Mail Boxes Etc.

"Absolutely terrible service! Charged me premium price and took over 14 days when they quoted 6 days services. That was not the worst of it. They got the address wrong basic numbers mistake can you believe, it was delivered to someone else and then they expected me to resolve their mistake! never use this service avoid at all costs!"

"Never ever again. I used these "people" to collect and ship me some antiques from Hall's auctions. Understand, couriers like ParcelForce, who they used, have minimum standards for packing & packaging. MBE Wolverhampton did not follow those requirements, to say the least. Instead they crammed my precious antiques into a single sheet of bubblewrap and wraped them in a thin, used, cardboard sheet. Yes, they are meant use boxes, but didn't. Result, my just over £1500 antique is badly damaged. Parcelforce, to their credit, delivered the package undamaged / intact, but the contents were damaged by MBE's rough handling of my contents. The insurance company has refused to pay out because he packaging did not conform to even basic standards; the damage was as a result of negligence by MBE, and to require them to pay. I agree with the insurance company. So I sent proof to MBE Wolverhampton (photos of before and after, photos of their packaging, such as it was, the assessment of a antiques company agreeing MBE are at fault, the minimum packaging guidelines of ParcelForce, etc) and after a lot of trying to sweep everything under the carpet / deny liability through easy to disprove BS, they sent me a statement that their director would be in contact; No, they never were, despite several reminders from me. So, now I am going to sue MBE Wolverhamption and MBE HQ themselves (as they did diddly). My advice? Avoid the nameless "people" (they NEVER gave me their names, I wonder why) before they ruin your day."

"MBE City (Old Street) I've been working with MBE in Old Street every week for the last 4 years and the service provided is always immaculate. Super helpful for UPS and FedEX deliveries especially, kind staff and great selection of post cards!"

"The MBE in Headington, Oxford. Absolutely A1 service"

"Mail box praed street in london is a rip off. Don't buy your prepaid enveloppe , before you get to the Morroccan consulate,buy your prepaid enveloppe somewhere else.i was sold one for £14. 99. The average price in England is £9."

"I was instructed by the US Embassy to use Mail Boxes Etc to send my passport to them for visa processing. I drove over an hour to their Manchester branch to hand it in. Their only job was to send the passport to their MBE Holborn branch in London, which would then pass it on to the embassy. Although the embassy stated this should be a free service, I was asked to pay for the delivery. I was fine with that as long as my documents were delivered safely and reliably. After posting it, I was given a tracking number and told to check the MBE website. I did so for several days but the tracking was completely unhelpful and gave no updates. I then contacted their customer service via the live chat on their website. The agent I spoke to was unwilling to assist. As soon as they realised it was a passport for a visa application, they told me to follow up with the US Embassy and refused to provide any further help. I explained clearly that I was not asking about the visa application updates but simply trying to confirm whether my passport had been delivered to their Holborn branch. Only then did they inform me that the tracking number was just a standard Royal Mail 24-hour service. I found this very frustrating. I could have gone to my nearest post office and sent it the same way without driving to Manchester and without paying extra to MBE for a service they were clearly outsourcing. Over a week later, the tracking still showed no delivery. Royal Mail advised me that only the sender can raise an enquiry, and in this case, that is MBE. I returned to their website and contacted customer service again. This time, they again refused to help, said they could not give me any information, and told me to contact the US Embassy. They even gave me the embassy’s phone number. This made no sense at all, as the parcel had not yet reached the embassy and was still supposedly in MBE’s or Royal Mail’s hands. I was paying MBE to deliver a passport between two of their own branches. Instead, they handed it to Royal Mail without making that clear, provided a useless tracking number, and then completely distanced themselves from the situation once there was a problem. It has now been more than 10 days and the passport has still not arrived. This has been a deeply frustrating and stressful experience with no accountability or basic customer support from MBE at any stage."

"Note this review is specific to 'Mail Boxes Chiswick'! I use Mail Boxes all the time, all over the UK, to collect from Auction Houses and pack and send fragile antiques to my home, and I rate them highly, however my experience with the Chiswick branch has been dreadful. I received damaged items with missing pieces (the items were perfect when collected from the Auction House) and they have taken no responsibility whatsoever. 2 months later, lots of wasted phone calls and emails, and I'm still trying to get compensation. I'm quite disgusted if this is their attitude to their customers!"

"Hopeless, just hopeless. No communication. Required to manually transfer the fee. Needed to call the auction house to confirm storage charges would not be incurred. Dark ages company."

"I'd applied for a US visa, and was told I had to deliver my passport to MBE to be couriered to the US Embassy in London. It was a one hour drive into Manchester, and I handed the passport over together with the courier slip I'd printed off the US visas website. I got a receipt, which I assumed included the tracking number. But when I got home I checked it and couldn't find a tracking number. I went to the MBE website, which was totally useless, as was the `chat' facility, which told me to call their head office number. I tried several occasions, but the phone disconnected almost immediately. They then advised me to email their head office in Holborn, but although I did, two days ago, I've still received no response. It was therefore completely impossible to locate any details of where my passport was. Eventually I rang the Manchester office, and for the first time spoke to an intelligent human being. He was able to give me a tracking number, at which point I discovered my passport had just been sent by Royal Mail. I could have saved myself a 2 hour journey and sent it from my local Post Office!"

