Have you had the “Extra Payment Required” email from Parcel2Go or Evri?
As online sellers, we access the services of Hermes/myHermes (2022 edit – now Evri) sometimes direct, and sometimes through parcel2go.com – depending on which platform we are booking from.
Years ago, everyone used to book everything at 0.99kgs and anything up to about 3kgs would go through without a hitch. That was never going to last.
In the last 18 months, Hermes has started routinely weighing everything, so weights must be accurate. No big deal and not rocket science to make sure which band your parcel falls into, right?
We only use Parcel2Go/Hermes for low-value parcels (things you can afford to lose) under two kilos. So there are two bands: 0 – 1kg and 1 – 2kg.
We use digital mail scales, so we know our weights are right. Thus we know that we are booking the correct weight band.
So here is what happens. About once a week, sometimes twice a week, we get this email:
Dear [customer name],Thank you for booking with us and using Hermes to send your parcel.
Unfortunately, Hermes have informed us that your parcel weighed/measured more than was declared when it was booked on our website. The parcel was declared as 1.00kg (20 x 20 x 20), however the actual weight/dimensions are 1.10kg (20 x 20 x 20).
We understand mistakes can be made and we operate tolerances to allow for small mistakes, however due to the size of this discrepancy, we unfortunately need to charge for this misdeclaration.
Also, due to the increased cost in processing misdeclarations, which include identifying and weighing the parcel, an additional handling charge of £2.50 is included in the underpayment total.
The total underpayment due is £ 3.49 + VAT. You can pay this charge now via the link below or find it in your basket and pay it the next time you check out with us.
Occasionally human error happens, so those of us who send many parcels will expect to make the odd mistake and have this bite us in the arse.
However, I have noticed a pattern here.
It only seems to happen with the under 1kg band with parcels that are over 900g in weight but under the 1kg threshold. The weight they say they are is always 1.1kgs.
If your parcel was not in fact overweight, how can you prove it? The answer is you can’t, because they have your parcel, and Parcel2Go/Hermes have you over a barrel here.
We got another one of these a few days ago, so on the basis that the staff will start having deductions for these “errors” if they continue, I decided to investigate this one.
Using the P2G number, I traced the order, looked at what the item sent was (an item in standard retail packaging that we sell), and weighed another one. Better than that, I took another from our pending orders, taped it myself, and added a label. The weight? 975g. I checked the weight stored on our system: 975g. I checked the manufacturer’s declared weight: 950g. So the 25g is tape and label.
The staff routinely weigh each and every Parcel2Go item because they are aware of this issue. On the day in question, everything that went out was checked.
This means our parcel was NOT overweight.
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This probably means none of our parcels were ever overweight since the “Extra Payment Required” emails started arriving.
This smells to me like a quiet little scam by either Parcel2Go or Hermes.
But as we also use Hermes directly, and don’t get these penalties from Hermes directly, it would appear that this is generated at Parcel2Go – but we cannot be sure.
What I can be sure of is Parcel2Go has extracted by now several hundred pounds out of me with this little scam.
For “overweight” parcels that I reckon were nothing of the sort.
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So what to do?
Well, here is the problem with Parcel2Go and Hermes. You get what you pay for. It’s a cheap service. This means zero competent customer service of any description.
Both organisations are set up to dissuade you from contacting anyone if something goes wrong. Daft email support (copy and paste replies) and dire “live help” that will have you dripping in cobwebs by the time you get anywhere.
Try and do a claim for a lost/stolen/misdelivered/undelivered item and you will see what I mean. If you have a spare few hours, you may eventually get your money back. The system is designed so you can’t be bothered and will write their mistakes off.
Sure you can email “concerns@parcel2go.com” but nothing will happen. When faced with facts and logic, they will simply stop replying.
Customer service is not a hallmark of either Parcel2Go or Hermes – both are totally chronic in this regard. The fact is they simply don’t give a shit – they only want your money.
I estimate that between this “Extra Payment Required” scam and the few items that are stolen, lost, delivered wrongly, or not at all, we will have issues with up to 5% of Hermes bookings.
It’s probably time for us to start using a better courier or continue to self-indemnify against their mistakes as there are not enough hours in the day to chase them for losses and dishonesty.
So why is this out here?
I wanted to get this out here because I want to see if anyone else has had enough of being overcharged in this way by Parcel2Go and how big a scale this is happening on.
