City Link parcel delivery company.

Bletchleyite · 28 Dec 2014

Heinz57 said:
Another company not yet mentioned in this discussion is UPS. Now again, despite their negative publicity, I am yet to have a problem with 'Oops'. We have had a hand full of parcels delivered to our house by these guys and the deliveries have always been on time and arrived in good condition. The drivers were also quite friendly.

I've generally found UPS good. The one exception was that they have a large network of agents, which are supposed to accept parcels where you've printed a label online, and are actually reluctant to do so because UPS don't pay them to do that. They need to do something about that - either remove the claim that you can drop the parcels off (and in that case I'd have booked a courier collection) or pay them for handling so they do it properly.

Neil

RailUK Forums

SpacePhoenix · 29 Dec 2014

starrymarkb said:
Friend of mine had a few hundred quid of custom made head dresses smashed by United Parcel Smashers.

Waiting for the email from DPD giving me the link to track the van with my Illamasqua order around Exeter

All you need is the tracking number that should have been given to you by whoever you bought the stuff from. Probably around 06:00ish try the tracking number, there should be an option to view a map showing where the van with your stuff is.

Xenophon PCDGS · 29 Dec 2014

Ash Bridge said:
I think the problem now is just the sheer amount of firms out there competing for business.

This is a point that seemed lost upon those who wish to see Vince Cable intervene in the matter.

starrymarkb · 29 Dec 2014

SpacePhoenix said:
All you need is the tracking number that should have been given to you by whoever you bought the stuff from. Probably around 06:00ish try the tracking number, there should be an option to view a map showing where the van with your stuff is.

I don't have that yet. Hopefully it'll dispatch today

Islineclear3_1 · 29 Dec 2014

DarloRich said:
You havent looked into the details? Why not come back when you have dug a bit deeper eh?

meow

jon0844 · 29 Dec 2014

It's a shame for me as City Link was the carrier I used for many years (1993-2000) when I was selling mobile phones. Not the cheapest, but we never once had a phone go missing. One or two delivered late (often to very rural areas) but that's it. Customers, as you can imagine, were very happy.

At the time it was worth the extra money than using other carriers.

ExRes · 29 Dec 2014

According to this BBC report today

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30621884

Jon Moulton has lost £2m of his own cash, so do those who have attacked him feel they may owe him an apology or just carry on blindly and call him a liar ?

jon0844 · 29 Dec 2014

The Daily Mirror won't be mentioning that, or at least if it does will imply that it's nothing but pocket change.

Islineclear3_1 · 29 Dec 2014

Any company can declare insolvency and run. Just a shame that the taxpayer will have to foot the redundancy bill

As a multimillionaire who has lost £2m....tell that to the front line workers who might be losing everything...

ExRes · 29 Dec 2014

robert7111a said:
Any company can declare insolvency and run. Just a shame that the taxpayer will have to foot the redundancy bill

As a multimillionaire who has lost £2m....tell that to the front line workers who might be losing everything...

Jon Moulton took over the company from Rentokil in April 2013 when it was up to its ears in debt, maybe he's actually given those front line workers 20 months more work than they would have had if he'd walked away from the deal, and yeah, let's just ignore his £2m loss shall we

muddythefish · 29 Dec 2014

ExRes said:
According to this BBC report today

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30621884

Jon Moulton has lost £2m of his own cash, so do those who have attacked him feel they may owe him an apology or just carry on blindly and call him a liar ?

No.

He's worth hundreds of millions; £2m is just pocket money to him.

Vulture capitalist of the worst kind.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Busaholic said:
I
Jon Moulton is not resident in the U.K. for tax purposes, apparently.

Why am I not surprised ?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Busaholic said:
I expect those arch-Trotskyites at the Financial Times and the Telegraph will be equally scathing by Monday.

Unless it's tongue in cheek I'm not sure what you mean by this. The current editor of the FT is right wing and the Telegraph isn't known as the Torygraph for nothing.

Xenophon PCDGS · 29 Dec 2014

muddythefish said:
Unless it's tongue in cheek I'm not sure what you mean by this. The current editor of the FT is right wing and the Telegraph isn't known as the Torygraph for nothing.

If the Daily Telegraph has the "name" you say it has, what similar example is attached to the Daily Mirror?

jon0844 · 29 Dec 2014

muddythefish said:
He's worth hundreds of millions; £2m is just pocket money to him.

Damn, and I predicted the Mirror would have said it first!

Good point above about how the workers could have been made redundant a long time previous if nobody had stepped in.

