The best and worst delivery companies have been revealed in new research by Citizens Advice.
According to a survey carried out for the report, a record 15 million people experienced a problem with their latest delivery – more than one in three of those surveyed.
Yodel came last in a league table compiled by the charity, with a score of two out of five stars.
Royal Mail scored the highest at 3.25 out of five stars. Amazon Logistics came second with three stars, followed by DPD and Evri, which both got 2.25.
Citizens Advice’s league table measured the companies’ performance based on customer service, delivery issues and how well they met accessibility needs.
The most common issues people faced with their last delivery included the driver leaving before they had time to get to the door (29%), their parcel being left in an insecure location (24%), and parcels arriving late (24%).
The charity pointed to regulator Ofcom introducing guidance on complaints and accessibility in 2023, but said its research showed many parcel firms were still “ignoring the rules”.
‘Tougher action needed’
Dame Clare Moriarty, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: “We continue to see millions of people chasing lost parcels, having their accessibility needs ignored and hitting a brick wall when they try to complain.
“The question now is whether the regulator will take tougher action to improve the parcel market once and for all.”
In response, Ofcom said in a statement to Sky News: “We have a strong track record of holding parcel firms to account on behalf of the public.
“That has involved tracking people’s experiences of parcel deliveries for over a decade, and, as a result, introducing strengthened regulations on parcel firms in 2023.
“Under these rules, postal operators must have a simple and transparent complaints process in place, and have clear and effective policies and procedures for the fair treatment of disabled customers.
“While overall satisfaction is reasonably high at 78%, people’s experiences can vary depending on which parcel company delivers their package, and we’re continuing to press operators to make further improvements.
“We’ll also continue to work with Citizens Advice – as the statutory consumer advocate for post – to achieve our shared goal of ensuring consumers receive a reliable service, whichever company is used.”
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Accessibility found to be the worst performing area
Mike, in his 70s, has muscular dystrophy and relies on two walking sticks. He has asked delivery firms not to leave parcels at his front door as he struggles to get there in time.
He instead asks them to deliver to his back door, which is closer to his home office and easier for him to reach. But Citizens Advice says companies ignore his requests.
It results in parcels often being misdelivered or left exposed to the weather.
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“It makes you awfully frustrated, and it makes you really fed up, to the point that I’m beginning to stop buying from retailers that use certain delivery companies,” Mike said.
“I had one delivery agent chuck a parcel over the back gate on to the concrete floor, who said he’d handed it to the resident. I had the video showing him throwing it over the back gate then taking a picture saying he’d delivered it.”
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What have the delivery companies said in response?
Amazon:
“Every day at Amazon, incredible employees and independent delivery partners come together to provide fast, reliable and safe delivery for our customers.
“The vast majority of deliveries make it to customers without issue. In the rare case something occurs, we work with customers directly to make it right.”
Royal Mail:
“We are pleased Royal Mail came first in the Citizens Advice parcels league table for the fourth year running.
“Since last year, we’ve made great strides in providing customers with the most convenient options for sending, returning and collecting parcels.
“Aside from delivering to every home in the UK, we offer the UK’s largest out-of-home network including shops, lockers and parcel post boxes, all introduced to ensure we’re the nearest and simplest choice for our customers.”
Evri:
“Every parcel matters, and it is great to receive independent recognition from Citizens Advice of the progress we are already making on service.
“This comes at a time when we have grown significantly in scale to deliver over 900 million parcels a year and follows sustained investments of £57m in operations and technology supporting service improvements over the past 12 months.
“That said, we have further improvements planned and know we have more to do.
“By listening to feedback and investing in the right tools, systems, and training, we have been able to make tangible improvements for our customers as we remain focused on building further trust and consistency across each delivery.
“We are also the only UK parcel carrier to commit to accessibility improvements and since we partnered with disability equality charity Scope in October 2024 improvements include enhanced doorstep and website delivery options, with 90,000 customers already setting accessibility preferences on their Evri account.”
Yodel and DPD did not respond to requests for comment from Sky News.
Citizens Advice said between August and September, Opinium Research conducted an online survey of 8,000 adults who received a parcel in the last month from Royal Mail, DPD, Yodel, Amazon Logistics or Evri.
The data was weighted to be nationally representative of those that had received a parcel from one of those five companies in the last month.
