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  YOU ARE HERE : Home > Categories > Trades > Goods Shipping > Fastway Couriers
  ProdID: 1748 - Fastway CouriersBased:Nationwide Product Score: 3.5 
Fastway Couriers

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Fastway Couriers was conceived in April 1983 from an idea to operate cost effective hourly pickup and delivery services between Napier and Hastings (New Zealand).

In April 1984 an evaluation of company drivers showed that no new work was being generated by them. It was then decided that the time was right to introduce franchising, and franchise couriers were sought. A large number of franchises were established which resulted in far greater productivity. The franchise courier concept not only provided the incentive desired but also freed up working capital which enabled the company to develop further operations and linehaul networks. Never had franchising in the transport industry been attempted (worldwide) before.

The franchising system was then introduced to all branch operations. It was realised that the success of any operation depended on finding the right people to run the company. The people had to have local knowledge, outgoing personality, knowledge of the industry, the psychological desire to succeed and the ability to run the operation without constant supervision. The introduction of Regional Franchisees fulfilled this obligation and the company continued to grow rapidly.

In 1986 the company's founder, Mr Bill McGowan received the award of "NZ Entrepreneur of the Year". This award resulted in substantial national news media coverage and led to a rapid growth spurt of the company.

Today Fastway is franchised in New Zealand, Australia, England, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Spain, and Canada.

NOTE: This company was absorbed by Aramax and no longer trades under this brand in NZ.
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riki   Review #7694 - Dated: 28th of February, 2013
  Author: riki

Branch: Wellington

I would not recommend fastway couriers. Promised same day or next day delivery. 4 days later the package had not arrived and no attempt was made by fastway to contact either the sender or receiver.

Once I contacted staff at their Wellington branch - they lied about the status of the package and said they had been in contact with the sender. The sender was my grandparents and they had not been contacted by fastway. I could see the package has been sitting at their Wellington branch for the last three days using the tracking tool they have on their website.

Fastway said the package had been damaged and they offered to repack the items to which I agreed - however, once the package was eventually delivered all items has been looked through and some items were missing. There was even a birthday card to my son which has been ripped open.

Very poor service and an invasion of my privacy with no attempt from fastway to remedy the issues and no apology. Use this courier company at your own risk.

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1435kiwi   Review #5821 - Dated: 14th of May, 2012
  Author: 1435kiwi

Branch: Christchurch

Had two parcels from different franchise areas apparently delivered in February, but although a signature had been paid for, for some reason the (Auckland) driver decided to leave without signature. Parcels were subsequently (presumably) stolen, and never located. Claims were made with the company that month, and we were advised that the resolution period would be no longer than six weeks. Three months later, still no payout from either of the Fastways franchises, despite repeated contact on our behalf, and despite the driver having to pay the company for the loss almost immediately after the claims were made.

Management level has in general been horrible to deal with, particularly in Christchurch. Claims officer Irene (Christchurch) has been snarky, rude and unprofessional. There is no sense of loyalty to customers, we have been made to feel like a massive hassle and mucked around and lied to no end, constantly being told that the resolution will be 'next week'.

The sender is in the process of securing a new courier company, and I now always ask for alternative postal arrangements when I know that a sender usually deals with Fastways. They are not worth the unfathomable hassle, horrible to deal with if there are any problems, we would strongly advise finding an alternative postal method.

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QueenofArts   Review #5291 - Dated: 20th of January, 2012
  Author: QueenofArts

Branch: Hamilton

I've been dealing with Fastway in Hamilton for a few years now and chose them due to their same day pick up and delivery for Hamilton/Auckland/Tauranga area as well as their affordable priced tickets.

I have had only excellent service from them. As I deal in sending artwork, it is high risk but to date I have had no problems or issues with damage to any of my parcels. Making sure myself that they are packaged up well and labelled accordingly goes a long way though I feel.

Because of the amount of time I have been dealing with this company I have seen many different drivers come and go and not one of them has been unpleasant or unprofessional to deal with.

Fastway have an easy to read chart and a simple process to order pick ups.

