Fastway Couriers.

[movietub]

I love these sort of threads. At the end of the day you get what you pay for and if your foolish enough to expect a nextday service for £6.00ish then you probably shouldn't be pricing up deliveries for your company

I've used them a good number of times but am sensible enough to realise that you expect a self employed delivery driver to do a 20 mile return trip for one parcel.

If you haven't done the research then more fool you

:|


No - I get the service I agree I will get at the price I negotiate at the time.

And I think you made a couple of very heavy handed statements in your post! No one who is even moderately succesful selling online/mail order should be paying as much as £6 after a years operation. The only reason anyone would is that they are simply to lazy/polite/useless to pick up the phone and start negotiating!

But back to point.

We have used Fastway for about a year now. Very reliable. We recently negotiated a flat rate for next day deliveries upto 30KG anywhere in the UK at £5.50 a pop.

We could technically get cheaper through DHL but the labels are so much quicker for us and the service is better than DHL overall (although thats personal experience and our local FW franchisee is excellent).

Also its well worth remembering that that FW business model still holds a great deal of potential for the future. The more custom they recieve the easier it become for franchisee's to hold a patch. Once enough patches exist they will give the competition a very hard time. The less they need to contract out the cheaper they could become.

Can't reccomend them enough. PM me if you have a decent volume and I'll give you some tips RE flat rate discounts etc.

 

[aardvarkuk]

Having used fastway courier services in Kent, England, I would advise you NOT to waste your money with them. Apart from the fact that there are many areas to which they do not deliver necessitating using alternative couriers, they are very unreliable. For example, this week I called on Tuesday morning to arrange collection. Shortly after the driver called to tell me he was no longer with them. I then called their main office in Maidstone and arranged collection. They did not arrive. I called again on wednesday only to get a message saying how important my call was and they would get back to me. They didnt so I called again. Again I was promised a collection that day and the woman would 'phone me back. Neither happened. Thursday now and I have just called again. Once more promised they will collect today and will 'phone me to ensure that driver has turned up.....not good at all

 

[movietub]

Having used fastway courier services in Kent, England, I would advise you NOT to waste your money with them. Apart from the fact that there are many areas to which they do not deliver necessitating using alternative couriers, they are very unreliable. For example, this week I called on Tuesday morning to arrange collection. Shortly after the driver called to tell me he was no longer with them. I then called their main office in Maidstone and arranged collection. They did not arrive. I called again on wednesday only to get a message saying how important my call was and they would get back to me. They didnt so I called again. Again I was promised a collection that day and the woman would 'phone me back. Neither happened. Thursday now and I have just called again. Once more promised they will collect today and will 'phone me to ensure that driver has turned up.....not good at all

Just to re-iterate Fastway do cover all Mainland UK areas via parcelfarce although this does require a higher cost label. If we did not have a good flat rate agreed with them I doubt we would continue to use them ourselves for this reason.

I have to say it is astonishing how different people find Fastway. For us they are the absolute cheapest and most rapid solution. Yet others don't have a good word to say!

Hand to heart I have had very few problems with their quality of service too.

 

[Andy27UK]

We're in the process of claiming funds back for a lost parcels having had no replies to calls, letters or emails to the Maidstone depot.

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/index.jsphttps://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk

I urge you to use this, it's dead easy. Takes 10 mins to fill out and you just sit back and wait for the funds to be returned simply becuase they wont respond to the judgement. All online too so no long phone calls etc, just keep it factual and provide as much info as poss like tracker numbers, dates etc.

Feel free to contact me for advise. I know how it feels to be out f pocket!!

 

[LED]

A colleague of mine sends 10+ boxes with them per day and they are very efficient.

 

[MH1]

Just tried a new supplier who is based 12 miles from myself, he sent the order via Fastway couriers, supposidly next day service, stillw aiting for it 3 days later.

The supplier has given me the goods, had to go and collect them personally, and said I can keep the other lot, when or if they ever turn up. Mentioned I do not use Fastway myself and they admitted that although the local guy is supposed to be excellent, many other areas are awful, and they are leaving them later this month.

The sell £40k odd per month with 1000 odd shipments per month, so I'm sure the franchisee won't miss them. Still waiting for a phone call 2 days after chasing the original shipment, how anyone hopes to survive with such terrible service is beyond me.

