To think that retailers should be forced to tell us who they are using as couriers BEFORE we commit to buying something?

Our Evri driver is great so will happily use them. If he personally changed. Nope. At another address they left it down the street.

Totally agree, Evri are the worst!

I always feel incredibly lucky reading these threads as all these delivery companies seem to deliver things to us just fine. I most definitely can't imagine opting to go on a special trip to collect something in preference to having it delivered by any particular company!

I ordered two pairs of trainers from Adidas, came via Royal Mail, one pair made it to my house, the other - no sign of it for ages. I checked the tracking, it kept saying ‘due for delivery’. Imagine my surprise when I get an email off Royal Mail to say as I hadn’t collected my parcel from the sorting office it was being returned to adidas. No one bloody told me it was AT the sorting office or I’d have collected it ….

I’ve stopped ordering from schuh for exactly this reason. I ordered trainers and they were marked as delivered four times with various doors in delivery photos (none of them mine).

I don’t understand why companies are still using Evri when they are making them look bad.

I am going to need to stop using InPost lockers (Vinted) because they’re pretty shocking where I live, and obviously struggle to keep up with demand.

Some retailers use different couriers depending on the item.

Or simply google (retailer) uses which couriers

The worst these days in my area is royal mail
My letters come weeks later unless its tracked for which is very cheeky.
Evri in my area is really good, same guy all the time!

I've not had too many issues with Evri, but InPost!!! Hate with a vengeance!

Absolutely. I tend to avoid Evri, but sometimes Yodel can be as bad

We’re also experiencing more customers claiming tracked parcels have not been delivered if there is no photo showing it actually being handed over to a verifiable human, even if we have photographic and GPS proof of delivery

That happened to me with an Ebay purchase. Ebay did give me the money, but they also refunded the scammer which really annoyed me.

Free shipping isn't the norm in the UK. I nearly always pay for it, unless the order is over a certain amount.

Also if your order is damaged you are entitled to a full refund, and in my view that includes replacing the vouchers that were used or at least giving you an equivalent discount on another order. I don't see how their choice of courier and poor service should remove your rights.

Yes! Our Gusto order was delivered by DPD who were great and would give you an hour slot, it’s now changed to evri who don’t give you any idea when they’re turning up which for stuff kept on ice in this heat left on the door step it’s shit. I’ve cancelled the subscription as a result

Business owner here. I think the question you have to ask yourself is how much are you prepared to pay for shipping? A customer recently asked why he should pay for next day delivery when he can buty for free with Amazom Prime. I had to point out he paid a £90 annual charge for Amazon Prime. He had completely forgotten this detail
Courier prices have risen exorbitantly recently, with multiple surcharges. We don’t use Evri. We send everything tracked with Royal Mail or DPD. Overseas orders go by DHL. DHL costs are exhorbitant even if you are a decent sized business and negotiate annually. We subsidise shipping cost by £40k to £50k a year as free shipping is expected in the UK. We advertise our couriers on our website in several places. We ask customers to tell us if the preferred Royal Mail or DPD. Nobody ever does.
DPD charges are v high for anywhere outside the central part of the country. We’re also experiencing more customers claiming tracked parcels have not been delivered if there is no photo showing it actually being handed over to a verifiable human, even if we have photographic and GPS proof of delivery. Often we can match the exact location of the parcel photo with Google Street View so we know exactly where it is. We now have a polite message to all couriers on the outside of our parcels asking the courier not to leave the parcel unattended but to take it back to the depot and redeliver. (Customers can override this if they give the courier permission to leave it in a designated safe space.) This has cut down the issue of “missing” parcels. I’m my experience, the Royal Mail personnel on the ground are pretty good. As are DPD but there are pockets of poor service everywhere. The trouble is, retailers don’t know where they are.
As for opting for the courier in a drop-down menu as per Vinted, this is great but most small to medium size businesses in the UK are hosted on Shopify and Shopify does not give the option for modifying the checkout which is where the shipping option is. There are good reasons for this but it is a limit of the technology.
If you are not prepared to pay for shipping, it’s difficult to argue that you should have a choice of courier.

