Revealed: Britain’s best and worst parcel delivery firms
Buying things over the internet from the comfort of our own home is great.
But spending hours waiting for them to turn up, only for the delivery person to ring the doorbell just as we pop out, is more than mildly irritating.
Yep, we've all been there. Some might say enduring such a debacle is enough to brave the high street instead.
As to which delivery firms drive us up the wall the most, many of us base it on a limited number of experiences.
However, a poll of over 11,000 consumers has delivered details of the best and worst…er, delivery companies.
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The bottom five
2016 rank | Delivery company | 2015 rank |
1 | Yodel | 3 |
2 | City Sprint | 5 |
3 | iPost Parcels | 1 |
4 | DX | 2 |
5 | Hermes/myHermes | 7 |
Yodel previously occupied third place in the worst delivery rankings and this year fell (or jumped) two places to take the title as worst delivery firm, according to the research by consumer champion website MoneySavingExpert.com.
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"We live in the age of delivery, yet service levels from some firms are dire. They don’t ring the doorbell, parcels are misdelivered, they’re left in bins or under cars – and it leaves many grinding their teeth in frustration," said Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com.
Part of the problem is that we usually have no choice about the delivery firm used, as the retailer we buy from decides it.
Worse, we have no relationship with the delivery firm as the retailer is their employer.
Top five shining lights
2016 rank | Delivery company | 2015 rank |
1 | DPD | 1 |
2 | Royal Mail Parcels | 3 |
3 | Collect Plus | 2 |
4 | UPS | 4 |
5 | Amazon Logistics | 9 |
A whopping 71 per cent of DPD customers said their experience was "great", compared with second-place Royal Mail Parcels at 49 per cent.
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Proving that Yodel can do it when the firm puts its mind to things, Collect Plus – part-owned by Yodel – scored 47 per cent for "great" service.