Now, I'm still unaware of the full facts and so don't know if there was more to the story - like Phones 4u or (as mentioned) MG Rover - but if it was a genuine attempt to turn a company around - and of course that would mean aiming to make a profit, then there's a lot of hatred being aimed at the wrong people.

Surely a donation to the Tories couldn't be clouding people's judgement?!

Engineer · 29 Dec 2014

Thanks for the reminders, we would be called by IBM, HP, Timex, SCI & Digital before 1000 am coffee, City Link would pick up the semiconductors or memory chips in Camberley within 30 minutes and Wisk them to London Stations before midday. They would be on a train Red Star guards compartment and in Scotland on site before Supper. Never had a parcel go astray in 6 years, but we did get a complaint of chicken feathers on a package once. Those were the days. Should the shipment be worth over £100,000, City Link Farnborough drove non stop with two drivers door to door, we paid the going rate. My heart goes out to the sub contractors and staff owed money.

muddythefish · 29 Dec 2014

Paul Sidorczuk said:
If the Daily Telegraph has the "name" you say it has, what similar example is attached to the Daily Mirror?

Is this a quiz, and if so, what is the prize ?

Busaholic · 29 Dec 2014

muddythefish said:
No.

He's worth hundreds of millions; £2m is just pocket money to him.

Vulture capitalist of the worst kind.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Why am I not surprised ?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Unless it's tongue in cheek I'm not sure what you mean by this. The current editor of the FT is right wing and the Telegraph isn't known as the Torygraph for nothing.

The tongue was pressed very firmly into the cheek. However, when a member of my family was having a relationship with a senior financial journalist from the Telegraph years ago, apparently he told her that the Torygraph had a greater proportion of left-wing journos than any other newspaper, with the FT a close second. Surprised me too, but then Philip Hope-Wallace said of his former employers, the Guardian, 'never work for a liberal paper, they'll sack you on Christmas Eve'. So the complexities of newspapers never cease to amaze me: the Times really went to town on Lord Ashcroft, the Tory Party treasurer, a few years ago and made many allegations and insinuations which I was amazed to read, but they never got sued for them as far as I know.

As for Mr Moulton, just what EVIDENCE does anyone have that he 'lost' £2 million, and, even if he did, was it a personal loss or one borne by his company? This guy has previous, bigtime. Losses will be offset against tax, in any case. I'll not be crying into my pillow over him.

ExRes · 29 Dec 2014

Busaholic said:
As for Mr Moulton, just what EVIDENCE does anyone have that he 'lost' £2 million, and, even if he did, was it a personal loss or one borne by his company? This guy has previous, bigtime. Losses will be offset against tax, in any case. I'll not be crying into my pillow over him.

As usual though, when it's 'grab a scapegoat' time nobody requires any EVIDENCE to vilify and accuse the person at the top, nobody gives a fig about the jobs he kept going by taking over a loss making company, nobody needs any EVIDENCE to question whether the scapegoat has lost his/her investment

Consider what happens when investors stop putting money up because they're fed up with being accused of everything under the sun

Xenophon PCDGS · 29 Dec 2014

muddythefish said:
Is this a quiz, and if so, what is the prize ?

The prize is the satisfaction that you knew the answer but were not swayed by any false pride or monetary gain. If the iconic "Live letters, conducted by the old codgers" column had still been running in that newspaper, you could have written to them about this to say how your ideals were not tarnished by monetary gain..

Can you hazard a guess which newspaper (taken by my good lady wife of 73 years vintage, who is adroit at solving cryptic crossword clues) sees the light of day in our residence?

muddythefish · 29 Dec 2014

Busaholic said:
The tongue was pressed very firmly into the cheek. However, when a member of my family was having a relationship with a senior financial journalist from the Telegraph years ago, apparently he told her that the Torygraph had a greater proportion of left-wing journos than any other newspaper, with the FT a close second. .

Having worked at one of those esteemed organs I can vouch for that - it must be a reaction to the content of the papers. Having said that, the FT while being pro-business is not overtly right wing and like the Times usually bends with the prevailing political wind. It works the other way too - Mirror sports journalists in the 1980s were a load of hardcase Thatcherites.

Xenophon PCDGS · 29 Dec 2014

With the comments prevailing about Tories and their newspapers, perhaps some forum members are unaware that the Tories as such as a political party no longer exist and have not done for an extremely long period of time.

Perhaps we shall soon see comments in postings about which newspapers are supporters of the Whig party, as this thread progresses..:roll:

jon0844 · 29 Dec 2014

Most papers have clear and stereotyped views precisely because they want to appeal to a certain audience and encourage people with the same opinions to stay loyal.

