Royal Mail Special Delivery Help

Mike3556

Hi ~I dont sell on eBay so they put a hold on my money until it has been delivered, but i have found myself in a weird situation with royal mail, The item was posted Friday afternoon at 5.30pm, the lady recommended that i send the item special delivery and because its Friday it will get there by 1pm Monday. So i paid and off i went. The tracking since on Saturday showed it getting to Manchester and being sent to London, Monday there is no update and i get told to wait on the tracking by royal mail, so today it updates this morning to say that it in transit to the local delivery office to be delivered probably tomorrow. So i enquire about my refund on the postage because they have failed the guarantee. And get told by a service agent that because i sent it at 5.30pm after the post was picked up Friday i wont get a refund on the guarantee? I said hang on, if i sent it Monday at 9am they would get it Tuesday by 1pm mine still isnt there from friday. and she was adamant that because id sent is past 4.30pm i wouldn't get any money back. but nowhere does it say this that i can find and the post office lady suggested all this, has anyone been in a similar situation? Thanks 

olgadapolga

Mike3556 said:

Hi ~I dont sell on eBay so they put a hold on my money until it has been delivered, but i have found myself in a weird situation with royal mail, The item was posted Friday afternoon at 5.30pm, the lady recommended that i send the item special delivery and because its Friday it will get there by 1pm Monday. So i paid and off i went. The tracking since on Saturday showed it getting to Manchester and being sent to London, Monday there is no update and i get told to wait on the tracking by royal mail, so today it updates this morning to say that it in transit to the local delivery office to be delivered probably tomorrow. So i enquire about my refund on the postage because they have failed the guarantee. And get told by a service agent that because i sent it at 5.30pm after the post was picked up Friday i wont get a refund on the guarantee? I said hang on, if i sent it Monday at 9am they would get it Tuesday by 1pm mine still isnt there from friday. and she was adamant that because id sent is past 4.30pm i wouldn't get any money back. but nowhere does it say this that i can find and the post office lady suggested all this, has anyone been in a similar situation? Thanks 

Does your receipt show it as being accepted before the last collection? Or after? Although either way, the latest RM would have collected it would have been on the Saturday, so it should have been delivered on Monday, not today. Was it delivered today? 

I wouldn't bother ringing them for a refund, just complete the online claim form. Then the only gatekeeper is the person who looks at the claim, not a call centre operative.

Mike3556

Ah ok, thanks for your help, no its still not delivered she said its at the delivery office near his house so it should be there tomorrow 5 days after i posted it. She didnt mention anything about the last collection, ill try applying online but i need a delivery date first to even apply.

soolin

I would wait until it is delivered and then claim for it being late online. 

superbigal

There is always going to be different cut off points for different post offices. Many can be earlier than 4.30pm.  You really need to check before assuming next day "guarantee". 
If you actually just put it in a post box on a Friday at 5.30pm then i can easily see why day 1 would be the following Monday and the guarantee be for delivery Tuesday b4 1PM.
look at it this way if you put it in a post box at 11.59pm would you seriously expect next day delivery ?

soolin

superbigal said:

There is always going to be different cut off points for different post offices. Many can be earlier than 4.30pm.  You really need to check before assuming next day "guarantee". 
If you actually just put it in a post box on a Friday at 5.30pm then i can easily see why day 1 would be the following Monday and the guarantee be for delivery Tuesday b4 1PM.
look at it this way if you put it in a post box at 11.59pm would you seriously expect next day delivery ?

The issue here being thought that even if it missed the cut off for Friday then why was it still un delivered as late as Tuesday? 

Buster_Danog

Excuse my speculation on the matter if you wish. To my memory posting after the last collection on Friday and wanting the item to be delivered on the Monday used to incur an extra charge.

However, the guarantee is for delivery the next working day. I don't think Saturday is counted as a working day in terms of collections so that would make the next working day Tuesday from RM's point of view. If it was collected on Friday you could have paid extra for Saturday delivery which seems to cost quite a bit more.