I agree with the OP although if I’m able to choose a pick up point I’m not too fussed who the courier is because deliveries there seem quicker and more reliable
Living where I do I would never choose Evri for home delivery but my Vinted and eBay sales show that no matter which part of the country they go to Evri are as good and often more speedy than Royal Mail which is my own courier of choice other than a timed DPD delivery
More often than not items that I buy online and come by Royal Mail have tracking which provides advance notice of delivery and the option to pick up from the delivery office. Pick up isn’t a problem for me as I live just up the road and is preferable to having parcels just dumped on the doorstep if I’m out.

100% agree.
This past week Evri have failed to deliver 2 parcel to me. Yes that's correct 2.
They "lost" both parcels.
The first one had ETA tracking to deliver between 20.00-21.00 so I knew that wasn't going to happen. Nothing arrived. When I woke the next morning I had a notification to say it had been delivered. On further investigation, the app had a photo taken in the dark of a hand holding a parcel at 23.45, no GPS location and it was marked as delivered.
The second parcel was "lost" and Evri were very sorry for the inconvenience !! It was eventually left on my doorstep (I was in) and it appeared that the driver must have run it over. Of the 12 items of make up and skin care that was supposed to be in it, there was 3 items and they were all mashed up. Evri's advice was to contact the seller for a refund.
This was all in the same god damn week.
Ive been left out of pocket because the second parcels order was considerably more than I actually paid due to promos and vouchers which the company won't honour. In all fairness I don't blame the company as it was a special event purchase.
I would never had ordered if I knew they used Evri. But a lot of companies will use multiple couriers depending on size/cost etc.

My tracking info. changed this morning for the first time in two days to say it had been handed over to the airline. So could still be in China or could be in flight.

I actually placed the order on Sunday 28th June so felt optimistic when I got a message the next morning saying the warehouse was processing my order. But 9 days on it is potentially still 5000 miles away. This is all before Yodel/ RM even get to do their worst.

We are actually on holiday this week so I asked my neighbour if they would keep an eye open for a parcel left on the doorstep. At this rate I will probably be back myself before it turns up.

Sounds like a good gig for some.
I also had live plants delivered by Evri, didn't realise the company used them, and of course, they'd wilted and died when they arrived.
Got a refund at least.

And even retailers aren't consistent! I've just had an issue with M&S who used DPD who are awful round here. They deliver to a tota different house number and street and just shrug their shoulders as that's what the sat nav says.

Evri are actually fine here, so agree they should be totally transparent.

Hard agree.
I won't buy on vinted unless it is inpost or RM.

Evri takes twice the amount of time and gets thrown over our fence.

The local Evri couriers in my area are lovely (if the goods actually get to them). Problem here is that goods arrive at Evri’s local delivery hub and then either have an extended ‘holiday’ there (anything up to 2 weeks at times) before eventually getting to the courier or, on a regular basis, somehow getting ‘lost’ at the delivery hub. I now try not to buy if Evri is the courier the company uses. Never had a problem with Royal Mail and like the shops that offer them as an alternative to Evri. Be great if Evri could sort themselves out however that seems like a very long shot for a company that really could care less about their performance.

Yes!! DHL avoid like the plague

I only like to use Royal Mail, so I order if they say they are sending by that, but some companies chop and change.
For delivery to my work, most couriers don't seem to deliver in business hours. The only ones I can rely on are RM or Amazon (who have us listed as a business, and have our opening hours). Whenever the others have tried, they tell us they will be here at times like 6pm to 8pm, so I have to stay late.
For home, I'm usually not in, and RM will leave a card, but the others either leave it by the front door (a terraced house) or throw it into the garden (so many damages this way - so far £120 of John Lewis goods broken, I can't believe John Lewis use Evri!).
I'm much happier with suppliers who let you choose the delivery option and pay accordingly.
I'd love more of them to offer lockers, as that's much easier for me. I've tried getting Evri to take things to a local shop for me, but despite it saying that they always try to deliver to my house.

I find many get out of it by being very vague, such as it depends on the size or your location and not giving you the list of possible options.

I actually find Royal Mail are good (as long as the parcel is tracked but most are now). You can see when they are likely to deliver and change it to another day if you are not there and worst case scenario if you work full time you go to the sorting office to collect it.

They are pretty good with parcels where I live - it's the letters they save up for a week and then deliver. Although if you have a parcel they will often, though not always, bring the letters too.