My First, My Last, My Nothing

I'd decided to use Hermes' Parcelshop service through La Redoute because I thought it would be a more convenient way to save on a seemingly unnecessary £4 delivery charge, otherwise, for one item. Hermes had dispatched the item accordingly to my chosen Parcelshop point - a newsagent 10-15 minutes away from where I live.

However, it soon became clear to me that this was the worst courier manoeuvre I'd even contemplated. The first time I visited the newsagent, they had my parcel but it wasn't registering on their Hermes PDA/barcode device, while other parcels at the time were showing up on said device. I was advised to come back a subsequent day in the hope of my parcel appearing on the system. That didn't happen when I visited the next time - or three days after that, even though prior to my third visit I was contacted by the newsagent and informed my parcel was 'live' and ready for collection.

I visited that Parcelshop point THREE times, and each time experienced the same issue. On the ultimate visit, I was made to feel like somehow it was my problem and even told to contact Hermes myself to get the parcel redelivered, even though the newsagent was the one withholding my parcel and Hermes had been instructed to deliver it there. Eventually and thankfully, another assistant had been summoned and figured out my parcel *was* on the system, it just was invisible for some unknown reason. After almost a week of being denied it in plain sight, I finally collected my order.

It was my first time using Hermes Parcelshop and after that experience, it will definitely be my last. Even though Hermes controls La Redoute's standard £4 delivery to one's home address, I'd rather incur that extra charge if it means assured reliability, punctuality and above all congenial, stress-free customer care. In cases such as collection points, I'm sticking to Collect+ as I've virtually never had issues with them.