 

My husband used to work for Fastway and he never said anything bad about them x

 

[MH1]

Just tried a new supplier who is based 12 miles from myself, he sent the order via Fastway couriers, supposidly next day service, stillw aiting for it 3 days later.

Well, my goods never turned up, the supplier has now dropped Fastway and moved onto another courier, and has resent the goods today. Fastway never got back to me either from my email or telephone calls.

That means even if the original goods turned up tommorow it would have taken over a day per mile travelled for the shipment.

 

[robyn]

Hi - I would tread very carefully with them as I work for one of the largest independant couriers in the UK and Fastway as a group owe us £35,000. They were using out network to distribute their parcels throughout the UK and then pulled out and began using DHL/Royal Mail. I wish I could warn them the other carriers now involved because we are now owed an awful lot of money!! I can't see us getting it!!

 

[deepdale]

Don't touch them with a barge pole, they will rip you off. I recently gave up on my franchise as I can't stand the agro anymore. The emphasis is all on sales, not on deliveries or customer services. Once they have got your cheque, weather you are a franchisee or a customer, they just move on to the next victim. Don't invest in them, don't use the service there are depots closing every month, the network is getting weaker and weaker and will go under very soon.

 

[R Simpson]

According to Fastways T&Cs the labels are non refundable and non traferrable.

If you need reliability I would suggest Fastway is a false economy - I my experince they are very poor at hitting the 24 hour service and very poor at customer care. We never got an insurance claim processed, rarely got back when you called with an issue.

 

[KateCB]

We used to use them, however their deliveries were always late, the local office could never tell me what as happening as they had passed it onto a third party to deliver, the online tracking never told us where the parcel was, the stopped selling book sof 25 stamps - you had to buy 100 at a time (come on - I'm gonna part with 395+VAT in advance - no way!) and our local driver got ripped off by them.....

The drivers make money by selling the stamps - they do NOT get paid for collecting or delivering anything - hence the really don't care. This poor guy used his redundancy money to buy the franchise and the Van, it cost him around £300 a week in diesel and if he was really lucky he could sell a book of stamps - to help his customer out he would sell 10/20 or even single stamps if you really needed it.

We stopped using them as we dinply couldn't trust them to deliver - on time or at all and the credit crunch meant that I wasn't prepared to do without the money in the bank for the 100 stamps....I use APC (Courier Logistics) pay monthly for what I have used, can track every parcel and haven't had a problem in 5 years...... Bite the bullet and pay the price my friend

 

[starsgazing]

I love these sort of threads. At the end of the day you get what you pay for and if your foolish enough to expect a nextday service for £6.00ish then you probably shouldn't be pricing up deliveries for your company

Had to at this! We get next day delivery (up to 10KG) via FedEx UK for £5.05!!!
Anyone still searching for a courier, have a word with your local FedEx UK sales people & see what they can do for you.

 

[movietub]

Had to at this! We get next day delivery (up to 10KG) via FedEx UK for £5.05!!!
Anyone still searching for a courier, have a word with your local FedEx UK sales people & see what they can do for you.

I'm with you, I can match that with DPD before 12 next day - upto 25kg

It's highly ammusing when someone criticises someone else for not getting good value only to reveal to the forum they get overcharged themsleves.

Good work Fred

It's true you get what you pay for to an extent. But it's also true you pay more if you rest on your laurels and don't negotiate properly

 

[fred1222]

I'm with you, I can match that with DPD before 12 next day - upto 25kg

It's highly ammusing when someone criticises someone else for not getting good value only to reveal to the forum they get overcharged themsleves.

Good work Fred

It's true you get what you pay for to an extent. But it's also true you pay more if you rest on your laurels and don't negotiate properly

That's really good for a nextday guaranteed service. perhaps I'll have to look again

 

[movietub]

That's really good for a nextday guaranteed service. perhaps I'll have to look again

The DPD rep said he though he could beat fastway by25p and also offere better service. We tried them and they could. He said it was ahrd to compete against fastway pricing but I think he's glad he did. Since the change our repeat custom rate has shot up.

Thats pretty much the best all round result from pairing a courier company to an online shop!

A year ago I was in favour of fastway, our local guy was great. I was aware there were some very poor fastway regions but this didn't affect us too much. More recently however it seems to be mostly bad regions, the service got very poor.

