Hermes used to be ****. So did DPD.
Suddenly, DPD became awesome. Properly awesome. As in so awesome they're the benchmark for good service, now... I even installed their app to my phone.
Eventually Hermes upped their game, but their central services are still pretty ****. I've once had a Hermes driver phone me up and ask if it's OK for him to leave the parcel somewhere.
My latest Hermes delivery arrived and was placed in my safe space, which I've only ever told DPD and Royal Mail-Parcelfarce about, so I'm guessing he used to work for one of them. However the package had come from America and was sat at 'We're expecting your package' status for ages... then it went to 'we've got it' for a couple of hours, before going through several other steps (depot, warehouse, loading, with driver, out for delivery and finally delivered, with text and email alerts all pinging) all at once... and all after the package had been delivered.
So there's hope for Hermes, but they have a ways to go yet...
APC, however, can burn in hell alongside Yodel. ******* *****... If I wanted to drive 35 miles to collect something that you can't be arsed to put through the letterbox (seriously, it's a tiny poxy screwdriver attachment), I'd not have requested delivery in the first ******* place.