcel were excluded and refused to pay a penny. Luckily I could replace the item with a similar one I had in stock and the customer was happy, if not I would have had to refund the customer. Due to Covid19 the case should have been heard on 22 April and currently awaiting a revised court date. So you have been warned about Hermes, so I hope londonpiper did not use Hermes as he may be completely out of pocket.
Did you refer to Resolver? Effective for me.
 
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