Royal Mail failed me

Didache

To all of the above. I paid for postage online.  Weeks later my letter was returned to me with no label on it and a sticker asking for £5.00 postage. I have proof I paid for the postage online.  Therefore the postman had picked up my letter when he should have left it for the correct posty to pick it up and put a label on it.  Hence the app saying the letter wasn’t there to be picked up.  It is an offence to delay a post.  I asked for £500 compensation for stress and anguish while waiting to see if I would have to go to court. 

Hoenir

Didache said:

 Therefore the postman had picked up my letter when he should have left it for the correct posty to pick it up and put a label on it.  Hence the app saying the letter wasn’t there to be picked up.

That's a different version of events. Good luck in pursuing any claim. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Didache said:

 I asked for £500 compensation for stress and anguish while waiting to see if I would have to go to court. 

I suspect the reason for the lack of response is that they're taking their time to very seriously consider your request.

RefluentBeans

Good luck pursuing it in court! I think £500 is optimistic. How did you come to that number?

powerful_Rogue

Didache said:

To all of the above. I paid for postage online.  Weeks later my letter was returned to me with no label on it and a sticker asking for £5.00 postage. I have proof I paid for the postage online.  Therefore the postman had picked up my letter when he should have left it for the correct posty to pick it up and put a label on it.  Hence the app saying the letter wasn’t there to be picked up.  It is an offence to delay a post.  I asked for £500 compensation for stress and anguish while waiting to see if I would have to go to court. 

You missed the important word 'intentionally' out.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

outtatune said:

The OP didn't put the label on the letter. My understanding is that posties can only bring you the labels for parcels, and not regular post, and only if you specifically request that service. It's not very clear what service the OP bought or thought they bought, but to me it looks like they simply gave the postie a letter with no postage attached.

Royal Mail will bring the label for all formats and classes of mail, you can do a dummy run here:

https://send.royalmail.com/

The default option is for them to bring the label, you have to select that you don't want the label on the sender section of the flow.

It's likely the DO didn't give the postman the labels or he was going just going to label all the collections that day once the round was done, maybe he was going to do it in the van and got distracted and forgot but the OP's story sounds legitimate based on how Royal Mail works.   

OP I know hindsight is 20/20 but personally I simply don't trust these services where they apply the label, it's best to do it yourself, even if the only option is for a courier to bring a label I ask for the label and apply myself but if there is an option to print I prefer to do that. With a service like some DPD collections where there isn't a label, just a tiny barcode and labels added back at the depot it's wise to very clearly write the delivery address on the parcel. 

When Royal Mail are good, they are great, when they aren't customer service is scripted and for a standard service there is just £20 "compensation" or, if they still do it, a book of stamps by way of goodwill. 

Special Delivery is best for peace of mind or you can send a letter as a large letter via Tracked 24 for £3.50. 

There is a breach of contract as the service wasn't carried out with due care and skill, as far as consumer rights go that's a price reduction (basically a refund of the service), if you suffer a monetary loss that was foreseeable you can claim this as damages. 

There are various types of damages that can be claimed under UK law but I'm not sure any cover what you are looking for, exemplary damages for example are those designed to be punitive however they are only awarded in exceptional circumstances for breach of contract and, from my limited understanding, something like this isn't viewed as exceptional (I appreciate it is for you but not in the view of the legal system)  

Undervalued

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

outtatune said:

The OP didn't put the label on the letter. My understanding is that posties can only bring you the labels for parcels, and not regular post, and only if you specifically request that service. It's not very clear what service the OP bought or thought they bought, but to me it looks like they simply gave the postie a letter with no postage attached.

Royal Mail will bring the label for all formats and classes of mail, you can do a dummy run here:

https://send.royalmail.com/

The default option is for them to bring the label, you have to select that you don't want the label on the sender section of the flow.

It's likely the DO didn't give the postman the labels or he was going just going to label all the collections that day once the round was done, maybe he was going to do it in the van and got distracted and forgot but the OP's story sounds legitimate based on how Royal Mail works.   

OP I know hindsight is 20/20 but personally I simply don't trust these services where they apply the label, it's best to do it yourself, even if the only option is for a courier to bring a label I ask for the label and apply myself but if there is an option to print I prefer to do that. With a service like some DPD collections where there isn't a label, just a tiny barcode and labels added back at the depot it's wise to very clearly write the delivery address on the parcel. 

When Royal Mail are good, they are great, when they aren't customer service is scripted and for a standard service there is just £20 "compensation" or, if they still do it, a book of stamps by way of goodwill. 

Special Delivery is best for peace of mind or you can send a letter as a large letter via Tracked 24 for £3.50. 

There is a breach of contract as the service wasn't carried out with due care and skill, as far as consumer rights go that's a price reduction (basically a refund of the service), if you suffer a monetary loss that was foreseeable you can claim this as damages. 

There are various types of damages that can be claimed under UK law but I'm not sure any cover what you are looking for, exemplary damages for example are those designed to be punitive however they are only awarded in exceptional circumstances for breach of contract and, from my limited understanding, something like this isn't viewed as exceptional (I appreciate it is for you but not in the view of the legal system)  

Depending on what you are sending!

Some addresses will give away a pretty good indication of what is likely to be in the parcel to the person collecting it, if they happen to be dishonest.

Dealers who regularly buy in high value secondhand goods (eg expensive watches or cameras etc) and arrange courier collection generally prefer the parcel to be as anonymous as possible and certainly not have their name in big letters! 

jon81uk

Whenever I have done bring the label with RM they bring the label to the door and I watch it being applied, i would not allow anything out of my sight without the label being applied.

sheramber

Your friend gave the letter to the wrong postman, who was not oeprating under the collect mail system.

savergrant

sheramber said:

Your friend gave the letter to the wrong postman, who was not oeprating under the collect mail system.

However if the postie said they had the label ready and then did not attach it to the item in order that revenue protection surcharged. .
Is there any evidence that another postie visited to collect the item and found it had already been collected? 
Maybe it was the right postie but they simply forgot to attach the label and just put it in the post without it being marked paid. And presumably the recipient refused to pay excess postage to it was returned to sender.