RM Tracked 24 w/ Sig - Postie signed it and 'delivered'

shapala

Hi all

Fortunately I've had an honest buyer in this instance who messaged to say their item posted using RM Tracked 24 with Signature was left at their door, supposedly signed for by their first name, as shown in the tracking details (tho photo by postie does show it at main door when you'd expect it to be photo'ed in the hands of the person if they were signing it).

Buyer mentioned we were both lucky as they were at work at the time and returned many hours later to find the parcel outside their door.

As far as RM are concerned when contacting them on X and they investigated, item was 'delivered' and 'signed' but wondering if you think I'll get anywhere by making a claim, more for cost of postage then a lost parcel since I didn't receive the service I purchased? There are other scenarios that the parcel could have been stolen by someone else, or buyer could have reported an INR and I'd likely lose out since item was 'delivered'.

As an aside, despite recent price increases, I've found RM in the past couple of months to be rather inconsistent from 2nd class all the way to RM SD with quite a few claims going in (proportionately more than a couple years ago). Tia.

SimonFF

Royal Mail are unaccountable. I have had a similar case, raised a complaint and they never replied.

unforeseen

Posties have been self-signing them since Covid.

SimonFF

unforeseen said:

Posties have been self-signing them since Covid.

They have been doing this but are they allowed or are they taking liberties?

Kim_13

I was asked to sign for a Special Delivery in February of this year - so if the Tracked service includes a signature in the price, it would seem that they are taking liberties where the cheaper services are selected.

With that said I had always thought that Tracked was simply tracking and a photo, so it may be a system thing where rather than 'marked delivered' it is showing as 'signed' instead when nothing has actually been signed. 

shapala

unforeseen said:

Posties have been self-signing them since Covid.

Yep, but in this case it was an extra £1.40 for the added assurance of the recipient's signature who should be the only person to sign for it, not the postie who then left it outside, signed it in recipients name and off (s)he trot. If not home, then a card should be put thru, otherwise what's the point of this extra 'service'?

Normal 24/48 parcels can be left in a safeplace or basically anywhere it seems with a photo of the parcel.

BethRobinson

shapala said:

Hi all

Fortunately I've had an honest buyer in this instance who messaged to say their item posted using RM Tracked 24 with Signature was left at their door, supposedly signed for by their first name, as shown in the tracking details (tho photo by postie does show it at main door when you'd expect it to be photo'ed in the hands of the person if they were signing it).

Buyer mentioned we were both lucky as they were at work at the time and returned many hours later to find the parcel outside their door.

As far as RM are concerned when contacting them on X and they investigated, item was 'delivered' and 'signed' but wondering if you think I'll get anywhere by making a claim, more for cost of postage then a lost parcel since I didn't receive the service I purchased? There are other scenarios that the parcel could have been stolen by someone else, or buyer could have reported an INR and I'd likely lose out since item was 'delivered'.

As an aside, despite recent price increases, I've found RM in the past couple of months to be rather inconsistent from 2nd class all the way to RM SD with quite a few claims going in (proportionately more than a couple years ago). Tia.

What is it your after?

Grumpy_chap

I am not sure what the OP is seeking to claim for.  What loss has been suffered?

The parcel could have been stolen, but wasn't.
The buyer could have been dishonest, but wasn't.
Many other things could have gone wrong, but didn't.

Kim_13

I would think that after the OP paid the additional £1.40 to add a signature to the Tracked Service, it isn’t unreasonable for them to expect that £1.40 back. Posties signing them is 3 years out of date I would think, unless the recipient has registered that they are clinically extremely vulnerable with RM and shouldn’t be asked to sign for things (doesn’t seem to be the case from their communication with OP, otherwise they’d have been relieved they weren’t asked to sign and wouldn’t have made contact.)

The OP paid for an enhanced service and what they received was no better than the standard service in terms of how the parcel was treated, so by any metric it was a waste of money.

apw81

Grumpy_chap said:

I am not sure what the OP is seeking to claim for.  What loss has been suffered?

The parcel could have been stolen, but wasn't.
The buyer could have been dishonest, but wasn't.
Many other things could have gone wrong, but didn't.

All of which is down to luck.

But had the parcel been stolen, I would expect Royal Mail would very much stick to it not being their problem since it was signed for and delivered. OP would then find themselves in a drawn-out struggle to get anywhere with them, since this is how Royal Mail behave when things go wrong.

Even when they are bang out of order, and do (eventually) compensate a loss, they do so under the pretence of it being a goodwill gesture without admitting their fault. When they did this with me, they told me if I accept their goodwill gesture on this occasion, it would mean I would be ineligible for making any future claims, for any future item I’ve posted. Laughable.

I’d be pressing them for my £1.40 back. Poor service should not be rewarded.

Money_Grabber13579

apw81 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

I am not sure what the OP is seeking to claim for.  What loss has been suffered?

The parcel could have been stolen, but wasn't.
The buyer could have been dishonest, but wasn't.
Many other things could have gone wrong, but didn't.

All of which is down to luck.

But had the parcel been stolen, I would expect Royal Mail would very much stick to it not being their problem since it was signed for and delivered. OP would then find themselves in a drawn-out struggle to get anywhere with them, since this is how Royal Mail behave when things go wrong.

Even when they are bang out of order, and do (eventually) compensate a loss, they do so under the pretence of it being a goodwill gesture without admitting their fault. When they did this with me, they told me if I accept their goodwill gesture on this occasion, it would mean I would be ineligible for making any future claims, for any future item I’ve posted. Laughable.

I’d be pressing them for my £1.40 back. Poor service should not be rewarded.

I didn’t think Royal Mail were supposed to leave parcels at front doors? Their policy is that they will leave it in a safe place (sheltered and out of public view) and if there is no such space, they will try to deliver again the next day. Although perhaps the recipient had an agreement with Royal Mail to leave parcels where they did?