Delivery firm Hermes changes name to Evri after parcel mishandling allegations

Parcel delivery company Hermes is changing its name to Evri, in the wake of allegations of poor customer service and parcel mishandling.

The new brand is due to launch with a national TV campaign next week.

The rebrand comes in the wake of negative headlines about the company. Workers at the courier service, which is one of the top 5 in the UK by sales, were found to carelessly throw parcels around delivery depots over people’s fences, video obtained by the Times showed.

Hermes came last in a delivery firm league table produced by Citizens Advice in November with an overall rating of 1.5 stars. Citizens’ advice gave the company a 2-star rating for ‘trust’ and a 1-star rating for handling customer problems.

Hermes said that findings by the Times were “unfounded and do not reflect our business,” while it described research by Citizens’ Advice as “flawed.”

As part of the rebrand, Evri will open a new UK-based customer service team and recruit 200 experts based in local depots. It will also auto-enrol all its 20,000 workers into a new £7 million pension scheme in a move that has been welcomed by trade union GMB.

GMB organiser Steve Garelick said: “This breakthrough deal is a massive step forward and will make work better for GMB members.

“Tens of thousands of couriers will now have the safety and security of knowing their retirement plans are being looked after.”

The Hamburg-based company has operations in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and Italy and reported revenues of 3.5 billion euros (£2.9 billion) in 2020.