Reviews

Gophr Review: How Does It Stack Up? [+3 Gophr Alternatives in London]

Gophr Review: How Does It Stack Up? [+3 Gophr Alternatives in London]

Looking to sign up to Gophr’s courier service?

Or you want to stack it up against other deliveries in London?

We’ve got you covered!

This is our review of Gophr couriers.

In this review we’ll do a deep-dive into what this delivery service offers, including:

  • Best (and worst) features
  • Customer reviews of their service
  • How their delivery works
  • How Gophr compares to other courier services in London (like Brisqq)
  • Lots more

So if you’re considering signing up for Gophr, this review should help you with your decision.

Let’s jump in.

What is Gophr?

Gophr is a courier and delivery service based in London. Their service is available across +25 towns and cities in the UK:

gophr-courier-map-locations

But their main focus is around London, Birmingham and Manchester. (So we’ll ours)

Gopher’s core offer is a hyper-local same-day courier service for business that’s divided into three groups:

  • Hiring couriers per delivery
  • Business account
  • Enterprise level solutions

For these services they offer various other specific options, such as:

  • Chilled transport
  • Hot food delivery
  • Multi-day delivery
  • Airport pick-up and delivery
  • Large and heavy parcel delivery
  • And others.

Their fleet has 9000+ couriers that use a variety of vehicles from bikes and motorcycles, to cars and large vans. The Gophr fleet also includes vehicles with a lower carbon footprint like cargo bikes:

gophr-courier-vehicles

How to book a delivery with Gophr?

First, you’ll need to register on the website.

gophr-courier-website

You can do this with a social network account or via email:

gophr-courier-registration

(This is a necessary step to book a delivery.)

To book the delivery with Gophr:

1. Select the “Book a job” tab.

gophr-courier-book-a-job

2. Enter the pick up address

gophr-courier-pickup

3. Enter the delivery details

4. Add contact information

5. Enter parcel details

6. Set the vehicle type

gophr-courier-selecting-vehicle

7. Set the delivery timing

8. Set the collection time

9. Enter the payment details

10. Confirm the booking

If you’re looking to open a business account, you’ll need to fill out a form.

After that a customer support agent will contact you.

You’ll need to do the same if you require an enterprise grade solution.

How much does it cost to deliver with Gophr?

Gophr pricing starts at £4.50 per delivery (without VAT).

So it’s at the lower end of the spectrum when it comes to delivery cost.

But that isn’t the whole story.

The price can jump significantly depending on:

  • Pick-up and delivery times
  • Delivery priority
  • Availability of couriers
  • Parcel dimensions
  • Type of vehicle

Still, you can get a quote right now.

Gophr has a quick quote calculator on their website:

And if you have a Gophr account, you’ll be able to review the price there.

Gophr Review: Things we like

#1 Volume Discounts

This is available only for business accounts and enterprise solutions.

It depends a lot on the type of service you want to use and your delivery volumes.

But it’s a nice thing to have. (Especially if you’re looking to use Gophr as a service.)

To find out whether you qualify for a discount (and how much), contact the sales team.

#2 Dedicated account manager

For business accounts, Gophr assigns a dedicated account manager and operational support.

This makes it easier to balance out costs with the logistical needs of your business.

But you also get better support when booking complex multi-drop deliveries. Or bespoke solutions.

And it’s an essential feature when you’re looking for high volume bookings via API integration.

#3 Hyper-local delivery

Gophr’s main focus is on hyper-local same-day delivery.

To provide this, Gophr has partnered with Parcelly.

Parcelly is a hyper local warehousing company that manages over 2,500 warehouses in the UK.

gophr-courier-parcelly

This partnership enables Gophr couriers to cut the distance between pick-up and drop-off.

In doing so, they cut the cost of delivery and CO2 emissions, while raising delivery speed.

It also gives business account holders access to the vast warehouse network in the UK.

#4 API Integration

API integrations enable your business to connect a Gophr delivery solution with your webstore.

