Sending Speakers

[TomW]

I'm going to be selling some guitar speakers, and I've never really sent anything this big before. So I'm just wondering what is the best company for getting them delivered?
Will parcelforce be ok or are they likely to get damaged with them?
Cheers

[Jonny]

Parcelforce suck.

That's all I can say.

[TomW]

Parcelforce suck.

That's all I can say.

Lol aye, I've heard of quite a few people having bad experiences with them. Can anyone recommend a decent company to deliver them with then?

[Philly Q]

Try http://www.parcel2go.com/

They give a big choice of different services via DHL, City Link or FedEx, and the prices are very competitive.

[Twinfan]

Have you still got the original boxes?  They're good for shipping speakers, obviously  ;)

DHL can be pricey but seem OK?

[Jonny]

Citylink: http://www.city-link.co.uk/

(usually posts to around this area, is pretty good from personal experience - and that being an FX board and a 30W amplifier)

[TomW]

Thanks for the replies guys. :D I'll probs give city link a go then

[mikeluke]

+1 for parcels2go

I've used them for eBay stuff on a few occasions and they were really good and price competitive

[Swedey the cat]

Ive sent a couple of guitars with parcelforce and have had no problems.
Conversely ive had 2 guitars go missing with dhl and citylink so really just depends who you speak to.
Just make sure you wrap things up well and its all you can do!

[Fourth Feline]

I had some thing delivered by 'Parceline' .

They where very efficient - and seemed to cost the sender less than usual for next day delivery. I certainly would give their website a visit if I ever needed a courier service.

[Mr Ed]

Citylink!

[Philly Q]

I did have one bad experience with City Link, where they failed to deliver an eBay parcel for me even though the recipient claimed to have been in on both occasions.  Fortunately, I happened to be at home when, without warning or apology, they brought the parcel back to me.

Equally fortuitously, the chap was in London so I took a four hour round trip to deliver the hefty parcel myself.  I'd just been up all night watching horror movies, so I was close to hallucinating as the bus crawled through the grim streets of Whitechapel.  

The f*cker never left me feedback either...

[_tom_]

Parcel2go are cheap and seem to be good, they use DHL but seem to offer quite low prices - for a guitar to be sent from Manchester to Northants it was about £15.

[hamfist]

I always buy a parcel delivery from an agent on ebay (do a search for "parcel delivery" on ebay). THey buy up a bulk load of deliveries from a major player like Parcelforce or DHL at really low prices. They then sell the delivery on at seriously knocked down price on ebay. About £7 for a next day delivery anywhere in mainland UK for a parcel up to 30kg.
  Once your parcel is collected, your contract is with Parcelforce or whoever, so you are really dealing with the main company but at a knock down price.
    I have done this with large items about 20 times (mainly using Parcelforce in the end) with no problems at all.

   The key to any parcel delivery is to make sure that you have packed the item in a completely bombproof manner. Double boxed, with plenty of padding and bubblewrap. It's virtually impossible to make a claim for damage in transit anyway. they'll fight you tooth and nail and the proof you need to show that you packed it appropriately is just ridiculous.
  The safest way is to make sure that you've packed the item to survive at least a 4 foot drop on to a hard surface. Just assume that this might happe and you'll almost certainly be OK.

   Even so, I would still be nervous sending any tube amp with big, heavy transformers. However much padding/packing you use, the transformers can still rip out of their chassis mountings with a fair impact.  I always try and deliver amps personally if at all possible.