Parcel2Go and/or Hermes might be clawing quite a lot of money in from this little racket. And a racket is what I believe it is.
Parcel2Go will not even engage with us on the subject of the “Extra Payment Required” subject – despite our trying – they just keep charging us for it.
I suspect it isn’t only happening to us. I suspect there are other sellers out there writing off a fiver once or twice a week, assuming they or their staff made a mistake. Again. But deep down they cannot see how. And they will Google and land here……..
2022 Update: As we all probably know, Hermes is now Evri, but not much else has changed since this was written, and people still find it. For this class of parcel, we are now back with Royal Mail. Tracked 48 is a superior service at a similar price. Talk to your Royal Mail account manager if you have one about a deal. You are charged on averages so you can have an average of say 2kg, so if lots are 1.5kg, you can send the odd 5kg, 10kg, etc. Way better than Evri.
If this is happening to you, please use the comment box below to say so. 
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Had a request for extra £34.53 from Parcel2Go for a Parcelforce parcel to Australia. It was a print rolled in a tube weighing .5kg and they say it weighs 8kg!!!!!
Rang Parcelforce who say the item has been delivered and no charge is outstanding. If there was a charge the parcel would not have been delivered and the recipient would be the one to pay.
I will not be paying.
TWO of these in 6 days … 1 from Hermes claiming a 565g game was 2.5kg and 1 from parcel2go claiming over stated size ( I have photo evidence on my ebay listing to disprove this one ) .
This is a massive con involving BOTH companies ans I have some spare time on my hands so it’s time to make a few calls ….
F..king hate being ripped off .
Have been using My Hermes via P2G for several years. This issue is a regular occurance for us. Live help is of no help at all as they ask you send photos of the parcel on some scales several days after the item has been delivered to the customer. If anyone is tempted to organise a class action against P2G then let everyone else know.
Use this email address to contact parcel2go. I paid the “underpayment” and then challenged it. They (say) are refunding me the surcharge as a “gesture of goodwill” They reconned my parcel was oversize and i had booked a hermes small parcel service. There is no option to do this!
Anyway, email them here with your original P2G tracking number and state your case.
concerns@parcel2go.com
I work for Hermes. When a parcel is oversize or overweight the delivery courier has to fill an online form. When the form is accepted the courier will get about 20p extra. Hermes make no checks whatsoever, couriers want to send these parcels back for checking but Hermes insist the parcel be posted. As a result Hermes send out an automated e-mail demanding your money. This is known within the Industry as the packet racket. On the face of it you may blame the courier but when he/she has to cope with the rain/heat/pressure of work some make guesstimates. The fault is with Hermes they do not invest in parcel checking
I just had one of these from Parcel2Go (via Hermes). Not overweight, oversize!
“the actual dimensions exceed the maximum for the MyHermes Small service
( 45 X 35 X 16 cm). MyHermes have measured your parcel as 50 X 33 X 6 cm”
Physically impossible. The item was in Jiffy Airkraft, Size 7 (W) envelope
(when *flat* at their largest 36.5 x 45.5 cm), and I cut down the excess
size by cutting/tucking the back panel in and around, because the item was
a block of A4 pads (21×29.7cm), packed it comes out around 33 x 26 x 6cm.
Hermes can’t measure, or are on the scam. Either way, it’s not worth the
small saving using them, so I won’t any more.
Just happened to me again. A parcel weighing under 4kg, but we rounded it up to four just to be on the safe side, that DPD/Parcel2Go are claiming was actually 7kg. As usual no evidence to back this up, just a demand to hand over £8.54. How is this still allowed to go on? In what other industry can you just demand more money without actually providing any evidence that they have a right to ask for it???
I’d happily join a class action suit against P2G over this. It’s scandalous that they’re getting away with it.
Having previously used Parcel2Go in the past with no issues, I was surprised to receive one of these emails today asking for £72.98, and claiming that a T Shirt that I sent to Australia via DPD (weighing approximately 230g) was weighed by DPD at a little over 20kg!
It goes without saying that this is blatant nonsense, given the dimensions of the small padded envelope that the shirt was sent in, it would have to have a density slightly higher than that of cast bronze to weigh anything close to their supposed “measurement”. I sent an initial email (out of panic) disputing this charge, to which I received a very generic stock reply, but having now realised that I have no Paypal billing agreement with Parcel2Go, I intend to totally ignore their fee, and use a different service next time. DPD tracking shows that the parcel was delivered in Australia close to a week ago, and I’ve had no contact at all from DPD with regards to the weight or dimensions of the parcel. Parcel2Go clearly have no evidence to support their insane (fraudulent) fee, and are therefore reduced to begging for extra cash via emails which I’ll subsequently block.
