Hermes

[Onthebrightside]

I was wondering if anyone had an experience of this parcel delivery company.

As a hobby I am selling on Folksy and am looking for the best postage option. For my average weight and size of parcel it is likely to cost between £4 to £4.50 for me to send via the Post Office and yet Hermes appears to send tracked items below 1kg with £20.00 automatic insurance on the parcel (which frankly would cover any of my small items) for just £2.85.

Does anyone have any experience of these people - good or bad?

Cheers for any help or advice.

 

[The Byre]

They used to be so bad that we called them My Herpes! We sent two parcels to the West Coast of Scotlandshire and for two weeks nothing happened, then the customer reported being hit on the head by one of the parcels as it was thrown over the hedge whilst he was mowing his lawn!

He took after the driver who was running down the road, but failed to catch him! Things have improved greatly since then!

Everything depends on who is delivering. The new management team has been cracking down on rogue deliverers and the service has improved greatly. It is not a company I would choose to deliver £10,000 servers, but if all you are sending is below £20, they are probably ideal.

 

[Nico Albrecht]

In my opinion it depends on their area subs doing the last mile delivery. My hermes delivery guy is spot on but hermes would be my 3rd choice to use. You get what you pay for. High volume no time subcontractors doing your work. Parcels will fly over fences and ending up in bins. B2b very few issues. I would not let them deliver b2c.

 

[Newchodge]

In my local area there are wekly, if not daily facebook messages about Hermes - has anyone got my parcel, it's been signed for but they did not come to my address. They have left the parcel somewhere, but I don't know where. They left it in the recycling bin without telling me, on bin collection day. In my area their reputation is worse than mud. They also liaise with the customer and persuade them to search around, ask neighbours etc, to try to find it before, often, delivering the parcel the next day, despite the tracker showing it as delivered. They discourage customers from contacting the supplier before the customer has searched the entire area for their lost parcel, presumably so the supplier does not realise how completely inept they are.

These messages are ALL about Hermes, never about any other courier.

Personally I have refused to complete an order when I discovered the supplier used Hermes.

In an industry where employees are treated pretty badly, they excel at doing that, so there is no employee loyalty or pride in a job done well.

I don't know if you may have guessed, but I would not touch them with the proverbial bargepole.

 

[Onthebrightside]

Thanks for the advice, I thought they looked a bit too good to be true. It is only a hobby thing as this cancer is quite boring me stupid now so I decided to start and Folksy shop to keep my mind ticking over - but still I wouldn't want to either have my parcel launched at a customer or send them hunting round their neighbourhood - if nothing else I loved the stories on here, made me laugh today - thank you people.

I will try to find other options and if not stick with Royal Mail.

 

[Alan]

Bad.

Even when you pay their insurance they don't pay out unless you threaten them with court action.

Too many parcels get 'lost'. The seem to have no real process to stop useful items walking out of the depot.

Slow.

Their delivery times are long to start with but items often just take longer than that.

Now I will only use decent services, that cost only few pence more, like Parcel Force.

 

[Opinion87]

Awful. So, so, so bad.

 

[simon field]

We also refer to them as herpes.

They sometimes lie about delivery attempts and sometimes kneel all over other parcels in the back of a Zafira on the school run. Most seem overweight.

other times, stuff turns up no problem.

 

[UrbanRetail]

I've had a positive experience both sending and receiving packages from Hermes. Next, H&M, The Works and more all use them and I've never had anything arrive late or damaged.

 

[Alan]

I've never had anything arrive late or damaged.

Lucky

 

[MBE2017]

I doubt the insurance will be of much use, many carriers offer it, few seem to honor the insurance. Check well in advance.

 

[Onthebrightside]

Looks like I am going to stick with Royal Mail, unless anyone has any other options?

 

[obscure]

As a hobby I am selling on Folksy and am looking for the best postage option. For my average weight and size of parcel it is likely to cost between £4 to £4.50 for me to send via the Post Office and yet Hermes appears to send tracked items below 1kg with £20.00 automatic insurance on the parcel (which frankly would cover any of my small items) for just £2.85./QUOTE]
You are looking for the "best" but seem to be choosing the cheapest. The two seldom go together.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I recommend you use this company for the value of insurance you have stated in your OP

Hermes get unfair bad press but you get a fivers worth of service so I don't understand what they are complaining about
I think yo will be happy enough

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

We also refer to them as herpes.

