What a story! Parcelforce Worldwide, esp. in Shrewsbury - a catastrophe! Another parcel that is now declared as lost. I was so much worried about a whole photographic exhibition over the Easter break one cannot believe it. It made me sick! This exhibition will open on 4th April 2008 at the State and University Library in Göttingen. The organisers have been waiting for a 14 kilogram parcel which was sent from Machynlleth on 3rd March. Today is the 25th March and there is no sign of a parcel! We have to have the photographs there otherwise that is the end of itPeople will be disappointed, all work for nothing, the photography, all the invites, people turning up for nothing - worst of all for the Library - no exhibition!!! GPL is the German partner of British ParcelForce Worldwide here but they could not help when I rang. We also rang an office in Bebra. People were on vacation because of Easter. Services limited. I rang Deutsche Post / DHL twice again (my eleventh time or so!!). I was put through to an international advisor, maybe people know about this case now or so. He said the usual, that they had a date - 3rd March 2008, 10:16. Then they scanned in our parcel for the first time. The Royal Mail then gave it the status F which means wrong /mistake. It had the scan: do not send!! So, the status in Germany on their PCs is A. Status A simply means a parcel was brought by us to the post office in Machynlleth. I told the man we had the information that it was in Germany. He said then maybe in Britain your parcel got a different label, went over to a different company. This number would then start with 07........ But to be honest, the man said, they made up a big mess in GB (they do not know about Wales!!). His words: chaotisch. A chaos - this is what it sounds like!! In Shrewsbury ( I pressed 5 instantly!!) I was told they had trouble with the address on it in Göttingen! We had labelled everything in the correct way. The man in Shrewsbury was also very wishy-washy about it all. I'd describe him as friendly but incompetent. First he said there was nothing tracking the number. Then it was scanned in Berbra (this place does not exist, he spelled the number several times - I do not know if it means Bebra (...), data changed there - and my latest piece of information is that it will most probably be returned to shipper!! He took our telephone number and said he might give me a ring next week once he knows something. I had big trouble with Parcelforce Worldwide in Shrewsbury before when they were supposed to transport a Christmas present from my flat in Aberystwyth over to Germany. I took the afternoon off work from the National Librayr - but Parcelforce Worldwide never came. So much hassle. You get the feeling that they are not interesting in helping its custumors at all! read more

Have my package in customs, won't give it back to me. Want me to pay $450 in customs charges for a pair of shoes. Ridiculous. Rip off artists. read more

Appalling service from this company, do not use. Paid for collection of 3 items that were returns. Sent back unopened in exact packaging they were delivered in. Paid for insurance. Parcelforce driver dropped first one straight in front of me splitting it but still took all 3. They then broke another and so only delivered one. Value of the other two totals over £200 and they refuse to both pay out on insurance AND refuse to return my property to me citing poor packaging (they got to me fine!). Theft in all but name. read more

As Parcelforce is a part of the Royal Mail, it goes without saying that this 'service' is a disaster from start to finish. Overpriced, difficult to get hold of if there's a problem, and nothing is what it appears ('24' and '48', for example do not mean that your parcel will be delivered within 24 or 48 hours). Your parcel is very likely to go astray, particularly given that Parcelforce will happily accept signatures from anyone in the vicinity, whether connected with your parcel or the address to which it was sent, or not. Theft from Parcelforce is very high indeed (which leads one to suspect that Parcelforce employees are not blameless) and dumping of undelivered parcels is frequent. To cap it all, they have expensive 0870 numbers for you to call - and they keep you waiting for a long, long time listening to recorded messages and over-loud tinny music. Avoid wherever possible. read more