Interlink Express

[bharris]

Hi,
looking at trying Interlink Express after being let down again by UKMail.
What sort of rates can i expect? Unfortunately i will be a low volume user between 10 - 50 per week of small parcels weighing 300g - 10kg most under 5kg. The cheaper the more will shift from Royal Mail.
Thanks

 

[moo-tique]

That's who we use for our medium sized parcels. The best thing would be to contact their sales team who after taking some details will be able to put together some rates depending on the volume of parcels you are likely to send etc etc.

http://www.interlinkexpress.com/content/how-can-we-help/contact_sales.jsp

We have used them for some time and have found them very reliable.

 

[bharris]

Thanks moo-tique, i have already contacted them via that link but they haven't got back to me yet (2 days), that's why i was asking for rough rates to see if it was worth pursuing? Do you get any brakages with you r cows?
Many thanks again

 

[moo-tique]

Thanks moo-tique, i have already contacted them via that link but they haven't got back to me yet (2 days), that's why i was asking for rough rates to see if it was worth pursuing? Do you get any brakages with you r cows?
Many thanks again

We can't really disclose the rates we agreed with them but we managed to negotiate a good price on their next day by 12 delivery (parcel) service. Other carriers cannot match this so we know we have a good deal which has been rewarded due to the high volume of parcels we send and length of contract. Damage to our figurnes has been very low too.

It might be worth calling them directly.

 

[PreBeat]

What sort of problems have you had with UK Mail ?
Interestingly we changed from Interlink Express to UK Mail a few months ago and we are experiencing a high level of delayed deliveries and no one cares at UK Mail so are really starting to regret that change.

 

[moo-tique]

What sort of problems have you had with UK Mail ?
Interestingly we changed from Interlink Express to UK Mail a few months ago and we are experiencing a high level of delayed deliveries and no one cares at UK Mail so are really starting to regret that change.

Funny that. We used UKMail when we first started out and had nothing but problems. Customers complaining of broken figurines, late/delayed and sometimes even missing deliveries was enough for us. They didn't care either.

 

[bharris]

With UK Mail are having late deliveries, duplicate parcels on their tracking system. Next day delivery parcel took 3 days. I did get a whopping refund of 92 pence. So no more parcels with them. Many years ago we stated to use Business Post who lost so many parcels it was a joke. Moved to Parcelforce and dint have any real problems. I have now found out that Business Post is now renames as UK Mail. Shocked they are still in business.

 

[Webseller]

You may have sorted this by now but I use APC (I send about 50 parcels a week). I have used them for 6 years with very minimal problems. I made the horrendous mistake of changing to UK Mail about 18 months ago, it lasted 3 weeks before I went back to APC. The only reason I attempted to move to UK Mail was that they carried the 'Ugly Freight' that most others wont touch.
The problem with all the massive carriers like Uk Mail, TNT, Interlink etc, is that its all handled from call centres that don't actually care and you will never speak to the same person twice.

APC is a franchise with a national sorting hub so you local depot is owned and run by someone that wants their business to work.

For example, my local depot has approx 6 people in the office and their drivers, so if I ever have a problem I speak to people I know and they sort it out with the other depot's. They take the problem away and deal with it. Hope this helps.

 

[AndyP]

You are incorrect about Interlink using call centres. You deal directly with your local depot in much the same way as with APC, Our local depot has maybe three people in their "call centre" aka depot office. As far as I am aware this is the case whichever depot you deal with.

 

[bharris]

Thanks,
Sent a contact to APC. Hope they make contact.
Interlink received my request and someone at there main location has passed on the information to my local depot, he has also chased them but no contact. As its now 2 weeks with no local depot contact despite reminding them, Not sure about even trying them now. Shame i had high hopes.

 

[moo-tique]

Thanks,
Sent a contact to APC. Hope they make contact.
Interlink received my request and someone at there main location has passed on the information to my local depot, he has also chased them but no contact. As its now 2 weeks with no local depot contact despite reminding them, Not sure about even trying them now. Shame i had high hopes.

That's a shame. If you can get past the customer service issues, they are actually pretty good.

 

[mtools]

i send parcels with interlink and very impressed with them. i negotiated the prices (i send about 50 expresspak 1 and 15 expresspak 5 each week, though i did tell them it would be a bit more than that...).

Positives
- SMS delivery notification with 1 hour window, plus you can track your driver.
- Each depot is a franchise so they definitely care about their business! i speak to my local depot and they've been pretty helpful each time other than last week had a problem with a parcel being returned from ireland that the driver couldn't find the address of.
- one person deals with your bills so you can contact them if there's a problem (with the shipment to ireland a quick email and i got the money back).
- integrates with woo commerce (and any commerce solution that lets you export orders in a .csv file).
- tech support really helpful (kept getting duplicating orders when uploading, turns out it was cos i left excel open). bizarre things like that they've come across and get help you sort straight away. they also kept ringing me to make sure everything was sorted lol.

negatives
- more expensive than royal mail
- printer supplied doesn't work with a mac (so i have to use a mac and a laptop)
- updating info on your account on the website doesn't update your account info (!). you need to ring them and change it that way (seems pointless having the ability to do it on your account if it doesn't register at HQ).

hope that helps!