Ever been banned by a retailer for too many missing parcels?

Hi Irving – It is possible that this could be a ‘brushing scam’, which is discussed in another Conversation: https://conversation.which.co.uk/money/amazon-prime-brushing-scam-explained/

I agree. When consigning valuable products with a carrier it is worth reading their terms and conditions to see what compensation arrangements apply in the event of the goods being lost, stolen or damaged or otherwise undelivered. Insurance cover is usually essential for anything over a certain value otherwise the only entitlement is return of the postage or carriage charge.

Parcel2GO is an aggregator and comparison website [sometimes referred to as a parcel broker]. By bundling several transits to the same destination it can negotiate lower delivery charges from a number of different carriers and arrange for the one that bids the lowest price to collect and deliver the package. For valuable items I would recommend going direct to one of the more reliable carriers with an extensive network and pay for a fully tracked and guaranteed delivery service which would usually be faster than if arranged through an aggregator.

I am a recipient rather than a consignor of parcels. though I have occasionally used Parcelforce to collect and deliver large or heavy items [e.g. box of books] and been fully satisfied with their service.

It is worth noting that many companies now arrange for batch mailings to be handled by Whistl [which seems to be a subsidiary of Parcel2GO] but they do not state that in dispatch notifications to customers. I was recently waiting for a delivery of plants and could not find any useful tracking information until, after a few days, I found out that the supplier was using Whistl to process their orders and that the package had been transferred to Royal Mail for delivery. It was not possible to find a probable delivery date since normal postal deliveries are untracked and my order had not been sent first class. The package was delivered a couple of days later by which time the plants were very dry and not in good condition so they required some immediate intensive care. I cannot plant them out yet as I had hoped so I shall not be using thar supplier again and I shall let them know the reason why.

If sending small items of any value I would strongly recommend packing them in a large box with plenty of padding. That considerably reduces the risk of misappropriation or coming a cropper in the distribution system. Small packets that look and weigh like a mobile phone can unfortunately slip inside people’s pockets unintentionally in the confusion at distribution hubs as vans are loaded and unloaded and goods are sorted and re-sorted en route.