 

[lesliedocherty]

We are Interlink/DPD now, they are the best we have used.

They email the customer to let them know parcel is picked up and for 10p they text the customer on delivery day to remind them its out for delivery and give them the option of changing delivery to another day.

In 4 months of using them, we have not had 1 returned delivery

 

[fred1222]

May I ask what volumes the pair of you re doing with DPD?

 

[lesliedocherty]

about 25 a week

 

[YoungMoneyChina]

Just to chip in,

Have you tried business post? were paying £4.50 for up to 25kg and £3.75 for bags.

Just explain that fastway prices are tempting but you dont fancy having to shell out for the ticket books, then add that if they can beat it you will go with them, worked for us.

 

[hlsps]

I used Fastway regularly at a former company as they were cheaper than Special Delivery and I had more confidence in them. Not keen on buying the labels in bulk but gave it a go, we actually bought the envelope option instead as all our mail was going to Leeds or Hull from York. You do need to ensure that where you are sending the mail to has a suitable Fastway courier to carry out the end delivery, was no good for me with the craft shop as they didnt deliver to where the majority of my Clients lived.

Anyways, was always happy with the service till the day they lost the envelope. Contents were practically irreplacable and it nearly cost my company thousands of pounds in lost bonuses as a result.

 

[ukbizbook]

I used to work at a fulfilment house and they have a good reputation

Regards
ukbizbook.com
http://www.ukbizbook.com

 

[The Greengrocer]

I have used them in the past but I also experienced the same problems mentioned in previous posts. They dont cover all areas, they even accepted an item on more than one occasion and instead of returning it as they didnt cover the area, they just left the goods on the warehouse floor! They were very difficult to contact, and we found that it seemed to be a different franchisee every other month. They also constantly complained about the company. We decided to look elsewhere and struggled to get rid of the tickets. On the plus side they were cheap and did a fair job locally, different on national orders though.

 

[movietub]

I used to work at a fulfilment house and they have a good reputation

Regards
ukbizbook.com
http://www.ukbizbook.com

Is that how they came up with their name

 

[movietub]

I have used them in the past but I also experienced the same problems mentioned in previous posts. They dont cover all areas, they even accepted an item on more than one occasion and instead of returning it as they didnt cover the area, they just left the goods on the warehouse floor! They were very difficult to contact, and we found that it seemed to be a different franchisee every other month. They also constantly complained about the company. We decided to look elsewhere and struggled to get rid of the tickets. On the plus side they were cheap and did a fair job locally, different on national orders though.

You just prompted me to mention something I forgot in an earlier post. Despite moving away from fastway as a main courier we do still use the local service. £4 for upto 25kg is great if its local - and the person who picks it up can normally be held accountable if it gets damaged.

 

[bublibob]

Hi everyone.

Somebody on this forum recommended Fastway Couriers and after checking out their site they actually look really good, plus they're really cheap.

I just wondered if anyone else had used them and what you think of them?

I really wanna use them but obviously wanna make sure they're reliable, trustworty and honest etc. What do you think?

Thanks.

Karen x

Depends on the driver. because most are self employed they care about their customers but the depots are not very good neither are some of their policies such as hiding behind 1mm small print on the delivery notes. Nevertheless they are miles better than Parcel2go. I wouldnt touch Parcel2go at all

 

[EKOS]

I had an absolutely awful experience with them.

Nothing at all to do with the drivers - as they have far too much to lose.

I'm new here so can't yet post links - but my fairly detailed posts are in the franchise section.

If you are thinking of using them - you may want to ask your local office to give you guarantees on the areas where I had difficulties.

Cheers

 

[Net Links]

We run an online courier service call Net Couriers (you will find it on google) which will give you up to 60 days to pay ourselves but we pay the drivers withing 14 days,

Plus the main thing is that drivers set the price we dont!! so you could be looking at backload rates all the time instead of a full price mileage rate from a normal courier company,

All drivers are fully vetted before being allowed to quote for work on the site,

PM me if you would like any more information

 

[pulsey]

I use to send a lot of motorcycle parts using fastway couriers in Scotland.
One day (in November 09) the central Scotland depo went bust and out of business.

I was left with about £300 worth of labels with no chance of getting my money back.
Three parcels lost in the system because every one just walked away, can't blame the employees, they probably never got paid.
And last of all I had to return the payments my customers had given me and probably lost their future business.