It seems that this company is definitely best avoided. Probably a safer bet to arrange courier delivery directly with the couriers themselves, instead of via this shoddy service.
We just had it again with them, this from a non reply email:
To reply, forward it to concerns@parcel2go.com with your added comments.
Here was our reply:
Their reply:
Busted!
Couple of issues here:
1 I tried to copy your response and received a snotty message that you are copywright protected etc.
2 We received the surcharge from P2G for Hermes. Stated we were over size for the small parcel service. However, P2G do NOT give the option to declare properly only ask if it is bigger than 1metre (70cmx6cmx7cm), which our package wasn’t and that it was (under) 1kg.
3 P2G forced payment of the surcharge whilst it is in dispute. Robber Dogs!
Their Customer service Chatline is a platitude filled waste of time.
I’ve had the same with Hermes and challenged it. I also mentioned that this was a weights and measure issue. I think what happens is that two parcels cross the scales at the same time so both become overweight and consanguinity both customers will get a extra charge!
Anyway they cancelled two invoices for extra weight and two more invoices came through in the next couple of days by email and then within a minute another email came through saying your invoices had been cancelled. It’s clear they know what’s happening and should be investigated by weights and measures!
This happened this week to me i sent a parcel out with parcel2go using UPS and they said i owe £57 extra on top of the £32 i paid and it was a garden strimmer i sent it only weighs 7kg i told them i wont be paying it so take me to court,parcel2go or UPS are scamming people left right and centre i wont be using parcel2go no more.This is the first and last time i will use them.
Yes, i had three parcels last week but all of mine were over the 5Kg weight limit. All three parcels had identical contents and weighed in at 4.6Kgs. I spoke to my local Hermes guy about this and he seemed to think it was odd to say the least. I contacted all three customers and asked them to weigh their parcels, two kindly did so, one didnt reply. The two that did reply confirmed the weights were under 5Kg., however, according to Parcel2Go, one of my ‘5Kg’ parcels was check weighed and was supposed to be 7.1Kgs
The+same+story.
1.5kg+parcel+was+told+that+it+is+2.6kg.
It+is+third+time+happening+with+me-+they+tell+that+i+do+declare+lower+weight.
Now+i+videorecord+how+i+weigh+my+parcels-+and+i+do+have+measuring+tape+on+background.
I just had the same email stating my surcharge was £40 from parcels2go . A surcharge from parcelforce . They stated the weight of my item was not 12kg but was intact 44kg
So I called parcelforce that checked their systems and no charge had been applied to my item . My item had been delivered a week ago too.
He said that their is no way they would even put a 44kg item on a van and no one would even be able to lift it on their own . He laughed and thought it was ridiculous and definitely a scam .
He advised me just to ignore the emails and nothing was wanted their end .
So thankful I called and tbh the service I had from p2go was awful .
I received an item from a well known shopping channel which I unfortunately had to return .On return label the company always a shows the weight of the return I resealed parcel then contacted Hermes.I asked for courier service which didn’t arrived then took parcel to a collection point and it was collected. Parcel weighed 00.850 so paid for under 1kg .Have now received an invoice claiming an extra £4.65 as parcel now weighs 1.4kg .After reading others comments I wonder if this is some sort of scan so have decided to ignore.
Yes overcharging is common we are photographing packets before we send out terrible and not legal We send 150 + units a week We are looking at other couriers
We’ve gone back to Royal Mail now. Tracked 48 is a comparable price if you do it through your account manager. And a far better service.
Sent a parcel with Evri. Same thing happened, I got a fine . I know I measured it properly and weighed it.
I did get through to someone at Ervi and they said just refuse to pay and say they’re wrong and they’ll cancel it.
I watched a man on YouTube do exactly the same when it was Hermes .
I did get my fine cancelled but they said it’s a good will gesture and my box was 50x 25. On the shortest sides. I know it wasn’t this size as the end of it was square.
I asked who is measuring these boxes? And said I’d make sure people know of their “trick” I didn’t say “scam” but it is.
This is obviously how they keep the price down, they fine enough people to make it viable!