This is great for e-commerce, especially web shops that run on Shopify or Wordpress.

Plus, there’s no need for developers as Gophr has a support team on call just for integrations.

Gophr Review: Things we don’t like

#1 Unreliable ETAs

Gophr does provide GPS tracking.

And it’s pretty good.

But what doesn’t work so well is the estimated time of arrival (ETA).

Customers often find that the ETA doesn’t match the actual time when your delivery arrives.

#2 Cancelation

To cancel a booking all you have to do is click-and-drag the booking to a trash bin.

Cancellations depend on the current job status:

  • Confirmed by customer
  • Courier proposed
  • Accepted by courier
  • At pick up
  • En route
  • At delivery

You have 90 seconds after the courier has accepted your delivery to cancel without charge.

Otherwise, the minimum cancellation fees per vehicle are:

Pushbike = £4.50
Cargo bike = £8.50
Motorbike = £5.50
Car = £8.50
Small Van = £11.00
Large Van = £14.00

And cancellation fees increase as the job status gets closer to Delivered.

#3 Courier availability

Despite the large number of couriers working for Gophr, it’s often difficult to find a courier that will accept your delivery booking.

This is especially true if you’re not signed up to the business account.

And twice as true during peak seasonal demand, especially in London.

#4 No doorstep delivery

Gophr doesn’t have a bad track record with customer reviews.

But the bad reviews that do occur have to do with their couriers.

And the fact that they often won’t deliver parcels to the customers door.

This is worth considering if customer service is a big part of your business.

3 Best Gophr Courier Alternatives in London

#1 Brisqq - a tech-oriented courier service for London business

gophr-courier-brisqq-website

Brisqq is a courier service company located in Central London that specializes in B2C and B2B delivery for businesses located in London.

What sets Brisqq apart is its technology.

So besides the standard courier platform (for booking same-day or next-day deliveries), you also get full operational control and support that pairs well with both in-store delivery and e-commerce fulfillment.

gophr-courier-brisqq-platform

Specifically, you can use your Brisqq for time-sensitive delivery with 1-hour timeslots (for you and your customers):

gophr-courier-brisqq-timeslots

But also planning multi-drop delivery (for a same-day or future date):

gophr-courier-brisqq-multi-drop

Each booked delivery is visible on the live map:

gophr-courier-brisqq-map

Besides this you receive status updates at every point of the delivery lifecycle. Better still, you can set up alerts and notifications for your and your customers, with precise estimated times of arrival.

Since Brisqq serves e-commerce stores in London (besides physical stores), you can integrate it with a webshop.

This works both when you have a dedicated website. Or if you’re using a platform like Magento or WooCommerce. Just like Gophr.

But unlike Gophr, customers have access to the same 1-hour timeslots that you do via your account. So it’s a much more customer-facing and hands-off approach to booking deliveries.

For in-store delivery, all you need to have is a browser like Google Chrome to access your account.

How much does it cost to deliver with Brisqq?

Brisqq pricing starts from £8.25 per delivery (with VAT). So it isn’t as cheap as Gophr.

You can set a price for minimum volumes. Which does make it more affordable (like Gophr’s volume discounts).

But cancelations are free if done within 15-minutes after scheduling. Or 60 minutes before the pick-up for one-off deliveries (2 hours for multi-drop deliveries).

#2 CitySprint - Full logistical support for deliveries beyond London

gophr-courier-citysprint

CitySprint is a courier service and third-party logistics provider (3PL) based all across the UK.

The company provides nationwide coverage with a network of 35 local service centers and +5000 couriers from Aberdeen to Brighton:

gophr-courier-citysprint-locations

But while Gophr operates only nationally, CitySprint can also deliver goods to the continent via international delivery.

As a 3PL, CitySprint offers a much more varied offer in terms of services. In fact, their service list extends to 15+ services split into three categories:

gophr-courier-citysprint-services

CitySprint is the most readily available courier company in the UK, operating 24 hours a day, 365 a year. That makes them the top choice when you want to deliver goods during holidays.

