Royal Mail (merged threads)

beckie

beckie wrote:

A little while back, my regular postman told me he was getting put elsewhere because someone else "got in first" for our round, since they changed all the rules, about "rounds" or something. and ever since then i have had problems.
no mail delivered for days, mail delivered as late as 1.30pm, but today just topped it off.
i arrived home after taking my daughter to school to find my post propped up against the front door!! (i live in flats, so absolutely anyone could have walked by and helped themselves!)
was it too big to go through the letterbox? no! just regular sized post: my bank statement, an envelope containing £40 of vouchers and a little bit of junk mail. I was absolutely fuming, to think that anyone could have got hold of my bank statement. I have reported it via the rm website and have had a receipt for it, but no resolution as yet.

well i got an apology and a "we'll have a word!" and ever since the postwoman has been knocking on the flaming door every morning, instead of posting it through the letterbox. Arrrrrghhhhh!

digp

raeble wrote:

Of course you know its the poor sod that is his assistant that is going to be doing all the work...

Is that not what they are paid for?

Swattie

yesterday I received an envelope completely torn in half with onkly a portion of my name and address showing and half the contents missing.

It was in an RM plastic bag with 'Our sincere apologies that the enclosed item has been damaged whilst in our care'' on it and stating that if I think any items are missing or damaged to obtain a form by phoning an 0845 no. or by calling at a Post Office.

So they damage my package and I am left to sort it out using MY time, MY trouble and MY phone/petrol costs - I have to fill in a form with loads of details and then either post it in MY envelope (though it is freepost) by either going to a post box or a Post Office to post it.

I did phone the number concerned to send me out a form - but they said they didn't do that any more and I had to get one from a Post Office.

Good job I don't live in the country.

sad_gills_fan

I must say I'm quite surprised at how silly some of these comments are.

I don't work for the PO but I can see how they are on a hiding to nothing.
People will always have complaints but really, I can't believe you're all complaining that your mail doesn't turn up until, OMG, 1.30pm !!

Your postie cannot deliver all of the mail on his/her round in the first hour. I don't suppose you could either so why the bother? If it's after 5pm, then perhaps there is a problem but as long as it's delivered that day, then why complain? If you specifically want something next day, pay for it to be next day ... 1st class post is not guaranteed, only aimed for.

On the subject of the form filling (above), really, is it THAT much hassle? What did you expect? A personal call from Alan Leighton? They have given you the opportunity to respond to them but you have made it out that it'll take you 4 hours of writing, 3 hours of driving and 8 hours of your time. Come on, be realistic.

My final rant is to ask 'what would you do'?
You manage a firm that delivers to each and every corner of the earth, you employ far too many people, you pay them reasonable money to do a days work but they finish after 5 hours because their route is short. The sick records are awful and morale is down the pan because the good people feel put upon by the skivers.

I know what I would do and that's exactly what they've done ... made redundancies (no compulsory ones tho), made realistic targets, extended the routes and made people work for their money. It's only what you and I do each day of course.
You forget that it's not Alan Leighton or any other top boss that makes the targets, it's the Governing Body (like Ofcom for BT).

If the RM has competition, it won't be any better. The other firms won't have to deliver to everywhere, they'll pick the easiest places to get to making it cheaper for them. It'll be the same as when BT got competition ... they still have to provide telephone service to the Outer Hebrides but Telewest (for example) don't. Competition is not all it's cracked up to be sometimes.

If I worked for RM, I wouldn't have turned down the bonus and neither would any of you.
Regards, I'm off to calm myself now !!

mariauk

sad_gills_fan wrote:

I must say I'm quite surprised at how silly some of these comments are.

I don't work for the PO but I can see how they are on a hiding to nothing.
People will always have complaints but really, I can't believe you're all complaining that your mail doesn't turn up until, OMG, 1.30pm !!

Your postie cannot deliver all of the mail on his/her round in the first hour. I don't suppose you could either so why the bother? If it's after 5pm, then perhaps there is a problem but as long as it's delivered that day, then why complain? If you specifically want something next day, pay for it to be next day ... 1st class post is not guaranteed, only aimed for.

On the subject of the form filling (above), really, is it THAT much hassle? What did you expect? A personal call from Alan Leighton? They have given you the opportunity to respond to them but you have made it out that it'll take you 4 hours of writing, 3 hours of driving and 8 hours of your time. Come on, be realistic.

My final rant is to ask 'what would you do'?
You manage a firm that delivers to each and every corner of the earth, you employ far too many people, you pay them reasonable money to do a days work but they finish after 5 hours because their route is short. The sick records are awful and morale is down the pan because the good people feel put upon by the skivers.

I know what I would do and that's exactly what they've done ... made redundancies (no compulsory ones tho), made realistic targets, extended the routes and made people work for their money. It's only what you and I do each day of course.
You forget that it's not Alan Leighton or any other top boss that makes the targets, it's the Governing Body (like Ofcom for BT).

If the RM has competition, it won't be any better. The other firms won't have to deliver to everywhere, they'll pick the easiest places to get to making it cheaper for them. It'll be the same as when BT got competition ... they still have to provide telephone service to the Outer Hebrides but Telewest (for example) don't. Competition is not all it's cracked up to be sometimes.

If I worked for RM, I wouldn't have turned down the bonus and neither would any of you.
Regards, I'm off to calm myself now !!

