irb
pfm Member
As many will know, Interparcel is a UK booking agent for parcel delivery. It's like a comparison website for shipping services, and I've used it regularly to arrange shipping, for many years. I always found it pretty good. Until recently.
Twice, in the last few months, I had a failed delivery, and the parcel was returned to me. (On the first occasion, the carrier, APC, claimed they left a card, but the buyer said they didn't receive a card; the second time, Parcelforce claimed to have tried three times to deliver; the buyer said they were in, but didn't hear the doorbell on any of the three occasions. On both occasion, I believe the buyers were genuine - they both still wanted the item after this happened, and paid for me to resend it.)
A few days after each failed delivery, though, I got a bill from Interparcel. The first time, the surcharge was £38.88. (The shipping had cost me £11.88.) The second time, the surcharge was £36.30. (I'd paid £12.18 for shipping.)
Why was the surcharge issued? Because when you book a parcel with Interparcel, they give the carrier their own office address as the return address. So if a delivery fails, the carrier doesn't return the parcel to the sender, they send it to Interparcel's HQ, at Gatwick. Then Interparcel arranges for a courier (DHL in my case) to pick it up from them and ship it back to you. They charge you for that, and they add an admin fee. If you don't pay, they threaten legal action, and costs.
As far as I can see, there's no reason why Interparcel need to give a carrier their own address for return. They could fix this if they wanted. But maybe it's lucrative for them.
Anyway if you don't want to be hit with a large surcharge in the event of a failed delivery, I suggest you don't use Interparcel. I've learnt my lesson. Going forward, I'll booking direct with carriers.
Twice, in the last few months, I had a failed delivery, and the parcel was returned to me. (On the first occasion, the carrier, APC, claimed they left a card, but the buyer said they didn't receive a card; the second time, Parcelforce claimed to have tried three times to deliver; the buyer said they were in, but didn't hear the doorbell on any of the three occasions. On both occasion, I believe the buyers were genuine - they both still wanted the item after this happened, and paid for me to resend it.)
A few days after each failed delivery, though, I got a bill from Interparcel. The first time, the surcharge was £38.88. (The shipping had cost me £11.88.) The second time, the surcharge was £36.30. (I'd paid £12.18 for shipping.)
Why was the surcharge issued? Because when you book a parcel with Interparcel, they give the carrier their own office address as the return address. So if a delivery fails, the carrier doesn't return the parcel to the sender, they send it to Interparcel's HQ, at Gatwick. Then Interparcel arranges for a courier (DHL in my case) to pick it up from them and ship it back to you. They charge you for that, and they add an admin fee. If you don't pay, they threaten legal action, and costs.
As far as I can see, there's no reason why Interparcel need to give a carrier their own address for return. They could fix this if they wanted. But maybe it's lucrative for them.
Anyway if you don't want to be hit with a large surcharge in the event of a failed delivery, I suggest you don't use Interparcel. I've learnt my lesson. Going forward, I'll booking direct with carriers.
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