5 things you need for an accurate courier quote

When you need a quote from a same day courier, there are some things you will need to know before they answer the phone!

1. What is the item to be transported?
2. How heavy is it?
3. What are it’s dimensions?
4. Collection Postcode
5. Delivery Postcode

Often we get calls saying “how much for delivery” but prices are worked out on the type of goods and services required. If you know the above 5 things, you will get your quote quicker.

Sarah

Same day courier delivery company

The difference in courier services, explained

There are a few types of couriers / courier services and they are easily confused.

First we have the most common type which are the parcel couriers or carriers. They take parcels and packages up to 25kgs in weight and when they are sorted (usually at a central depot) they are then multi- ped to their destination. Prices range from £ 5 upwards and delivery is done overnight, 48 hours, 2-3 days or another length of time that you specify.

Most people when they call a courier they assume that they are the parcel carriers, they are getting a low cost but high volume service. Breakages are not uncommon.

Check before you call.

Then we have Same day couriers or Express couriers who work with urgent consignments that have to be delivered right NOW! These are more expensive because they are ad hoc and a specialist service in some cases. Arrow Light Haulage specialises in same day courier work with vehicles up to 7.5 tonnes. Breakages, well so far we have had 100% success in 7 years of trading. We are very lucky.

Confusing the two types of courier service may mean your parcel is dispatched same day but costs you 4 times the price! Check which service you require and if you are not sure, then call for advice.

Sarah
0800 917 6084 (calls are free)
Courier Services in the UK

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Collecting and delivering from West Thurrck and Dartford : Furniture

Do you need a furniture courier? do you have items of furniture that you have bought from a store, free-cycled or ebayed?

• Sofa


• Chairs


• Antiques


• Sideboards


• Dressers


• Beds


• Cabinets


• Desks and other items of office furniture

Arrow Light Haulage the Essex based same day courier company are happy to quote to move your items. Whether they are high value or sentimental value, we look after them as if they are our own.

All our furniture deliveries are wrapped in felt blankets if they are not packaged already, then strapped to the vehicle - so they don't slip and slide in transit.

Whether it's one item or a houseful, we can offer you help and a two man team if items are really heavy.

Kevin

0844 884 3331

Same day courier

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Geting your freight delivered when YOU need it

Have you ordered goods / cargo from abroad, had it arrive in the UK and then found your import house or freight forwarder is reluctant to schedule your courier delivery to you, for another 2 weeks? Their lorries are always too busy or you live too remote to be part of the regular delivery schedule? Frustrating and annoying are words that spring to your mind when this happens.

Sometimes the collecting part isn’t a problem but the fact that the forwarders are not 24/7 like us means you cannot collect your goods yourself (losing a days pay from work or having to take a days holiday). Time is money and it can be as equally frustrating to sit and watch it being wasted.

We are based in Essex near Tilbury port, a drive from Harwich & Felixstowe and are 10 minutes from the M25, in other words we are real close to your goods. You no longer have to wait - if you want your goods we can collect on your authorisation and deliver.

We can also collect and store for you to collect at your own convenience.

After waiting for your items to reach the UK you may just decide to cut out all the hassle and ask us to be your courier and collect and deliver for you.

Contact us on 07816 528421 and ask for Kevin, or call the office on 0844 884 3331.

Alternatively send me an email and I’ll get a quote back to you. I’ll need to know the collection postcode, the delivery postcode, the item size and description of the item. If you are unaware of the service you will need, just say so and I can give you a price for each option.

Kevin.

Same Day Couriers easing your delivery hiccups

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Delivering to Deadlines in Thurrock

When something is urgent and has to get there to a deadline, the best option is to use a same day courier service but what exactly does that entail?

A same day courier uses a dedicated vehicle to collect your goods and then goes straight to the delivery destination. Now here's the tricky part, some people say they do same day but actually co load your cargo with another customers cargo. Nothing wrong with that until you have something smash because its fragile and should not be transported with anything else. Oh yes, and you will still pay premium price...

When booking make sure you specify that goods cannot be co-loaded and if they can and they are non urgent, tell that to your courier too. Of course when you book an express or same day courier, you are booking a premium service and the price reflects that level of service and urgency.

We are happy to collect and deliver same day urgent goods in the Thurrock area, to all over the UK. We don't co load and we don't miss a deadline. Priceless really ;-)

regards Kev
07816 528421

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What does your courier quote include?

When you book a parcel courier do you read the small print?

Last week we took on a new customer who had read the ’small print’ and found it not to his liking until he came to us. When doing his research he found that he would often be charged a ’surcharge’ for delivering to a private address rather than a business address - between £3-£5 extra. He would also be charged a 5% fuel surcharge, and if he went over weight by even just a kilo, he would be charged an extra £3.00 as well.

He started to add it all up and realised the £8.95+VAT he was being charged for delivery wasn’t that cheap once the ’surcharges’ had been added, if fact it could double the initial price for a parcel!

