Is there any point to Royal Mail Signed For???

hybernia

Sorry if I've popped this post in the wrong place but I can't think of anywhere else on MSE.

What's happened is that I have sent a complaint by 1st Class Signed For to British Gas customer services about a billing issue. The complaint has gone by surface mail because it's several pages long, including copies of bills, screencaps of meter readings etc.

British Gas CS is at PO Box 4394, Luton LU6 9LG. The letter was mailed 10 days ago. I have the certificate of posting with barcode number. I heard nothing back so on Friday I emailed customer services and attached a jpg of the posting certificate.

CS responded by saying it couldn't read the attachment. Could I send it again please? So I did. Today, another email has come from CS to say they still can't read the attachment (the jpg of the posting certificate.) So can I please send it by post to British Gas CS at PO Box 4394, Luton LU6 9LG.

As posting the proof of posting of something else is obviously a bit stupid, it looks like I may have to start again. But, but. . .

Royal Mail's website reports that 10 days after I sent the Signed For letter, the "latest update" is that "it's on its way and being progressed through our network for delivery".

Hubby thinks the British Gas CS email address may not be set up to receive any attachments, ever. Hubby also thinks Royal Mail can't actually tell anyone anything about a Signed For delivery if it never gets signed for. Royal Mail will instead fob you off with stuff about a letter "being progressed through our network" when actually, it hasn't a clue if that progression is still underway or if it finished weeks ago.

Added to that is the question of PO boxes.

I don't know how they operate, or if there's anybody ever there to sign for any incoming mail. If that is the case, then me paying to send a Signed For letter to a PO Box where it won't be signed for begs the question, what is the point of paying for Signed For?
Is the only thing to do in a case like this pay a lot more for Special Delivery?

But if you do, and you're posting to a PO Box, then what happens if it's still not signed for on delivery????? It's all a bit frustrating. Grrrrr.

hollydays

That's what email Is for?

Castle

According to this, the person who collects the mail at the PO Box is given the opportunity to sign for it. (I suspect that British Gas don't bother to sign for anything so that the PO records would still show the item as being undelivered).
https://business.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/742/~/po-box%C2%AE-help

agrinnall

In a large organisation even if it is signed for it will be an undecipherable squiggle, and is no guarantee that it will ever get to the correct addressee. Email, Twitter and Facebook are more likely to get looked at. I'd probably only write if the fact of having written is important rather than it being read (in which case a free proof of posting is all you need) or if I have a named person to write to.

hybernia

hollydays wrote: »

That's what email Is for?

Sigh . . .

Having made clear in my post that British Gas says it is unable to read even a single email attachment (which in this instance comprised a jpeg of a proof of posting measuring 4 inches by 5 inches) and that this reading failure has occurred not once but twice. . .

. . . and that British Gas is now saying, please post it to us because we can't read your email attachment. . .

. . . and as the complaint I originally posted to the British Gas PO box necessarily ran to 11 A4 pages comprising copies of billings and screenshots of meter readings submitted and acknowledged, rather than a single solitary jpeg email attachment which British Gas cannot read even though there's nothing wrong or corrupted about the 252kb file. . .

. . . in what way do'you reckon that "that's what email is for?"


@ agrinall and castle: many thanks to both of you. The insights are appreciated as is the courtesy shown in reading a post before commenting on it. For the avoidance of doubt, I prefer email, too. But when you're dealing with a complaint dossier rather than four or five paragraphs of text, then email didn't originally seem to me to be a wise move -- as is now confirmed by British Gas's seeming inability to actually read *any* attachment. Ah well.

wealdroam

You haven't made it clear, but are British Gas saying they haven't received your original package?

George_Michael

Some e-mail services allow you to paste a photograph directly onto the e-mail itself and doing this bypasses the need for having an attachment.

It might be worth seeing if your e-mail will let you do this.

Tigsteroonie

or perhaps post the JPG into a Word file, and then attach the .doc file?

molerat

The only point of signed for is that it increases the insurance to £50. The problem is that if you went to court BG have undeniable proof that it was not delivered. If you had a free proof of postage, for certainty 2 sent from different POs, then it would be considered served 2 days after posting. The only guaranteed signed for is special delivery starting at £6.45 for a 100g letter.

agrinnall

hybernia wrote: »

Sigh . . .

Having made clear in my post that British Gas says it is unable to read even a single email attachment (which in this instance comprised a jpeg of a proof of posting measuring 4 inches by 5 inches) and that this reading failure has occurred not once but twice. . .

. . . and that British Gas is now saying, please post it to us because we can't read your email attachment. . .

. . . and as the complaint I originally posted to the British Gas PO box necessarily ran to 11 A4 pages comprising copies of billings and screenshots of meter readings submitted and acknowledged, rather than a single solitary jpeg email attachment which British Gas cannot read even though there's nothing wrong or corrupted about the 252kb file. . .

. . . in what way do'you reckon that "that's what email is for?"


@ agrinall and castle: many thanks to both of you. The insights are appreciated as is the courtesy shown in reading a post before commenting on it. For the avoidance of doubt, I prefer email, too. But when you're dealing with a complaint dossier rather than four or five paragraphs of text, then email didn't originally seem to me to be a wise move -- as is now confirmed by British Gas's seeming inability to actually read *any* attachment. Ah well.

Have you actually sent any attachment to BG other than a jpeg? If not then it's a big leap to assume they are unable to open any attachment.

Keep_pedalling

Don't send jpegs, convert it to a PDF file which everyone can read.