Which courier to use?

[paulb113]

Hi

I will be posting a frame and forks,bars to Essex from Wigan to get the paint job sorted. Does anyone know of a decent courier to use and how much it usually costs?

Thanks 

[GavinDavis]

They all seem to be about as good/bad as each other really mate. Just ensure you pack it really well and opt for the insurance to cover the value.  Ive found the easiest site to use is parcel2go.....gives you a decent selection of available couriers and you can pay with paypal 

[Dannywhac]

As Gav said - also try P4D 

[WINI]

Those sites give a good choice of who to use, but it will usually come down to the usual suspects as they are just a third party taking a cut I believe?

Went through them just before Xmas, and ended up using Citylink.  Paid a premium for a 2 day guaranteed delivery of a frame, picked up from work.  After 3 days they still hadn't even collected it, and their excuse was that one of their vans had broken down 

Got my money back and took it to the Post Office in the end

[paulb113]

Cheers WINI,how much did it cost through the post office?

[Dannywhac]

Yeah they are a third party taking a cut, but if you use a courier that you haven't got an account with they're generally waaay cheaper than using the courier direct.

Only ever had one courier no-show, and was refunded immediately. Not the fault of the third party site, but Fed-Ex running late. Post office dependent on exact weight will be in the £12 range tracked, courier's will be around the £8-10

[WINI]

Also depends on the amount of insurance you want on it.  P4D and Citylink came through initially at around £12, but then it was a £200 frame so extra insurance ended up at around £15.  Post Office was only a quid or two more if I remember rightly 

[paulb113]

Thanks for the info, will take it to the post office no waiting for the courier to turn up!

[BENDYCAT ELEVENTEEN]

P4D for me 

[KeithyT]

When you go through P4D do you get a choice of companies to use (CityLink, Yodel etc). I think I read to avoid using Yodel?

[Dannywhac]

When you go through P4D do you get a choice of companies to use (CityLink, Yodall etc). I think I read to avoid using Yodal?

Yep - even with their standard delivery options it's not always Yodel. If you go ahead as if you're going to use their standard cheaper services, I seem to remember it tells you who the courier will be on the next page or two

[TELLIS302000]

Never had any problems with either Yodel or CityLink.

Eventually you are going to have a problem with any service no matter what.....

[KeithyT]

Thanks guys. Editing post to Yodel too (I know how to spell Yodel as in high on a hill stood a lonely goatherd - yodel-ay-ay-ooh!   too someone told me it was with an A   )