I have since heard about other depo's in trouble (Southampton), so think about it, is it worth the risk to your business and customers to save a few quid dealing with this lot of chancers.

Stick to royal mail or try interparcel, they definitely won't steal your money, then your parcel, then your good name, the way FastWay Couriers stole from me.

Harsh words you think, what would you call it?
Things to watch out for,
1, You can't reach your local depo by phone
2, The pick up service becomes irregular
3, The drivers start changing,
4, Royal mail starts picking up your parcels
5, Your parcels don't get delivered

Hope this saves someone their hard earned cash

 

[virtuallysorted]

I used them too - early days and local deliveries were fine.

Then they started splitting the same city into different areas so something which would normally be an overnight delivery took 2 days and cost twice as much.

Then they would accept parcels when they didn't have a franchise in the area so your parcel would get farmed out to whoever was cheapest and basically lost in the system.

My sister's Christmas present (sent 13th Dec) arrived back with me on 22nd January having rather spectacularly failed to deliver. Fastway weren't interested. Local rep ignored my complaint, as did national and head office.

Royal Mail may be quite slow and not 100% guaranteed but they are better than this bunch of cowboys.

 

[movietub]

We used to use them, I have even posted on one of the 'fastway' threads in the past recommending them!

To start out with, in our area at least, they were very good and the cheapest option. Within 18 months it had all fallen apart though. I even had the wife of one of the franchisee's sobbing on the phone and then hung up on me! All I was trying to do was claim for a load of parcels that wen missing.

In the end we were offered labels as compensation, so effectively saving fastway money! I demanded cash compensation or we would stop using them, we got the cash then stopped using them.

To be honest DPD are now slightly cheaper, even if only 10 parcels a day. Fastway network could never compete with DPD even when they were doing quite well.

 

[jxxf]

dont trust them and dont buy labels. they have so many branches go bust just before christmas? Scotland branch closed down, but has not done a legal insolvency so thousands of customers have no where to turn to get a refund of the tickets and head office wont buy them back even though they were paid their percentage for the tickets they will not honour. How come numerous branches all closed in october and november 2009. How come the customers were not notified beforehand..... ? this has been a huge rip off UK once again and i hope Wathcdog gets onto it.

 

[bublibob]

I have had no problems and my local van driver has changed twice and each time honoured the stamps I already had.

 

[SCAMWATCHfastway]

At the end of the day, dont blame the franchisee (driver) he works damn hard to make it all work, at the end of the day, he has invested his hard earned money only to be let down by the Fastway Management for there incompetents. I feel for these drivers, only to be treated very poorly just to be let down by the management. Most wont last long in the job, as it in the Regional Franchise best interest to try and turn over the CF run. Thats how Fastway operate, ive been there and seen it happen time after time.

In the end, tread carefully around this company, there service is not up to scratch and systems should be put in place where it can protect the CF. There system seems a sound one on paper, but there is far to many loopholes for corrupt regional franchises to churn over runs. With the low couriers cost, you must wonder how a franchise like fastway make such a huge profit. $458 mil in the last financial year. When you see so many people try and speak out about them, only to be snuffed out, should make you wonder. unconscionable conduct. Any negative info on this company is usually removed. What ever happened to freedom of speech?

 

[movietub]

At the end of the day, dont blame the franchisee (driver) he works damn hard to make it all work, at the end of the day, he has invested his hard earned money only to be let down by the Fastway Management for there incompetents. I feel for these drivers, only to be treated very poorly just to be let down by the management. Most wont last long in the job, as it in the Regional Franchise best interest to try and turn over the CF run. Thats how Fastway operate, ive been there and seen it happen time after time.

In the end, tread carefully around this company, there service is not up to scratch and systems should be put in place where it can protect the CF. There system seems a sound one on paper, but there is far to many loopholes for corrupt regional franchises to churn over runs. With the low couriers cost, you must wonder how a franchise like fastway make such a huge profit. $458 mil in the last financial year. When you see so many people try and speak out about them, only to be snuffed out, should make you wonder. unconscionable conduct. Any negative info on this company is usually removed. What ever happened to freedom of speech?

Hard to feel sorry for the driver just because he invested money though. Buying a franchise is like buying into or funding any other business. Things work differently of course but ultimatley the individual investor has the opportunity to guage the risks, judge where the business is headed and makes the decision to jump on board.

