WARNING - Mail Sent using Recorded Delivery

Jasper

The Royal Mail's description for sending a RECORDED DELIVERY LETTER.

Important documents to send? There's one less thing to worry about with our Recorded Signed for service. You get an automatic receipt as proof of posting, and we also ask for a signature on delivery. Most First Class Recorded items arrive by the next working day. And it's great value too, at just 66p plus First or Second Class postage = 96p

I used this service to send a very important letter {Private & Confidential} as marked on letter.

However the recorded letter disappeared without trace? Royal mail could give no explanation to where the letter had gone and offered a book of stamps as compensation.

Reported Royal Mail to Postwatch {complaints department} Still Royal Mail could not trace the letter.

They gave the following explanation:

Recorded Delivery items are handled in the same way as 1st & 2nd class mail. Items are not tracked as they travel through the postal system and, should an item fail to arrive, it is very difficult to establish exactly why and where the loss occurred.
The main difference between Recorded and normal 1st class mail is that we take a ‘record’ of the item being delivered. The only tracking that is made of a Recorded item is whether the item has been delivered, refused, attempted delivery made or item is being held in local delivery office or that the item has been returned to sender.
There is no track for MR ****** item and we cannot establish whether it was delivered or not. As a recorded delivery travels anonymously, there is no added value to initiating a search. Therefore I am unable to offer any redress in relation to this complaint.

My advice is, do not pay Recorded delivery charges, which appear to go missing without trace. Send them as normal 1st class letters with proof of postage, which is free of charge and is easier for customers to claim for compensation should the need arise. Believe me, they do get to there destination,

shrek101

I once sent a recorded letter to Royal Mail as unfortunately I worked for them and that got lost. Recorded delivery is distributed differently to Special Delivery unless things have changed recently.

Recorded Delivery is handled the same way as normal mail accept at the point of delivery hence it should be signed for, but in some cases postman/woman signed for them although I never did this and I am sure most don't either, there always the odd rogue.

With Special delivery you pick up that mail at a special point and have to sign for it upon receipt, then it is signed again at the delivery point. There is also some insurance for valuable items and delivery is guaranteed where as Recorded isn't.

We_Laugh_Indoors

so overall if it is important send it special delivery.

personally i have never had any problems with recorded delivery, but it is worrying to hear that some postal workers sign for the item themselves.

robnye

the other problem with recorded delivery is that it can be signed for by any one...... other than the person it is addressed to..... the postie doesnt care who, he just wants to have the item marked as delivered...... of course whoever does sign for the item ... the information is not logged on the recorded delivery system.....

Xbigman

Or, as a friend found out, if the reciever doesn't want to recieve the letter they refuse to sign and the postie bins it.
Regards



X

PS It was a complant to a shop.

shrek101

True anyone can sign it, its particularly a huge problem in flats, as we dont ask for proof and the same goes for Special Delivery too.

Recorded letters dont have to be signed for, if refused they are they delivered back to the office and a sticker is put on them marked refused and refused on the card that was signed for then given to the PHG's to handle who also deal with Special Deliveries

mrcow

I'm a little confused then - what the point of recorded delivery? It's not the same as "guaranteed" delivery then?

The reason for asking is that many years ago a (very!) ex boyfriend of mine sent me a letter by "guaranteed" delivery which never arrived, and he got £60 compenstion (unless he was lying to me.....which thinking about it, wouldnt have been a first!).

shrek101

Recorded delivery is not meant for valuable mearly as proof of delivery. But then again if people dont sign for an item, or refuse, or pretend to be someone they are not, then it can be pointless.

Also another point recorderd delivery has to be signed for within 7 days of date of being delivered or is returned, this often catches people out if they are on holiday.

culpepper

why then do they ask for the value of the item when you fill in the recorded delivery slip?
It clearly states the item is covered up to a value of £28 for LOSS or damage?

soolin

culpepper wrote:

why then do they ask for the value of the item when you fill in the recorded delivery slip?
It clearly states the item is covered up to a value of £28 for LOSS or damage?

I think the 'non' value of the item is the problem. Recorded doesn't ensure delivery it just covers you for up to £28 so for important, but not valuable items, recorded delivery is useless. It is only useful if you want to prove delivery, ie if a claim is being made on a phone cash back you need to be able to be sure that the documents are received by the company. I had a problem recently getting cashback on a phone deal, as soon as I gave them the tracking number of the letter and they confirmed online that they had the letter they paid me out. A COP would not have been any use as the letter had no value and I could not have proved delivery.

Special delivery is also insured for value but insured for loss as well. This is the way to send important documents. I've co incidentally just got back from the post office having sent a whole load of important documents via special delivery. They are guaranteed next working day delivery and insured against loss, so they will (hopefully) be with the agency on Monday morning.

Soo

Smiley_Mum

I remember when I was a kid and my granny used to send cash in the mail for birthdays just slipped inside the card and it always arrived, no recorded or special delivery, gone are the days.