My only criticism is that they don't do weekend pick-ups or deliveries. A quick, friendly and affordable service that I highly recommend.

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Seagirl   Review #5196 - Dated: 30th of December, 2011
  Author: Seagirl

Branch: Kapiti

The worst customer service I have ever received - Kapiti Couriers

I have received my first bad feedback on Trade Me thanks to these guys keeping a parcel in transit for 14 days to date and not letting me know they hadn't bothered delivering it!

Can't get people to return calls - once I did get someone on the end of the phone she was obnoxious, rude and couldn't give a damn.

^downBIG THUMBS DOWN guys. If I had behaved this way in a previous customer service job I would have been fired

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Success11   Review #4582 - Dated: 23rd of June, 2011
  Author: Success11

Branch: -undefined-

I have found that it all depends on the individual courier. There are some couriers that are absolutely useless and some that are wonderful. Our local courier is fantastic, very polite, friendly and always looks after us. Yes, we have had a couple parcel issues (damaged parcels) but this has always been handled well. There is a courier in Tauranga from Fastways that has won the NZ franchisee award two times. So goes to show it really does depend on the courier. Its a shame that one bad experience or courier can really spoil the company as a whole though. I still give Fastways the thumb up.^up

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Tucker   Review #2451 - Dated: 26th of March, 2008
  Author: Tucker

Branch: Manawatu

It is indeed a rare thing to find an operation that cares so little for it's customers as this regional franchise. I want to point out, of course, that this review is ONLY based on the service of the Manawatu franchise, and should not be taken as a statement about the brand as a whole.

Recently I was posted some FastWay tickets from a contact in Auckland, who wanted me to send some review goods up to him. Thinking this was nothing new (since we had done the same thing with [link^529^CourierPost^link] and NZ Couriers in the past) I packed his goods into a bag, slapped one of the tickets on, addressed it, rang the local FastWay franchise and booked the pickup and popped it out front for collection. Normally, couriers will pick up goods for national delivery in the afternoon, so as to get them to the depot in time for sorting and shipping on the evening long-hauls.

So you can imagine my surprise when I noticed, at 6pm, that the parcel was STILL sitting out front waiting to be collected! By now, of course, it was too late to do anything, and being the end of the week there was no point in doing anything more than pulling it back inside and waiting until the start of business next week, at which point I rang the head franchisee for the region and once again booked the pick-up. At which point she must have clicked that I was the same one who rang the previous week, because I was treated to 10 minutes of utter bullsh*t!

It seems that the local drivers aren't paid for pickups, they're paid by the purchase of the ticket! Meaning if the ticket was bought in Auckland, only the Auckland guys get paid, not the Manawatu driver who collects the parcel. This, it seems, has something to do with the way their franchising system is configured. On top of that I was told that the driver HAD turned up to collect, but because no-one answered the door (which is a common side-effect of a business relocating premises) he climbed back into his van and drove off, ignoring the parcel sitting at his feet in plain sight!

Now, I can understand that the operation may be set up in a somewhat strange manner, different from every other courier firm around, but at the end of the day that is not my problem, and I was offended by the manner in which I was spoken down to by the operator, and the utterly slack service I received from them. To the effect that we are now boycotting Fastway in it's entirety! If anyone sends us FastWay tickets, we're going to send them right back. There's just no point in dealing with an operation that thinks it's acceptable to be rude and obnoxious to customers, big or small.

Overall, an utter waste of time dealing with this bunch, and I can only hope that enough people see this and decide to explore smarter, more customer-friendly courier firms.

User Comments
mallet
These guys are a joke. Some new meaning of the word "fast" that i wasn't previously aware of, slow-and-expensive way would be more honest. Their rural delivery system adds days to the delivery time. Other couriers seem to be able to deliver to my address in a reasonable time, but not these guys

Unknown
These guys are dodgy, they have "misplaced" a cellphone i sent and got no compensation whatsoever. Worst most unprofessional couriers ever do not trust these people with your goods or money.