At Arrow Light Haulage we believe in a transparent pricing system - that the cost is determined by the items weight, and thats it. The only extras we charge for are items such as packing and wrapping materials, again this is optional.

So, if you have a parcel to collect in Basildon, Chelmsford or West Thurrock & Dartford give us a call on 0844 884 3331 we are a flat rate courier, no surcharges unless of course you want us to charge for them

Regards

Kevin

West Thurrock same day and parcel courier

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Couriers - room for improvement?

Another little gem on the internet, this time from a website that deals with consumer issues. It's a very good read, the link is at the end of the quote. The article goes on to make some suggestions on what can be done to make things easier for the consumer when expecting delivery..

* Companies that offer "delivery within 2-3 days" - Well, which is it? And does that include the weekend?

* Companies that say "your order has been dispatched", but not how it's being delivered (Royal Mail, Courier, 24 hours?)

* Companies that let you order when there's no stock, but don't tell you that it's back in stock and they shipped it - the first you know is when you get the "we tried to deliver but..." card

* Failed deliveries where the little boxes aren't ticked so there's no clues - so you drive to the sorting office to get a bit of junk mail that the kind postie didn't want to fold or leave outside, when you were expecting to be picking up your hi-fi.

* Couriers that aren't flexible. "We can't deliver to your work address. We don't deliver on Saturdays. You can't collect from our depot"

* Couriers websites that let you view online tracking... that's a day out of date

We all have to work, and it's not always possible to take a day off work waiting for the knock on the door. I've lost count of the number of days I've either:

* Waited in for a courier that didn't show

* Faffed about with parcel-tracking websites and "we called but..." cards

* Spoken to a courier's head office to arrange redelivery - and got very frustrated

* Tried to get a number for the courier's depot (not the call centre)

* Driven to a depot on a Saturday to collect something a courier wouldn't send out at a weekend

Help with mail order deliveries and couriers.

As a courier company, we are happy to delivery out of hours and on a Saturday, or even a Sunday. Parcel deliveries we do Monday to Friday, and any delivery estimates do not include Saturday or Sunday when it comes to the parcels.

Parcels we will try and deliver three times, and always leave a card with contact details on.

Same day or Express deliveries, we can tell you within 15 minutes what time your items will arrive, and we call our customers an hour prior to delivery, so if they have to nip up the shops for a pint of milk, they can do so without worry.

When looking for a courier service that understands what customer service means, look for someone local. Bigger is not always better when it comes to delivering your goods.

Sarah

Basildon, Chelmsford & West Thurrock Same Day and Parcel courier

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IT equipment movements, a modern day fairy tale? or is it!

Moving IT Equipment, servers and the like....

Once upon a time, Byte and Bit Server manufacturers needed to have one of their servers delivered to a customer. They had decided wisely that a courier should deliver the server units, as with the credit crunch and economic downturn, they would save money by no longer having their own delivery vans and drivers. They were saving a small fortune until they employed Breakit & Bashit couriers, the cheapest company in town.

They rubbed their hands with glee, they were certainly going to save money here! They called B&B in, and they had the wrong size vehicle booked, the booking clerk didn’t take the correct details, not to worry, they will send a new correctly sized vehicle. They did 4 hours later, but that was ok, they would still just get it to their important new customer on time.

The server had to be laid down, and the van didn’t have carpet on the floor, so it had to be pushed onto the van carefully or the outer casing of the unit would get damaged through the packaging. B&B also had some furniture on the van and shoddily wrapped pallet of ball bearings.
The driver didn’t seem to bothered about this, so Byte and Bit and didn’t worry after all, they were in the hands of the professionals.

The driver took the paperwork and set off on his journey. On the M25 he did a lot of violent braking and fast accelerating, and the pallet of ball bearings burst through the poor packaging and spilled all over the interior of the van.

After the customer had waited 2 hours past their business closing time, the delivery was finally made, and the server delivered just to the kerbside. The client of Byte and Bit wasn’t very happy, and didn’t have a good impression of Byte and Bit.

They installed their server, but it didn’t work, several ball bearings had got into the casing. Engineers had to be sent at Byte and Bits expense, and then a replacement unit was delivered.

This is a fairy tale right? Sadly no, only the names have been changed to protect the not so innocent!

By using Arrow Light Haulage to deliver their server units Byte and But wouldn’t have been late, they wouldn’t have created the wrong impression and they wouldn’t have had to redeliver a perfect item to their customer to replace the damaged server.

You get what you pay for when it comes to delivering your goods, and if you want to create the right impression then you need to use the right courier from the start.

Just give a call to discuss your delivery needs on 07816 528421, we will even wrap and pack for you as part of our premium services.

Make sure your deliveries end with ‘happily ever after’ by using the Essex based courier company that delivers safely, nationwide

Kevin Arrow

Kent Couriers collecting locally, delivering nationally

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