Parcelforce and TLC

[Man at B&Q]

Time to process is too long. Notification method is broken, they write to you by normal mail with a reference number that's different to the international tracking number. By the time you get the parcel which is supposedly on a 48hr service it can easily have been in the country for over a week. The duty/VAT is almost invariably calculated wrongly, but the running total is in my favour at the moment.

Fedex, on the other hand, just deliver the parcel straight away and then invoice you for the duty and fees.

MBQ

[Man at B&Q]

FedEx is even slicker. They deliver it ASAP and then invoice you, and you can use on-line banking to pay by bank transfer. i can't fault the service.

MBQ

[Man at B&Q]

You used to be able to do that with Parcel Force. No doubt it was changed to offer an improved level of service, not.

MBQ

[Graeme]

Yes, agreed, it is an abysmal system. I recently bought an item from US, and tracked it to the local depot, but could not pay the fee, because I did not know the reference number, because I did not receive the letter. Took forever to sort out - took far longer for the parcel to travel from the depot to me, than from US to UK.

Agreed, again, although my point was that, IME, FEDEX always charge the fee, whereas with PF, sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't. I fully appreciate, though, that this point is far more important to me, buying hobby items, than to someone buying for business where time is vital.

As an insider looking out (I'm a sub postmaster), I find PF to be incredibly frustrating. They have, or had, an almost captive market, yet still manage to bollox it at every possible opportunity.

[Man at B&Q]

Right.

We often use the "re-deliver to your local PO for 50p service", but on one occcasion the PF driver decided that our local post office were miserable bastards (not entirely true, just arrogant and rude, in the habit of making customers wait whilst she took personal calls on her mobile, and having the gall to ask customers to vote for her in some "best PO" competition - but she's gone now) so took the parcel somewhere else.

MBQ