They sometimes lie about delivery attempts and sometimes kneel all over other parcels in the back of a Zafira on the school run. Most seem overweight.

other times, stuff turns up no problem.

Simon ! Tells us more about this rash you started talking about before you started typing about parcels

 

[ThanhKim]

Awful experience with this company. Be aware!

 

[Andy Harris]

I've seen all the negative press about them but personally have sent many parcels via them with no problems at all. I tend to use their 'pay, print stuff and drop off at local parcel shop' service.

They're not particularly fast though - sometimes things can take a few days to be delivered.

They are certainly a lot cheaper than Royal Mail.

 

[Alison Moore]

We also refer to them as 'My Herpes', - they used to be terrible however in the past few years I have found them to be much improved. If I'm correct, their delivery drivers are self employed so it depends how reliable the drivers are on the route is, as to how reliable the service is. Our local Hermes man is superb and I couldn't fault him one bit, however I've heard horror stories of goods being left in gardens/ bins etc. Then again recently I had some electrical goods delivered by Yodel at 11pm at night which was left on our doorstep on the rain! Not impressed with Yodel either.

 

[The Byre]

Then again recently I had some electrical goods delivered by Yodel at 11pm at night which was left on our doorstep on the rain! Not impressed with Yodel either.

Yodel stand head-and-shoulders above all others for a truly and profoundly crap service.

 

[simon field]

I found out one of Herpes’ drivers totally lied once, so I tried to phone them. Nope!

Using their online chat thing I was number 174th in the queue. Waited, waited some more, and waited best part of an hour.

Asked for the driver’s number so I could give them a piece of my mind. Nope.

Asked why the driver had pretended to attempt delivery when they clearly hadn’t. Nope. Couldn’t answer me.

pathetic.

 

[STDFR33]

I'd never use Hermes.

My dad works for them as a driver. Some of the stuff he tells me is unbelievable.

 

[alan1302]

I found out one of Herpes’ drivers totally lied once, so I tried to phone them. Nope!

Using their online chat thing I was number 174th in the queue. Waited, waited some more, and waited best part of an hour.

Asked for the driver’s number so I could give them a piece of my mind. Nope.

Asked why the driver had pretended to attempt delivery when they clearly hadn’t. Nope. Couldn’t answer me.

pathetic.

No company is going to give their driversnumber out so you can have a rant at them! LOL

The people on the online chats only seem to have th information that you can have so does not often help much in cases like this.

 

[alan1302]

I'd never use Hermes.

My dad works for them as a driver. Some of the stuff he tells me is unbelievable.

Is that was he does or others? LOL

My wife used to work in a hospital...you'd never want to go there either.

 

[STDFR33]

Is that was he does or others? LOL

My wife used to work in a hospital...you'd never want to go there either.

Others.

He's a permanent employee. Other permanent employees in the main, are ok. The contractors and agency staff they use obviously much worse.

That's just the drivers, however. The warehouse management is another atrocity .. in fact, all the management is an atrocity.

 

[Onthebrightside]

174th in the queue.

LOL

 

[JD-UK-GN]

I've had good experiences as a sender with Hermes. I purchase via parcel2go which gives you a price comparison for other services too. In terms of delivery I have had consistently bad experiences with Yodel and occasional bad experience with Royal Mail. I think it very much depends on the individuals delivering in each area. I have found DPD to be consistently good though.

 

[Onthebrightside]

Well... I have to say that I ordered a couple of things on ebay the other day and both came by Hermes. Both were tracked, both arrived within 3 days (as stated) and a very nice chap knocked and waited at the door till I could get there.

I also have had a couple of bad results from Royal Mail. The post office are great, but when their online tracker fails it is a nightmare to get through to anyone who can, or is willing to, help.

Seems it's 6 of one and half a dozen of another.