CitySprint also features an online platform. But it’s much simpler then the ones you get with Brisqq or Gophr.

Still you have access to easy online booking and delivery tracking:

gophr-courier-citysprint-dashboard

(Although their tracking technology isn’t as reliable.)

Plus, you get other benefits like:

  • Real-time online tracking
  • Proof of delivery (POD)
  • Full 2-month report
  • Custom delivery updates
  • Access to collect-by-times

Like Gophr, CitySprint cares about reducing its carbon footprint. So they have an entire Green Fleet that consists of cargo bikes, as well as e-motorbikes, electric vans, and hydrogen vans:

gophr-courier-citysprint-vehicles

How much does it cost to deliver with CitySprint?

CitySprint delivery prices start from £14.26 (without VAT). This is by far the most expensive option on this list.

But if you handle large delivery volumes all across the UK (with an occasional delivery to the EU), CitySprint can provide the logistical support to see it through.

#3 Absolutely Courier - A simple and reliable way to deliver in London

gophr-courier-absolutely-couriers

Absolutely Courier is the oldest courier service provider in the United Kingdom (est. 1865).

Just like Brisqq, Absolutely operates exclusively in London with four offices spread across the capital. And it specializes in same–day courier services, but it can additionally provide:

  • Overnight delivery (via APC across the UK)
  • International shipping
  • Temperature-controlled delivery

They also provide 24/7/365 services for same-day delivery in London with several eco-friendly vehicle options.

But what really sets Absolutely apart is their dedication to customer excellence.

This courier company has by far the best reputation among customers.

Two things contribute to this:

First, their customer service team is one of the best in London. Reliable, knowledgeable, and typically resolves any customer issues as soon as you call them.

The second thing is their basic and user-friendly booking platform. It is pretty straightforward with limited options that includes simple booking (pick-up and delivery):

And delivery tracking:

gophr-courier-absolutely-couriers-tracking

A nice addition to their platform is the Address Book, which you can use to store data about frequent customers:

gophr-courier-absolutely-couriers-address-book

The only real issue with Absolutely is their limited insurance that covers only up to £500.

How much does it cost to deliver with Absolutely Couriers?

Ok. So the pricing isn’t listed on their website.

But you can get a quick quote when you click this link.

To give you a rough estimate, we selected a bicycle delivery from the Houses of Parliament to Trafalgar. The fee for this is £8.19 (with VAT).

So not the cheapest. But we do suggest contacting them for a more accurate estimate.

Gophr Review: The Bottom Line

Whether or not you go with Gophr depends on who you are.

And how much your business relies on delivery.

If your business is an SMB, you may not have a huge budget. And if you are on a tight budget, you can squeeze a lot of value out of Gophr. At £4.50 per delivery you get access to an existing warehouse network in the UK, vehicles for specialized delivery, web shop integrations, and more.

That said: you can’t compare Gophr to Brisqq, CitySprint, or Absolutely Couriers. The three best couriers in London in those areas: tech-oriented delivery for business in London, logistical support in the UK, and low-cost delivery.

Yes, you can always spend more and sign up for an enterprise-grade Gophr solution. But that doesn’t improve the operational efficiency. You just get access to more services at a higher cost.

Bottom Line?

If you’re serious about building a reliable delivery service in London, you’re much better off spending your money on Brisqq.

If you want to scale and expand your delivery to the rest of the country, or to the continent, you’re much better off going with CitySprint.

And if you just need an occasional delivery here and there, then it’s much more affordable to choose Absolutely Couriers.

So if you’re looking to see what at least one of these solutions can do for you, we can help you right now.

Get in touch with us

Get in touch with Brisqq. Fill out a quick form and we’ll get back to you in less than 2 minutes.

One of our support staff is always on call with a tailor-made offer for your business or a quote that’s in line with your delivery needs and your budget.

Imagine what you want your delivery to look like…

And start delivering that experience to your customers today!