If the general population suddenly start to change their views, papers have of course been known to switch political allegiance (i.e. The Sun) in order to maintain their readership.

I have no doubt that people who work at all the papers, just like the BBC and elsewhere, have differing political views. I wouldn't even imagine a paper would only hire people with a certain view either, and any selection would more likely be down to the fact that someone might not apply for a job at paper X if they had a totally different view and thought they could never write for it.

St Rollox · 30 Dec 2014

I wish the so called "workers" all the best.
Usual con of course, "worker" becomes self employed.
They are now left with payments for a van truck etc.
Self employment, the biggest con of the last 30 years.
Race to the bottom right enough.

Butts · 30 Dec 2014

St Rollox said:
I wish the so called "workers" all the best.
Usual con of course, "worker" becomes self employed.
They are now left with payments for a van truck etc.
Self employment, the biggest con of the last 30 years.
Race to the bottom right enough.

Yes perhaps, but are the public not also culpable ?

Everyone wants everything yesterday and as cheaply as possible, something has to give somewhere along the line. :idea:

Bletchleyite · 30 Dec 2014

Butts said:
Yes perhaps, but are the public not also culpable ?

Everyone wants everything yesterday and as cheaply as possible, something has to give somewhere along the line.

True, though the public are rarely offered a choice of courier.

Neil

cf111 · 30 Dec 2014

A real shame for the people relying on the firm for a wage at the end of the month. I hope as many as possible don't wait very long for new jobs.

Citylink have always been reliable in my experience. Our local courier, a company by the name of AJG, are probably the best I have ever used. They cover the Highlands and Argyll which makes it more impressive in my opinion.

The less said about Yodel the better. Still waiting on a Playstation 4 from October this year...

ExRes · 30 Dec 2014

St Rollox said:
I wish the so called "workers" all the best.
Usual con of course, "worker" becomes self employed.
They are now left with payments for a van truck etc.
Self employment, the biggest con of the last 30 years.
Race to the bottom right enough.

While I realise that many people have become self employed due to redundancy, I think you should take into account the fact that thousands of people have chosen that route because they wish to be in charge of their own futures, what chance of that happening in reality ?, if that is a 'race to the bottom' then it's their own 'race to the bottom'

starrymarkb · 30 Dec 2014

Neil Williams said:
True, though the public are rarely offered a choice of courier.

Neil

This is very true. Esp when economy/free shipping can mean Yodel at one extreme and DPD at the other.

muddythefish · 30 Dec 2014

ExRes said:
While I realise that many people have become self employed due to redundancy, I think you should take into account the fact that thousands of people have chosen that route because they wish to be in charge of their own futures, what chance of that happening in reality ?, if that is a 'race to the bottom' then it's their own 'race to the bottom'

Some people of course prefer to work for themselves but for many self employment has been forced on them. I have had periods when I have worked for myself and periods when I have been a corporate employee and the advantages of the latter far outweigh the former in terms of job security, paid holidays, sickness pay, union protection and and many other perks.

Baxenden Bank · 30 Dec 2014

dgl said:
Dpd also has the excellent predict service which puts it head and shoulders above the rest.

I second this wholeheartedly.

I recently had a package delivered from Cornwall, overnight, and it arrived within the predicted hour, so I could safely have gone out earlier in the day or planned to go out after the specified time. Good service needs to be recognised - support this company if you have the chance, or feedback to the company you have bought goods from on how good their service is.

In comparison, I had an order through Amazon Prime, again next day delivery, but with no predicted time so I had to sit around all day just in case - he arrived at 1855! (and still had a dozen drops left).

Bletchleyite · 30 Dec 2014

starrymarkb said:
This is very true. Esp when economy/free shipping can mean Yodel at one extreme and DPD at the other.

And I seem to get next day delivery via Amazon Logistics (OK, I'm less than 15 minutes from the big Ridgmont warehouse) if I choose Super Saver. No need to pay!

Neil
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Baxenden Bank said:
I second this wholeheartedly.

I recently had a package delivered from Cornwall, overnight, and it arrived within the predicted hour, so I could safely have gone out earlier in the day or planned to go out after the specified time. Good service needs to be recognised - support this company if you have the chance, or feedback to the company you have bought goods from on how good their service is.

In comparison, I had an order through Amazon Prime, again next day delivery, but with no predicted time so I had to sit around all day just in case - he arrived at 1855! (and still had a dozen drops left).

Trouble is when the consumer doesn't get to choose the courier, there is no incentive for couriers to develop improved services. The result is a race to the bottom.

Neil

City Link parcel delivery company.

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