Tommm
Fastway is the worst courier service in new zealand, i payed for delivery on wednesday.... thursday nothing wasent too mad.... friday.... nothing rang up to ask wats going on they told me the van was full so they had to come back the nxt day now my pacage wont arrive untill monday. I needed the pacage for the weekend and now theres no point in me getting the package this is shocking they should have sent another van to get the remaing packages or at least get it to me on saturday but no monday.... THANKS FASTWAY YOUR CRAP!

KiwiLisa
Absolutely the WORST and SLOWEST courier service I have ever encountered. They have trouble knowing how to deliver a parcel. Have used Fastway twice now (not by choice, was senders choice both times) and have waited up to 2 weeks to receive parcels, even though have paid top dollar for so called prompt delivery. Cant believe they can muck things up so much both times when it is not rocket science to pick up and deliver a parcel. Terrible service, would NEVER use by choice.

tovson_kiwi
Worst courier service in the NZ and in the world. The customer service LaDy in Manawatu office rude and (I cant find a word....other than sucks). She doesnt even listening to what customer says. The Fastway Couriers should change their franchise from Manawatu office or Manawatu office should fire that customer service LaDy. Or the FastWay should change their name to SlowBumper. LMFAO

asdf
WORST COURIER IN NEW ZEALAND
TRACKING SHOWS THAT THE PARCEL WAS IN THE VAN AT 7:30AM BUT WAS NOT DELIVERED FOR THE WHOLE DAY
LAUNCHED AN ONLINE ENQUIRY, GOT A CALL AT 5PM SAYING THAT IT WILL BE DELIVERED IN THE NEXT HOUR. STILL WAITING FOR THE DAMM PARCEL.
NEVER USE FASTWAY COURIERS!!!

Painless
Fast Ways must be the worst courier company in NZ hands down. Their staff are helpful, but if you send something the 'fast way' with Fast Ways expect to add 2-3 days on top of what it would take any other courier outfit, including standard post. The other thing that pisses me off is that according to Fast Ways my address is rural. They ARE the only courier outfit that class my address as so. A quick check on google maps shows that I am 4.6km (8 mins drive) from the depot. What a joke!

newal singh
Absolutely disgusting service.Should change name to SLOW COURIERS.Drivers don't seem to know the delivery addresses.They deliver parcels at wrong addresses.Takes longer than three days to deliver.Online enquiry needs revamp.Reception needs answer phone promptly.Very frustrating service.Not recommended to business who need prompt delivery of items.

Hamilton
I have had absolutely appalling service. 2 parcels I ordered on line. 1 from Invercargill to Auckland. The other Auckland to Blenheim. Neither arrived prior to Xmas.
The Blenheim parcel went to Bethlehem. Apparently that is common and because it was chocolates I was told it was not covered by a claim - perishables. Subsequently I was advised that was not correct as anything with a shelf life is covered. (Who would know what the policy is??). The Auckland parcel was eventually delivered 16 January 2013 (was sent 12 Dec 2012 from Invercargill). After MANY queries from me to Fastways to enquire where the parcel was and being told it was delivered on 17 Dec (which it clearly was not) the general manager in Napier sent me an email which was his correspondence with the general manager in Auckland which stated "of course she has the damn package but she wants to know WHY, WHY WHY WHY!!!!"
He has since apologised and advised it was not personal - what else could he say??
I think this is a clear indication of how the company treat their customers

John
Disappointed that my package hasnt come in more than 2 weeks and they said it was to be delivered at 12pm, but its nearly 4pm right now and nothing! Also, it was said they left a calling card at our place and there was no one at home at the time when they apparently came to deliver the package, but the whole family was up then, and there was no calling card! Bloody terrible service.

fastway suck
Fastway suckssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

fastwaysuckass
Useless, noone was home so a card to call was left, filled out form online for delivery the next day when someone will be home. Didn't turn up and when i called to depot they cant get hold of the driver that presumably has it.
Never ever had any issue with couriepost, don't know why people use fastway over them.
Never had a fastway parcel arrive on time

 

Printed at 09:44:39pm on Thursday 28th March 2024