Anyone else having problems with Royal Mail????

mazza111

Good Luck!

stuvee02

I'm not sure how this post will end up - I'm a little concerned I might end up sounding like I am defending Royal Mail and with the experiences I've had that would surprise me.:doh:

Anyway here goes:
*Generally* RM provide a very good service; how else could you send a physical packet from Land's End on a weekday to John O'Groats for as little as 36p (or a parcel for not a huge amount more) and have it arrive very often the next morning? The service works well for the vast majority of items posted which number in the tens of millions each day.

Having said that it is when the service fails that the problems highlighted in this thread crop up. It is a tiny percentage of items sent that get delayed, damaged or lost but each item is important to somebody and therefore it hurts but RM do seem to have a problem dealing with these problems. Constant churn of staff, poor attitude of managers when issues are raised, and an unclear process for resolving the problems just angers anyone who is already annoyed.

Mazza111 is right in everything he says and most posties are honest, reliable and do a back-breaking job in all weathers for a not great reward but there are the few who are lazy, ignorant, stupid, or worse untrustable. Who in their right mind would deliver a parcel through someones letterbox that has been ripped open and has nothing in it because the contents have been lost/pilfered? A case I dealt with only last week.

Posties also seem to never have enough 'tried to deliver' cards, the pen/pencil to write them with or just can't be bothered to write them. I've lost count of the number of times someone has chased the co I work for about thier delivery and found, becasue we advise them to, that the parcel is at the RM depot waiting collection though they hadn't had a card.

On the other hand many users don't understand the basics of the RM service; 1st class is 1st class even if you pay for recorded. It's no more secure or faster than standard 1st class but it should get a signature upon receipt. The same for 2nd class and 2nd class recorded. If you want something delivered within a week for definate you have to use Special Delivery - it is special; the posties know it and treat it as such. I think if a SD goes missing it's personally down to them or at least that's the impression I get by the way they count them before signing when collecting parcels.

Then if something doesn't turn up you have to allow RM 15 working days (Mon-Sat) from the due date of delivery (i.e. after day of posting th next working day for 1st class or 3rd working day for 2nd) before it can be declared "Lost".

Some people have a great local delivery office (lucky them!) but that doesn't mean that nothing sent to them could go missing as some I deal with seem to believe. Every letter/parcel goes three offices (local collections depot, sorting hub and local delivery depot) or more depending where it's going and at each point something could get mis-routed or lost.

Again as Mazza111 says so many items are badly addressed. Too many people are arrogant and think the RM know who they are and where they live. If the same postie is delivering every day then fine but if something is lost along the way and has been poorly addressed then any claim for the loss may be denied. Property number, full road name, locality AND Post Town plus the postcode is needed. In theory if you have property number and postcode it should get there but those two items alone are NOT a full postal address. BTW you do not need to include county in a postal address.

If you have a bad service let the local delivery office know about it - it's only by letting them know that they can try and improve it and, if needs be, bad apples can be weeded out.

There's so many other issues I could mention but it's been a poorly funded service for so many years and trying to make it fully commercial is just never going to work. This and the relatively small number of crap posties and (larger number of) bad managers just drags it down and prompts the rants we see on this forums.

speech over (it's good to get it off my chest!)

Stu
[steps down from soap box]

mazza111

Stuvee02 there's only one bit I disagree with....

"Mazza111 is right in everything he says" ...

She dear, SHE!

We have a couple who are lazy gits in our office too, you're always gonna get one or two like that, no matter what business I'm afraid.

upsetonerightnow

Quite a bit of my post has gone missing in the last few weeks but there is nothing I can do about it.

stuvee02

:eek: Mazza111 continues to be right in everything SHE says! :doh:

Sorry Mazza111 - how embarrassing! Obviously not just mail that is often incorrectly addressed!!

Stu

mazza111

Certainly not a problem dear, you weren't to know, but as a member of an online gaming community, and have been for several years, it still makes me giggle when some newbie who thinks they know me think i'm a man :rotfl:

so2006

They ended up delivering it anyway, So didnt have to call or anything. Thanks Mazza111 again!

mary43

I don't normally have a probem with postal deliveries (council tax bill along with many others is never late - also get normal letters ok)
I've used 1st class post to send parcels before (shoe box size) and normally they arrive next day.........last week however, I posted a parcel on Wednesday to my son for his birthday today and so far no sign of it and no card through the door asking him to collect. A smaller package in a jiffy bag got there ok as did his card.
So, how long should I allow for posting a parcel ? The web-site says 3 working days so hopefully it should arrive tomorrow. Theres nothing of great money value in it, but there are some things I made for him that it would be hard for me to repeat.
Track and trace and special delivery and all the other things all cost extra and as I've not had problems in the past I thought 1st class wouldn't let me down.
At least I know its not just me this has happened to.

custardy

15 working days before its considered missing