When I was selling on ebay I always considered myself very lucky if I posted an item on Saturday and it somehow got to the buyer by the Monday.

superbigal

soolin said:

superbigal said:

There is always going to be different cut off points for different post offices. Many can be earlier than 4.30pm.  You really need to check before assuming next day "guarantee". 
If you actually just put it in a post box on a Friday at 5.30pm then i can easily see why day 1 would be the following Monday and the guarantee be for delivery Tuesday b4 1PM.
look at it this way if you put it in a post box at 11.59pm would you seriously expect next day delivery ?

The issue here being thought that even if it missed the cut off for Friday then why was it still un delivered as late as Tuesday? 

Because that is correct. Day 1 is Monday.and delivered by 1pm on Tuesday.
Clearly on their conditions both events are covered.

Working days

Working days are Monday-Friday unless you've purchased Saturday Guaranteed delivery.

Latest acceptance times

Remember that you’ll need to allow time to get a certificate of posting for your Special Delivery Guaranteed item.

At a Post Office®

The latest acceptance time depends partly on the Post Office® you choose to use. Check opening times using Services near you.

Please try to arrive:

• at least an hour before the Post Office® closes
• no later than 4.30pm even if the Post Office® has a later closing time
• no later than 11:00am if the Post Office® has a half day closing time.

soolin

superbigal said:

soolin said:

superbigal said:

There is always going to be different cut off points for different post offices. Many can be earlier than 4.30pm.  You really need to check before assuming next day "guarantee". 
If you actually just put it in a post box on a Friday at 5.30pm then i can easily see why day 1 would be the following Monday and the guarantee be for delivery Tuesday b4 1PM.
look at it this way if you put it in a post box at 11.59pm would you seriously expect next day delivery ?

The issue here being thought that even if it missed the cut off for Friday then why was it still un delivered as late as Tuesday? 

Because that is correct. Day 1 is Monday.and delivered by 1pm on Tuesday.
Clearly on their conditions both events are covered.

Working days

Working days are Monday-Friday unless you've purchased Saturday Guaranteed delivery.

Latest acceptance times

Remember that you’ll need to allow time to get a certificate of posting for your Special Delivery Guaranteed item.

At a Post Office®

The latest acceptance time depends partly on the Post Office® you choose to use. Check opening times using Services near you.

Please try to arrive:

• at least an hour before the Post Office® closes
• no later than 4.30pm even if the Post Office® has a later closing time
• no later than 11:00am if the Post Office® has a half day closing time.

I think this thread is causing misunderstanding. 

Your post says that if it was not technically sent until Monday due to having missed the Friday deadline then it will be delivered Tuesday, ie next working day. The point is though that the bit you quoted states it was NOT delivered by Tuesday , so therefore it is late (assuming it has now been delivered). 

martindow

You can see from the PO receipt whether it has been accepted before the cut off time  Something like 'Accepted before last collection?' followed by Y or N.

As has been said, in this case it is academic as it is so delayed.

vacheron

soolin said:

I would wait until it is delivered and then claim for it being late online. 

Exactly this. /|\

The online claim form doesn't ask if you missed the cutoff date, you just fill in the tracking numbers and submit it and then hopefully a cheque for the full amount of the postage you paid arrives in the mail a week or two later. 

I sometimes ship expensive items, and £14-£18 for £2,500 insurance is by far the cheapest you can get for relatively small items. I therefore buy it for the insurance, not the speed. 

However, as Special Delivery is guaranteed "before X" delivery service, if the item arrives safely, but late, you can claim for all the postage costs back. I noticed that SD packages often missed these delivery targets when I send them through a certain post office, so I now use this post office deliberately in the hope that the package is slightly delayed. 

This has happened 3-4 times in the last 12 months, saving me about £60-70 in refunded postage costs!