I first discovered fastway when someone used them to send me a parcel, I was looking for a courier company and I saw the low prices all over the van, so I asked the driver for more info. She was very quick and proud to point out that it was 'her own business', and how great it all was.

Two years later and I'm giving them 30 odd parcels a day but they are months behind paying me for claims I have made for broken/lost parcels. Same lady calls up in tears saying its all going down the pan and all she can offer me to repay the outstanding claims is some tickets to the same value (which of course, costs fastway less than they owed me).

And all of a sudden its not her fault, her business or her problem. It's the managment!

Given that there are so many similar stories on these boards about problem or strugling franchisee's is it not now reasonable to ask why these franchisees don't band together and demand change on some level? It is their problem to sort out of course.

 

[bublibob]

This thread started with a complaint about Parcel2go and seems to have changed to Fastway. Over the past few years I have used mainly Parcel2go and Fastway. While p2g is improving slightly the original complaint about customer service still stands. I have always been happy with Fastway and any problems have been solved quickly unlike Parcel2go who would rather blame the customer for their shortcomings. The original query still stands.
Should the customer have to track a parcel every day and then inform Parcel2go when a problem arises or should Parcel2go being aware of a problem inform the customer. Only Parcel2go could think it is the customers responsibility and hide behind small print. Fastway has always come through for me.

 

[APC RoadLink]

Currently having a very BAD experience with fastways couier.

I've been calling, emailing and writting for over 4 months to get compensation for a lost parcel. I've spoken to just about every person at the depot including the depot manager and every time i've been asked for the details. Not once have they returned our correspondance.

I've been in touch with trading standards and as advised the 1st letter has been sent by recorded mail - no reply and no surprise.

I've since spoken on the phone to 3 people to advise of our actions and intensions. The depot manager who promised a reply by email within 24 hours did get back to me with a reply no less than: "I'll check this in the morning"

A parcel we sent Thursday has also gone missing, no doubt we'll start this all over again soon.

The 2nd letter was sent out today and the next stage is the small claims court.

Needless to say if your in the south east and plan to use fastways couriers please think twice. Your parcel will sooner grow legs and walk to your customer.

Sorry to hear of your problems, though I would have thought you would not have used them again whilst you had an unresolved issue. I suggest you should look for a new courier / carrier that runs as a national parcel depot and does not use outside carriers to cover areas that they can't cover or have any control over. I think you maybe correct in thinking that the small claims court would be the next course of action, but before you do check their terms & conditions of carriage to make sure that your claim is likely to be successful.

Andy

 

I'm afraid my experience with Fastway has not been a good one.

I ordered some parts off eBay, They were sent out with fastway and did not arrive when they were meant to, I used my consignment number to check online where my parcel was the website said "your parcel was picked up"

I made 4 phone calls to the branch each time promising a call back each time I did not get this...

When I spoke to someone I asked where my parcel was and they said "we have no idea" and hung up.

I called back again, I heard in the background "tell the little p**** to f*** o**" then again the phone went dead. I hoped this was branch related but when I emailed head office to complain.

They said "this is not a Fastway Couriers issue's this is the problem of the original sender" How can the service I got from the branch be the fault of the sender??????

I would personally avoid them like the plague but hey that's just me.

 

[bublibob]

This is down to the branch and the t****r that answered the phone. I hope you got onto main office and told them. I have had no problem with my local branch. If a parcel is overdue I ring them up and they ring me back and tell me why. It doesnt happen often but the sort it quickly when it does. Probably some franchisees are on top of their busines and other are not. doesnt that apply in any industry. The trouble is the bad depots bring down the good ones.

 

This is down to the branch and the t****r that answered the phone. I hope you got onto main office and told them. I have had no problem with my local branch. If a parcel is overdue I ring them up and they ring me back and tell me why. It doesnt happen often but the sort it quickly when it does. Probably some franchisees are on top of their busines and other are not. doesnt that apply in any industry. The trouble is the bad depots bring down the good ones.

Head office wont speak to me now. They ignore my emails and no one returns my calls.

Yeah iv read alot about the branches, Seems most are very good, Other seems to be consistantly going out of business and someone else takes it on and sinks it again.

Yeah i feel sorry for the good guys as useless guys are ruining what should be a very good name.