Royal Mail Special Delivery

custardy

it can happen,a letter caught inside a trolley/bag
thats it,the delay is caused.its rare
we deal in around 900-1000 SD items a day in my office and its very rare for anything to go wrong

mah_jong

ts_aly2000 wrote: »

The real irony is that I sent a plain scribbled 1st class letter yesterday evening and it arrived this morning. For 34p.

Only 34p when did you buy the stamp? Or did you stick 34 pence worth of stamps on it? It would have gone 2nd clas if you had!

The current price for 1st class letter under 100g is 36p.:D:D

HC_2

This may be an unpopular viewpoint, but I think that Royal Mail do - overall - a pretty good job.

I'm freelance, and all my work comes and goes by post, using Special Delivery each way. I've never had the slightest problem. Perhaps I've just been lucky.

(Sadly, I'm the postman's first call, at 7.10 a.m., and the trauma he must suffer at the beginning of every day by seeing me in my pyjamas, glasses and hair askew haunts me, as I'm sure it does him.)

However, even if you pay the premium for a Saturday delivery, I believe that if the package is delivered late all you are entitled to is your money back. I guess courier is the route to take if it simply must get there on time, no ifs or buts.

If you think of the millions of pieces of mail that go through the system, and how many go astray, Royal Mail really don't do badly. I think the OP has been particularly unlucky in having two bad experiences in such a short time. I remember once getting a letter from a friend in Cambridge - nearly 100 miles from me. It was posted second class at 5.10 p.m. and reached me at 7.30 the next morning.

Now, post offices are a different matter. Don't get me started on the queues...

NewFoundGlory_2

Oh I totally agree HC, on the whole they do a great job - there is no way you can get something from Wales to Nottingham (from my dad to me) for as little as 36p and the same as you, on some occassions he has sent it just before the post office closed and I got it the next morning.

I just wish when things did go wrong they dealt with it alittle quicker and that they would stop closing the local post offices! I now have to go to the one in the middle of the city and my heart always drops when I see the queues!

custardy

the problem is the cuts being brought into force
i see more and more ''!!!! ups' every day
some minor,some big clangers!!
its only going to get worse im afraid
our office just now is ravaged by the summer (col)lapsing
already the upper management has sent down outlines for further cuts to be made to the office
today i started 1 hour early and worked 3 hours past my time
i will most likely do the same all week till saturday
my dept is being held together on overtime
yet more cuts are required

Steph_W

ts_aly2000 wrote: »

Hello,

A slight gripe (well a big gripe with someone going beserk on the other end of the phone)..

Package sent at 11am Special Delivery on Monday, and arrives on Wednesday afternoon.. Attempting to claim isn't particularly straight forward as RM are quite evasive as to precisely how you do it. Anyway.. Form P58 now completed and sent off (copies kept and POP obtained). Off into the nether nether of the postal system.

Package sent today (Friday) at 12:38, says on the receipt Guaranteed Delivery Date : 28/06/2008 (Saturday). Paid the extra £2. You go to the RM site and type the number in, what does it say? Guaranteed Delivery Date : 30/06/2008. Those letters HAVE to get there tomorrow, it's a follow on from the one earlier on in the week.

I'm sorry to say this but it REALLY takes the biscuit when you're paying £5.05 and £6.60 to send something which HAS to get there, and still they can't get it right.

Everything is clearly labelled, printed delivery and sender's address. It couldn't be more straightforward.

So there we are. TWO, yes that's two, Special Delivery items fouled up in the space of as many days. How on Earth do they manage to get it so wrong?

It's Special Delivery, and with a premium price at that. Which they're not too happy about refunding either. They're all smiles and assurances until you hand your money over.

Rants.

The real irony is that I sent a plain scribbled 1st class letter yesterday evening and it arrived this morning. For 34p.

Just thought i'd point out that when you send a Sat Guaranteed Special Delivery the barcode used is the same as a normal one. Therefore the website will give you the monday as the guaranteed date. The item is given an additional sticker which indicates to the Delivery Office that they need to deliver on the Saturday.

ts_aly2000

Thanks to all who replied here.

I sent off the claims forms to Royal Mail Customer Services last week, and kept photocopies. Proof of postings obtained for the claims forms.

In some respects, I've had less hassles with plain normal mail. It only seems to be the Recorded and Special Delivery items which suffer from problems.

pianeet

mah_jong wrote: »

Only 34p when did you buy the stamp? Or did you stick 34 pence worth of stamps on it? It would have gone 2nd clas if you had!

The current price for 1st class letter under 100g is 36p.:D:D

not for franked mail,it is 34p

mah_jong

pianeet wrote: »

not for franked mail,it is 34p

Thats true , but as the OP was paying 5.05 for his special delivery he was not sending franked mail. I think of the top of my head that weight costs 4.85 franked!;)

guess where I work ..... :rotfl::rotfl:

ts_aly2000

We seem to be somewhat diverting from the topic in hand.

The Royal Mail offers a money back guarantee for delayed delivery of SD items. They failed to deliver the items. Two of them to be precise in as many days.

They then make it difficult and time consuming to reclaim that money back. Despite repeatedly promoting the service and offering assurances at every stage.

There are no other points of discussion. Other than how on earth can the Royal Mail expect people to use Special Delivery, when it's not that special?

4 weeks encounting..