Who's good for couriering basses at the moment?

[Waddo Soqable]

32 minutes ago, fleabag said:

Just an addendum.  I just recently sold a bass that wasnt considered that valuable  (  200 quid )  so decided not to use Lenspeed. I tried  Send My Bag,  who in my case, sent Parcel Force.  I gave info on the SMB booking form that it was a bass,  and they accepted this as they have their own insurance.  A hard case wasnt needed, just bomb proof packing.  Handy since i dont have hard cases.  PF turned up on time, and the bass was delivered on time  ( 48 hour with tracking )

 

That cost 28 quid, including 4 quid extra insurance to take cover to 200 quid.  I'd certainly use SMB again, for inexpensive music gear.  Anything valuable i would use Lenspeed again

Handy to know of a "agent" who will accept something like a bass under their own insurance, not heard of SMB before

[fleabag]

SMB were also really good with updates, even though the tracking number was with PF

[Beedster]

Well until this week my answer to the OP question would have been DPD, but having booked two packages (to two very patient Basschatters) for collection and delivery by yesterday earlier in the week they're still sitting here. More annoyingly DPD appear to have automated every single point of contact with an algorithm that when I ask 'When will my packages be collected" tells me 3rd October. So they have apparently also perfected time travel. So I've gone in and updated collection date and now when I search on the App they no longer show? I tried to cancel using the 'Cancel Collection' tab and it tells me that I can't, I assume because it doesn't recognise the numbers. I guess I should be gratedul that at least both packages are sitting in my house and not lost a depot or van.

 

Shame, until this week DPD were the only courier that hadn't let me down. 

[Owen]

I have given up on pickups. I just book drop-offs.

[Beedster]

28 minutes ago, Owen said:

I have given up on pickups. I just book drop-offs.

 

Drop off here won’t accept packages over 60cms 😕

[Owen]

I have had 2 full-size bass guitar boxes dropped off in post offices for me in the past 2 weeks.

 

I am not boasting here. Just for info. The 60cm thang sounds like a royal pain.

Edited October 6, 2023 by Owen

[Soledad]

3 times recently I used ParcelForce - for UK , but one was to @Fionn on Lewis (a bit SE of Iceland😂).

Seriously good - a 20kg cab to Stockton, under 24 hrs, a bass to midlands, noon next day, and a pedal to Lewis next day! ('course it was a pedal, it was Fionn).

A while back I'd have said DPD but right now Parcelforce are my go-to. I'll add all were sans insurance!! We all know the risks but the exclusions and caveats make it an expensive and questionable expense.

My trick is add ALL the extras: tracked, signed for, txt on delivery, guaranteed next day or a refund... all the stuff that flags your package in their comp systems. I can't prove it helps but for a couple of quid my suspicion is it gets better attention through the systems.

[Owen]

I have stopped booking insurance with the company but use secursus. 

[Fionn]

2 hours ago, Soledad said:

3 times recently I used ParcelForce - for UK , but one was to @Fionn on Lewis (a bit SE of Iceland😂).

Seriously good - a 20kg cab to Stockton, under 24 hrs, a bass to midlands, noon next day, and a pedal to Lewis next day! ('course it was a pedal, it was Fionn).

A while back I'd have said DPD but right now Parcelforce are my go-to. I'll add all were sans insurance!! We all know the risks but the exclusions and caveats make it an expensive and questionable expense.

My trick is add ALL the extras: tracked, signed for, txt on delivery, guaranteed next day or a refund... all the stuff that flags your package in their comp systems. I can't prove it helps but for a couple of quid my suspicion is it gets better attention through the systems.

I always use Parcelforce also.

 

In the last couple of months I’ve sent two basses, an amp, and a whole bunch of other gear, with no problems whatsoever.
 

I’ve probably sent and received a dozen basses over the last decade using Parcelforce, and never had any issues with them.

[Beedster]

Well DPD are off my Xmas card list, what a mess they’ve become, rebooking with Parcelforce, luckily I paid for DPD with PayPal so will claim given they won’t cancel/refund

[Burns-bass]

10 hours ago, Beedster said:

Well DPD are off my Xmas card list, what a mess they’ve become, rebooking with Parcelforce, luckily I paid for DPD with PayPal so will claim given they won’t cancel/refund

That reminds me I need to claim the cash back for an aborted pickup. That’s £20 I’d forgotten about. 

[Woodinblack]

I was very surprised - I bought a bass that was pickup only last week, and the basschatter very kindly offered to box it if I could courier it. So I looked around and thought I would give parcelforce a try. Did the dimensions and the weight and it ended up at £10. I thought that was cheap so I got my wife to double check as she does lots of shipping, and sure enough, same result. So I thought maybe it is the cost of cover that bumps it up - it was covered to £150, so I thought I would put it the cost which was £250 and it went up by £2, so I got that too (ok, no good if they break it but if they lose it which seems more likely).

 

So I booked a 48 hour service with them where they turn up with the labels, take the box and deliver it here, which they did, all went smoothly. £12.

[Waddo Soqable]

36 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

I was very surprised - I bought a bass that was pickup only last week, and the basschatter very kindly offered to box it if I could courier it. So I looked around and thought I would give parcelforce a try. Did the dimensions and the weight and it ended up at £10. I thought that was cheap so I got my wife to double check as she does lots of shipping, and sure enough, same result. So I thought maybe it is the cost of cover that bumps it up - it was covered to £150, so I thought I would put it the cost which was £250 and it went up by £2, so I got that too (ok, no good if they break it but if they lose it which seems more likely).

 

So I booked a 48 hour service with them where they turn up with the labels, take the box and deliver it here, which they did, all went smoothly. £12.

I've done parcelforce a couple of times recently, delivered on time with no probs

... did you book that online directly with Parcelforce btw? 

[Woodinblack]

3 hours ago, Waddo Soqable said:

I've done parcelforce a couple of times recently, delivered on time with no probs

... did you book that online directly with Parcelforce btw? 

 

Yep, online on the parcelforce.com site, which is where I noticed where you but it it mentions it will appear on your statement as parcel2go.com.

 

Ironically I had previously gone to parcel2go, where the cost was £18, which is why I thought i would check parcelforces site.

[Waddo Soqable]

48 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Yep, online on the parcelforce.com site, which is where I noticed where you but it it mentions it will appear on your statement as parcel2go.com.

 

Ironically I had previously gone to parcel2go, where the cost was £18, which is why I thought i would check parcelforces site.

I've actually done PF through P2G (and directly for smaller items as I recall) in the past, but certainly seems far better value going direct, good call 👍