[kestrelmusic]

I recently sold a nice 1970s amplifier to a chap in Colchester. I sent it via Hermes. It was packed in three layers of bubble wrap and placed in a sturdy cardboard box surrounded by a good depth of shredded paper. It arrived in Colchester with one corner of the case smashed and the aluminium vent twisted and broken. I had to give the buyer his money back and pay for return carriage. When I got it back I found more damage internally: one of the PCBs had a chunk actually broken away. What happened to it I can only conjecture, I think it must have been dropped from some height if not actually thrown.

I've used Hermes in the past and found them reasonably reliable, but I think the extra workload due to the lockdown has caused them to go to pieces. Another parcel I sent, containing an ECC82, was smashed to smithereens. I've also had a parcel go missing and another one delivered to the wrong address.

I had the devil's own job to get hold of their complaints department, their online "assistant" is worse than useless. I am still waiting for a response to my complaint.

So... well, I won't be using them again. Verb. sap. ...