Customer Service Needs Significant Improvement
They are quite expensive if you rely on them to pack and ship an item. To be fair, they are upfront about this.
When I used them to send a pair of boots from the UK to the US, I was quoted £140 via UPS. I dropped the parcel off on a Friday at around 1pm and was advised that I had missed UPS's midday collection. As it was a bank holiday weekend, the parcel would not be collected until Tuesday. However, when I checked the tracking several days later, it was still showing as "awaiting collection".
I called the Colchester store and explained the situation. I was asked to hold, but the call was transferred to another colleague without any introduction, so I had to explain everything again. The second member of staff then told me that nobody had informed him the parcel required collection, but he had located it now and would ensure it went out that day. Thankfully, once dispatched, the parcel was delivered quickly.
Although I was disappointed with that experience, I decided to give them another chance and returned the following week to ship a second pair of boots. This package was slightly smaller and lighter than the first one but was again being shipped to the US. Unfortunately, I was met by a rather unfriendly member of staff who appeared disinterested that I wanted to send the parcel. After taking the destination ZIP code and checking his computer, he quoted £278 for the shipment. When I pointed out that I had paid only £140 for a similar shipment the previous week, he simply shrugged and was unable to offer an explanation that made any sense. The whole vibe and interaction was off-putting and left me with little confidence in continuing the conversation, askng for an alternative quote with a different carrier.
Based on my own personal experience, I would not use them again. Others may have had better experience, but I found the customer service poor and unwelcoming.
Risposta di Mail Boxes Etc. UK & Ireland - Colchester
Hi Owen,
Thank you for taking the time to share your detailed feedback. Please accept our sincere apologies for the poor experience you had across both of your recent visits to our Colchester store; this falls significantly short of the professional standards we pride ourselves on.
We have thoroughly investigated both incidents with our team:
Regarding the first shipment: You are entirely correct. While the parcel was safely held over the bank holiday weekend as discussed, it was unfortunately missed on the Tuesday dispatch due to an isolated human error on our part. We are glad it arrived swiftly once dispatched, but we deeply regret that you had to call us to prompt this action.
Regarding your second visit: We have checked our systems and found that the £278 quote was the result of a temporary technical software error on the shipping platform at that exact time. We completely understand your frustration when questioning this price difference. We are incredibly sorry that our staff member’s response and presentation felt unwelcoming and disinterested; this was absolutely not our intention, but we take your comments regarding the store's "vibe" very seriously.
Steve, our store manager, has discussed your review directly with the entire team to ensure that internal communication is sharper and that technical anomalies are properly handled and explained in the future rather than dismissed.
We would very much appreciate the opportunity to make this up to you and restore your confidence in us. If you are open to it, please contact Steve directly at the Colchester store so we can discuss this further.
Best regards,
The Team at Mail Boxes Etc. Colchester
