Parcel Motel problem with package

[Gildeon]

I am using this service for the last year for a lot of my UK orders. Practically they provide you with a UK address and they forward your package to a depot near you. Very convenient for sellers not delivering to Ireland or offering free shipping to UK addresses.

So far I never had any problem, until my last delivery (it was actually from a forum member). As you can see from my photo the package, although it was secured with a safety tape, had a clean cut, splitting also the label in two. It was enough for someone to fit a hand in and take in and out items. Luckily this order had mostly bulky and cheap items (capsules) and a few silver items, all wrapped well, so nothing was missing. But there is a strong chance that this wouldn't e the case with heavier and more distinguishable items.

Their site also keeps a photo of each package, when received by them. I checked this photo (second one) and it shows the package intact, meaning that the opening took place in either the depot or during transport. I sent all the evidence to their customer service and their reply was that it was probably damaged during transport. I replied that this was not "damage" but someone has opened it and asked to speak with someone responsible. I got a second reply mentioning possibly opened by customs (not sure if there are any between UK and Ireland, at least not yet!), their routes and times and damaged by a heavier package on top. I responded of course that all this is nonsense, I was not claiming anything anyway but was just expecting to acknowledge the fact and  hopefully doing something about it.

Of course I have lost all confidence in them and will not be using them again, at least for anything in value. Looking at the packages what is your opinion? Anyone else that has used this company?

 

 

[AppleZippoandMetronome]

I've had customers of mine use this comany several times - noticed the Parcel Motel name on the shipping labels I print out. Noticing the name is the limit of my experience though.

I do agree with you however - that looks far too clean to be accidentaly damage. It clearly looks to me like someome slit it open then pulled it to reach a hand in and check contents. I think you are doing the right thing avoiding this company in the future given they clearly have no interest in what has happened here.

[Xander]

Certainly looks dodgy, anything missing?

[Gildeon]

5 minutes ago, Xander said:

Certainly looks dodgy, anything missing?

Fortunately not as I mentioned above but probably due to the nature of the items.

[Xander]

2 minutes ago, Gildeon said:

Fortunately not as I mentioned above but probably due to the nature of the items.

Sorry, missed the part you said nothing was missing. 

I must say ( apart from your experience) it does seem to be a good set-up.

[DarkChameleon]

When they tape opposite to the seam that's good but they should have some customer services training to handle this, the simplest answer would be an apology and promise to investigate and contact you with their results...that goes a,lot better then some bs assumption that it was mistakenly slashed right down the seam by another box...the postal workers get to know what addresses and companies are fronts for pm shipping pretty quickly..it,only takes one willing to go the extra mile to go sort the post themselves by hand..literally. 

[Gildeon]

21 minutes ago, Xander said:

Sorry, missed the part you said nothing was missing. 

I must say ( apart from your experience) it does seem to be a good set-up.

It is and so far I didn't have any problems. But this incident has really made me worried.

I also checked them in Trustpilot and they have one of the lowest scores ever! And it seems all this is happening the last month's, something is definitely wrong there. 🤔

[Gildeon]

10 minutes ago, DarkChameleon said:

the simplest answer would be an apology and promise to investigate and contact you with their results...

This is exactly all I was expecting from them. 😕

[DarkChameleon]

5 minutes ago, Gildeon said:

This is exactly all I was expecting from them. 😕

Even if it's bullshit and they never investigate anything at least you feel better that they are upbeat on finding someone and not just "terrible happens".

[morezone]

To me it looks like the sender has used thin tape along the seam which will not be strong enough if force is applied to the top.

The barcode does not have a straight cut and looks torn.

Based on the pics it looks like something has pushed down on the parcel with enough force to split the label and unstick the little bit of tape holding the flaps together.

When taping up one should use thick parcel tape which will cover a greater area on the seam.  Ideally tape should be applied both along and perpendicular for maximum support and strength.

[Gildeon]

3 minutes ago, morezone said:

To me it looks like the sender has used thin tape along the seam which will not be strong enough if force is applied to the top.

The barcode does not have a straight cut and looks torn.

Based on the pics it looks like something has pushed down on the parcel with enough force to split the label and unstick the little bit of tape holding the flaps together.

When taping up one should use thick parcel tape which will cover a greater area on the seam.  Ideally tape should be applied both along and perpendicular for maximum support and strength.

The tape looked quite strong type and it was cut pretty clean. Also maybe someone teared the label, as a straight cut would have made it more suspicious. 

[morezone]

Only looks like maybe 0.5cm tape attached to the flap.  Can see where it’s still attached. 

[Xander]

1 hour ago, Gildeon said:

I also checked them in Trustpilot

Checked Trust pilot myself, I think I would give this company a miss.

[dicker]

If I ever send anything I use duct tape now. Cheap and effective

[AgD]

Even if it was customs that apparently opened it, it would have been fully opened and resealed with a note on it (probably a notice of a vat charge) happened to me once or twice.

I always use a heavy duty black tape along all seals on what I send out (must be quite difficult to get into sorry 😁)

[sovereignsteve]

5 hours ago, Gildeon said:

I got a second reply mentioning possibly opened by customs (not sure if there are any between UK and Ireland

was this package not from the US?

[Gildeon]

10 hours ago, sovereignsteve said:

was this package not from the US?

The package was from UK but the seller probably used a US box and tape, not sure why.

[999magnum]

On 21/06/2019 at 14:07, dicker said:

If I ever send anything I use duct tape now. Cheap and effective

I started using black duct tape after seeing a package arrive that way. Just the look of the black duct tape is a deterrent 😁