Im sorry but if you were the one who didn`t recieve important documents, personal letters and every one else`s mail barr the Queen then I think you would have something to rant about! :mad:

Mister.G_3

I read this and after my experience over the last few days with Royal Fail thought i'd add my two-pennorth!

10 days ago i was expecting 2 packages delivered by special next day delivery. I didn't receve anything on the day i was expecting it (saturday) so thought they may have been posted too late to arrive on saturday. I waited until monday - post came at approx 10.15am but still nothing so i thought because one of them was a phone they may have both been sent out on the van. 12pm came and still nothing so i checked their website - to find that delivery had been attempted at or before 10.16am. Pretty strange bearing in mind i was off work monday and doing some work on the pc approx 10 foot away from the front door.

I went to the delivery office to ask what had happened to the parcels and was told that the time was only an estiamte and could have been at any time before this (pretty random time to put as an estimate!) i also advised i'd not had a card pushed through for either parcel to which the woman behind the counter replied "i was just about to call you a liar but i'll go and check for you" 5 minutes later she came back with both parcels and told me to sign for them i'd need proof of address as well as name. After about 10 minutes altogether throughout which i became more and more angry and the womans blase attitude and insistance that i was lying (there's apparently too much paperwork involved bringing a parcel back therefore they absolutely definitely categorically WOULDN'T have done it) only made me more so. I made a complaint through royal mails website outlining everything that had happened and received a reply back 24 hours later glossing over all the points i'd made saying that they wouildn't refund me for the special next day delivery charges as delivery had been attempted. So i replied back re-iterating that delivery HADN'T been attempted despite what their records said. After another 4 days i received a reply back repeating everything that they'd said previously but also saying that it was unacceptable the way that their counter staff had spoken to me and they would be sending a book of first class stamps to me by way of recompense. I was fuming at this as they STILL glossed over the original issue of the postman not attempting to deliver a package which they clearly SHOULD have done!! After looking through this thread i think i'll be forwarding a copy of my correspondence to Adam Crozier and Alan Leighton.

Before the Royal Fail supporters jump in i hasten to add that this is only the straw that broke the camels back - there are numerous other times when i've had parcels waiting for me at the delivery office but no card pushed through the letter box, received mail for other people, had mail go missing etc etc - it's just the stubborn refusal to accept responsibility when the very nature of the service i'd paid extra for stated next day delivery and the dismissive attitude of all the employees in general. I appreciate they may get abuse day in day out which is why i tried to be reasonable - it appears being reasonable gets you nowhere!!

kwt

For anyone who may be interested I received a reply from Allan Leighton's assistant. No surprises that they believe they can justify everything. If anyone has any comments please post them and I'll reply to him in a couple of days.


Message reads:-

Further to your emails last week, and mine of Friday, I have now gathered
the necessary information to respond to your questions and I apologise for
the delay. I will answer each of your points in turn.

Closures of some local Post Offices
Our Post Office network has and continues to face great challenges and
losses increased in the last year to £110 million. We have faced the loss
of traditional income of 40% through changes in benefits payments but are
working hard to fill that income gap through new products and services.

To improve viability of our Post Office network in urban areas, we did need
to undertake a programme to reduce overprovision and to enable us to invest
in modernising remaining branches. In some areas, branches were too close
together and their respective customer bases were too low to make them
viable. The programme resulted in the closure of 2,500 branches. This was
following extensive consultation with subpostmasters and the public. You
may be interested to hear that the consultation resulted in approximately
500 branches orginally earmarked for closure being kept open. 99% of people
still live within one mile of a Post Office branch in urban areas.

Delivery time of residential post
With respect to delivery time, over the last 12 months Royal Mail has been
completely restructured and deliveries are now only made once daily. This
means that some residential properties receive their mail any time up to
1.30pm. However, from your email it seems that you are receiving mail
later than this so I have checked with your local delivery office. They
tell me that there have been times, for example due to staff sickness, that
delivery to your address has needed to be covered on overtime. However, I
have been assured that you should now be experiencing greater consistency
in the time of your delivery. If you need your mail earlier than this (eg
you run a business from home) we do offer a timed delivery service at a
small charge in most locations. If you'd like to set this up please let me
know or contact your local delivery office.

Postage cost
Royal Mail's stamp prices easily beat the rest of Europe in value for money
and have fallen in real terms as the price control in place with the postal
regulator Postcomm means that any price changes must be below inflation.
What we have been striving for is a good quality of service as well as
value for money.

In closing, three years ago Royal Mail was losing more than £1 million a
day and our service to customers simply was not good enough. Now, through
the changes we have introduced, we are making £2 million a day and almost
93 per cent of First Class letters are delivered the day after posting -
ahead of target. We appreciate that we still have a long way to go, but I
hope the answers above explain why you have seen some changes in your
postal service.

Providing good service to our customers consistently day in, day out is the
top priority for Royal Mail and we will continue to do all we can to ensure
you receive good service at a good price.

Kind regards

Lucy Dare
Executive Assistant to Allan Leighton

juno

yesterday, I was expecting a parecl, so I waited near the door. The doorbell rang, and I ran as fast as I could to answer it. The parcel was left outside, and the postman was in his van driving away! It was recorded delivery too!

westcountrymaid_2

Anyone know if there is any post delivered today in the UK (Good Friday)?

LittleVoice

Though I've seen one post from someone claiming to have received something today, I don't believe there is a delivery today, well not in England any way. There seems to be some uncertainty about whether banks in NI are closed so it might affect postal deliveries too.