"Very helpful. I purchased a firearm from an auction in the UK and they were the ones who were able to ship it. They picked it up and got quotes, which unfortunately were extreme! So they were kind enough to return it to auction house for me. The only reason this is not a full 5 star review is because I didn't actually get the item, and there were some gaps in the communication. But not a bad experience at all."

"I would not recommend using this MBE Wolverhampton branch. Very poor service and customer care. They do not care for your products. I paid for pickup, packing and delivery of a painting bought at Halls auction. The painting arrived damaged with frame badly broken, glass smashed and painting scratched by shards of the broken glass. The painting has been very poorly wrappped and protected in thin cardboard. Not much better packaging than quality of a cereal box. Getting frame and glass replaced me cost £100's. MBE Wolverhampton didn't seem to care and manager only offered £50 refund. I have then had to repeatedly chase them to even get that £50, which still 3 months later has not been paid to me yet."

"NAJIM IS A LAIR AND A THIEF. HE WILL PRETEND TO BE NICE TO YOU, UNTIL MBE HIGH WYCOMBE, CO.UK COLLECT YOUR ITEMS FROM THE AUCTION HOUSE, AFTERWARDS THE NIGHTMARE BEGINS. AMERICANS BEWARE OF THIS COMPANY. I HIRED JENTEL PACKING TO HELP ME. I AM STILL WAITING TO GET MY PACKAGE BUT I BELIEVE THEY HAVE SOME ANGELS WORKING OVER THERE AT JENTEL PACKING WHICH WENT OUT OF THEIR TO SERVICE ME. THIS HAS BEEN A NIGHTMARE FOR ME. BECAUSE OF THE HORRIBLE TREATMENT I RECEIVED FROM NAJIM AT MBE. NAJIM CALLED ME ON THE PHONE AND TOLD ME, NOBODY CAN DO ANYTHING TO HIM BECAUSE THE COMPANY IS INDIVIDUALLY OWNED. WE CAN JOIN TOGETHER AND STOP PEOPLE LIKE HIM FROM STEALING FROM HIS CUSTOMERS, FROM BE DISRESPECTFUL, THREATENING AND DOWN RIGHT HORRIBLE. WE CAN STOP DOING BUSINESS WITH YOU AND ANY AUCTION HOUSE THE REFERS CUSTOMERS TO MBE ESPECIALLY NAJIM AT MBE HIGH WYCOMBE. CHECK OUT OTHER SHIPPING COMPANIES FIRST. I DID FIND JENTEL PACKING, THE PEOPLE SEEM TO BE VERY HELPFUL, RESPECTFUL, TRUSTING AND HAVE GREAT SHIPPING PRICES. THEY PICKED UP MY ITEMS ABOUT A WEEK AGO, THAT MBE RETURNED TO THE SWANS FINE AUCTION HOUSE. I HAVE NOT RECEIVED MY PACKAGE YET BECAUSE THEY ARE SO BUSY. BUT I WILL BE PATIENT AND I TRUST THEY WILL SHIP TO ME AS SOON AS THEY CAN. SO BE AWARE OF MBE SO THAT YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO GO THROUGH THIS HELL."

"MBE website has many pages of content promoting their profession auction pick up service so I contacted York branch to pick up some items to ship to me in Kent. I provided all the information size etc and agreed a prices for pack and shipping. Subsequently when the courier arrived to pick up the items he refused to take them as they were "too big" at 75cm tall??? When I called top point out that they had all the dimensions prior to agreeing the contract their York branch said " we don't care" they are Absolutely useless avoid like the plague unless you want to engage with incompetents with bad attitude"

"Why am I not surprised that most of the reviews are negative. Stay away from this company. Their independent franchise ate complete crooks and nobody in corporate office seems to have the ability to desire to hold them to account. Rotten filthy company through and through and my guess is the lack of integrity starts at the top."

"I used them to pack and deliver an item bought at auction back in July 2023, it arrived damaged. It took 10 months to settle the insurance which only came through today. I’ve never had a problem with Mail Boxes before so I can only assume it’s MBE Wolverhampton that is particularly poor. If only there was a rating of less than 1 star."

"Different MBE offices offer a different level of competence. In respect of sending receiving items Internationally by courier service. It is very hit and miss if the office in question knows how to provide the correct paperwork. Possibly MBE offices who know how to transport internally should have a symbol which indicates their competence. I found it impossible to contact their CEO Mr Frances Laryea,"

"Paid on 5 April. Took them a week to pick up the parcel, and then a further 10 days to ship it - even then only after I had reminded them about it. Due to be delivered on Monday 21st - let’s hope it’s at least in one piece. Poor service - I could have walked it back from Wolverhampton quicker."

"I am very happy with mail boxes Etc. I left some stuff in a hotel in Barcelona. I contacted Mail Boxes and they told me that all the stuff would be sent to me within a few days. They made sure I got my stuff back within a few days. For a reasonable price from Barcelona to the Netherlands. I didn't have to do anything except pay 33 euros in advance and they ensured that the items were picked up at the hotel where we were staying. We didn't have to worry about it. So I am satisfied with them."

"Utterly useless company - no way to contact them and estimating 10-15 days of delivery! I wouldnt have used if I had know this as I wanted these items for Christmas. I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANY OF THESE MBE DELIVERY SERVICES _ THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME THEY ARE BEEN THIS LONG IN DELIVERING ITEMS"

"Good service over many years at the Manchester branch. But they handed over admin to a head office, who are useless incompetent obstructive, and will drive away long-term customers. If you want to setup a mailbox, insist on dealing direct with the store, otherwise go elsewhere."