Delivery firms shamed as ‘league table’ shows courier companies are underperforming

The boom in home parcel deliveries has led to intense competition between rival providers, but a poor service for customers, a league table reveals.

All the companies surveyed performed badly, with Hermes coming last in the rankings.

While Amazon topped the table, all five major delivery firms rated by Citizens Advice failed to achieve more than three stars out of a possible five.

The charity warned that all postal services were losing parcels and delivering unacceptable customer service.

It urged the regulator Ofcom to step in and ‘introduce tougher rules across the board for delivery companies’.

Online sales rocketed in lockdown, increasing by 56 per cent compared with pre-pandemic figures. However, delivery firms have failed to keep up with demand.

The Citizens Advice online help page ‘If something you ordered hasn’t arrived’ has been viewed almost 160,000 times this year – an increase of 69 per cent from the same period in 2019.

The charity ranked Amazon, Hermes, Yodel, Royal Mail and DPD on categories including customer problems, accessibility, customer service and trust.

Amazon came in first place with 2.75 stars followed by Royal Mail which achieved 2.5 and DPD which scored 2.25.

Yodel was ranked fourth with 1.75 stars, just ahead of Hermes on 1.5 stars. The ratings were measured by Citizens Advice’s Consumer Service, customer polls and complaints on social media.

The complaints included one from a man who ordered a pair of headphones to be delivered to his home in Hertfordshire, but which were sent to Australia.

Another customer complained that he had to speak to almost 30 different customer service agents to report the theft of a parcel worth £150.

Citizens Advice believes Ofcom should fine companies if staff negligence leads to parcels being lost or stolen.

Even though Amazon Logistics and Royal Mail top the table, there is still significant room for improvement.

Currently, only Royal Mail can be fined for losing parcels. Dame Clare Moriarty, the chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: ‘Parcel deliveries became a lockdown lifeline for us all, but the scale of problems experienced by many of us shows huge cracks in the sector.

‘Even though Amazon Logistics and Royal Mail top the table, there is still significant room for improvement.

‘Hermes and Yodel need to improve in leaps and bounds.

‘While this should be a wake-up call for firms to strive to deliver a five-star service for consumers, we have serious reservations about how far companies will improve if left to their own devices.

‘Our findings show it’s time for Ofcom to come forward and introduce tougher rules across the board for delivery companies.’

Home deliveries have certainly been profitable.

Royal Mail delivered 496million packages in the last quarter of 2020 – an all-time high. Pre-tax profit hit £726million in the year to March 28, compared with £180million a year earlier. Amazon’s UK sales soared by 51 per cent last year to a record £19.4billion.

Hermes did not respond to a request for comment last night.