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Hornby deliveries


Blackfiver

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Hornby generally uses DPD as their courier.

In my experience there is an initial notification from DPD to say they have been advised of your order, but it can be anything up to 3-4 days before your parcel gets picked up, then passed around the various regional depots before notification of reaching your local distribution point.

My quickest delivery was notification it had been picked up on Monday and a phone call from the courier service to pick it up from their local (Cyprus) office on Wednesday. So far any UK deliveries from them have never matched that service.

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Yes Hornby are incredibly slow, trouble is we get spoilt by Amazon. Most model railway retailers deliver within two days, I think they realise that if you get your item quickly it means you will order from then next time especially if all retailers charge the same. I must admit unless they are much more expensive, that is normally my criteria for ordering off a particular retailer. In the case of Hornby, it is the case, you only order from them direct unless you have to, although sometimes for parts they are sometimes cheaper. I think they have also changed their delivery company recently, I think DPD must charge too much as quite a number of firms have changed to Hermes.

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Often slow is a bit of an understatement. To be quite honest Hermes for normal post rather priority with a Retailer like Next is about 4 days from when you get a mail from Hermes to say they have got it. Generally the mail from Hornby is to say they have put it in Goods Outward, that does not mean Hermes have collected it which could take another day. The good thing about Hermes though, as long as they don't lose it, is you can see on their website exactly where it is which is quite good. Round where I live, the Couriers are women and they are super careful and reliable, so that is a real plus point.

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And another thing..... Hornby have a habit of over packaging. I ordered a decoder socket a couple of months ago and they sent it in a box that would have comfortably accommodated an average sized loco and sent via Hermes. I was expecting it in a little envelope pushed through the letter box by the postman. Not a brilliant carbon footprint.

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I can beat that! I had a DPD delivery a few weeks ago which was left propped up against the front door of my next door neighbour's house in plain view of the street. So not even against my front door. The first I knew of it was when I saw an email from half an hour previous saying the item was delivered and handed to resident. Needless to say, a complaint went in

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No none of that, Al. Next door was out at work. He or she had, (presumably) knocked, got no answer and left it at the door assuming they had got the correct address.

@AndyMac

That's rubbish if you don't mind me saying. DPD aren't all that cheap. I have used them for years and apart from from one other occasion when delivery was late they have always given exemplary service. Hermes on the other hand.....

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As Colin says, it depends which 'self employed' Hermes last mile courier you have that serves your location. My local area Hermes courier is extremely reliable (a lady if that makes a difference). My local DPD delivery driver is very good too, and we are on first name terms. I've only ever had one single courier leaving a parcel on the doorstep issue and that was more than 30 years ago at a previous address, I can't remember which courier firm that was.

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Our Hermes, DPD and Royal Mail are usually excellent. Hermes was rubbish at one point, but as stated it was the last bit at that time. We now have a great young lad who arrives around 11 am within a few minutes either way. One Hermes delivery to my next door but one, 96 year old lady, left her a car bumper for a chap in an adjoining street. I took it around to him and he was chasing it up as missing but so called delivered. That was before the new lad. Currently Royal Mail are very slow in our area due to a lack of staff. Today we have had our first delivery for 7 days. So far today 5 different vans have been in the street delivering.

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@Brew Man

I was referring to what the end customer is prepared to pay for delivery not what it actually costs a company. DPD are not cheap but there would be a world of difference in what they charge for a one off parcel and if you have a contract with them for sending tens of thousands of parcels a year. Couriers are more expensive if they employ staff, the cheaper end of the market rely on owner drivers and it’s just hit and miss as to how that person sees the job as just a short term prospect and don’t really care. Even when you charge cost price for postage you get complaints 'your postage is really expensive' even though the items is not even insured for anything near its real value, customers just don't care, they just want their money back if it gets lost or damaged.  

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I must admit as I use EBay for selling stuff so I know how much postage costs. The thing that does annoy me is when someone sells me something on EBay they say it has been posted but don't actually do until two days later. The thing is, previous to Covid I would happily pay more for Royal Mail postage as around here they were so good, sadly after Covid they have not been so reliable.

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