How Evri became the most hated delivery company in Britain

There are a few things in life that instinctively make your heart sink: knowing you’ve got casserole for dinner, the words “we need to talk”, and the email notification informing you your parcel is being delivered by the Citizen Advice Bureau’s worst ranked parcel company in the UK: Evri.

All 18-year-old Hannah Watson wanted to do was dress up as an angel for Halloween. But her basic plan was blown apart when the wings and halo she’d ordered on ASOS’ next day delivery service, a whole 10 days before October 31, never materialised. “After it arrived with Evri, I stopped getting updates,” she says of her missing costume. “ASOS refunded me when I complained, but I only got the official tracking update [from Evri] saying it had been lost in the middle of December…”

For others, like 21-year-old Leo Carr who sold a £300 item on eBay, which was lost by Evri this Christmas, there’s more money on the line. “I feel utterly helpless,” he says. “There’s no way at all to contact Evri customer support. It’s been so stressful and now I’ve been forced to give the buyer a refund and I’m without the original item. There’s no protection [for] when things go wrong with these private delivery companies.” 

As the second largest carrier in the UK, Evri is responsible for more than 700 million parcels each year. Prior to rebranding in March 2022, they were known as Hermes, a company that had previously been subject to an investigation by The Times where a worker told the reporter “all you can do is act totally stupid” when dealing with an angry customer. Hermes launched a “full investigation” internally, before changing their name.

Now, Evri appear to have swerved the issue of dealing with the public altogether by making their customer service line an automated robot. When The Tab calls the customer services hotline, the tinny voice simply tells us there’s “no description found for tracking point” on a parcel that’s been unexplainably missing for days on end.

Leo has become so frustrated by trying to contact an actual human that works at Evri to locate his item that he’s chosen to start a parliamentary petition against the company instead. Just weeks before he did this, the issue even got political when Labour MP Carolyn Harris wrote an open letter to the parcel services’ CEO, Martijn De Lange, demanding an urgent explanation as to where countless Christmas presents had gone:

“With thousands of households already struggling during the current cost of living crisis, few will be in a position to replace parcels that do not arrive,” she wrote. A number of well-known and respected retailers have chosen Evri as their delivery partner with the understanding that demand can be met. Yet seeing images from your depots with parcels being sorted on the street, and reading endless social media posts about missing deliveries, suggests that this is far from the case.”

“We are sorry that some customers are experiencing short, localised delays in receiving their parcels,” Evri responded. “We are currently delivering more than 3 million parcels a day, however like others in the sector, we are experiencing some delays to service due to record Christmas volumes, Royal Mail strikes, staff shortages and severe weather conditions.”

So, what can I do if my Evri parcel goes missing?

There are so many complaints piling up about Evri’s delivery service that unsatisfied customers have started to get organised. One Facebook page, Evri (Hermes) Complaints & Advice – Unofficial has more than 30,000 members in its community attempting to help one another to get justice— and their post. 

Meanwhile, on Twitter the best man at naming and shaming Evri for their behaviour is Steve King, who set up the page Evri Delivery Fail (@EVRi_Delivery), which currently has more more than 4,000 followers. According to Steve, the best way to get money back is to contact the brand you’ve ordered products from: “Harass the retailer,” he says. “Hold them accountable as it’s the retailer with the agreement with the courier.”

However, other Twitter users have recommended contacting Evri’s CEO, Martin De Lange, directly. “if you wanna make a complaint about EVRI, here is the CEO’s email, you’ll get a response..” they claimed. You can also access a list of brands that use Evri to try and avoid them in the future here. Warning: it’s very, very, long.

But, whatever you do, don’t try and climb in any Evri van you see parked on the street, which is what one woman resorted to and filmed for TikTok:

But what have Evri actually said about missing parcels?

When The Tab contacted Evri about parcels allegedly being delivered damaged, late or stolen altogether, the CEO did not reply. However, the company’s PR team said the parcel service was “fast”, “reliable” and “sustainable”.

“We have made significant investments to improve our service as we grow, adding dedicated customer service teams operating seven days a week in depots” they claimed.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Missguided is reportedly on the brink of collapse
• Hunger pills, underpaid workers, and £1 bikinis: Every single time Missguided messed up
• PSA: ASOS is introducing a minimum spend for all Premier Delivery customers