Royal Mail keep lying to me to avoid refunding

ZephyrZer0

Hi,

I'm trying to find out who I can go to to get a dispute with the Royal Mail (RM) resolved as they keep basically lying to me on the phone. I have now called them six times. The full story is below. There doesn't seem to be an Ombudsman I can contact. Can anyone suggest who I should talk to?

My sister tried to post me a package, a tool I need, from the south west in the UK to the north of the UK and unfortunately used the Roayal Mail's free courier service. She explicitly said on the delivery notes "package to be collected from the shed". The courier who turned up picked up a cat food delivery that had just been left outside her door by an Evri delivery person and posted that instead.

My sister had paid £6.55 online to send the package.

Phone call #1 - She called RM to complain that same day and was spoken to rudely by the person on the phone who said there was nothing they could do about it. Tough luck.

Phone call #2 - So I called. The person I spoke to said not to worry, the package wouldn't be delivered until the next day so she would just intercept it by calling the delivery office and get it sorted out. This was false information. A package cannot be intercepted once it is in the system. A few days later I received a huge box of cat food.

When I received the cat food, which my sister really needed for a very old and much loved cat, I posted it back, but for some reason the Royal Mail label that had been generated online didn't have a return to sender address.

Phone Call #3 - I called and was told by RM not to worry, I can just write her adress on the label and tell the post office I refuse the item and they would send it back for free. This was false information. Meanwhile they said they couldn't refund my sister but that they would send her a book of first class stamps worth £13.00 to cover the postage for the original package to be sent. They said this would take up to 10 working days. 

My local post office said they couldn't send it for free because I had clearly just hand written an address on the label. They charged me £9.29 to post it back.

Phone Call #4 - RM tell me they are sorry and that they will reimburse me by cheque (is it the late 80's?!). They said this cheque would arrive in the post within 10 working days.

Phone Call #5 - 15 working days later I call RM again. They say they are very sorry, check the system, only to find that the order to send me a cheque has been approved but nothing has been done about it and that there is no evidence of any attempt to send stamps to my sister. They assure me they will get this sorted and that they are escalating the complaint to the serious complaints department. I am assured they will call me within 24 hours.

My sister has now paid again at a post office to send me the original package. It cost her £8.99. Adding this to the original, £6.55 online charge, and my £9.29 charge for returned cat food we are now £24.83 down. It is now 20 working days since the stamps were promised, 18 working days since my cheque was promised, 120 hours since my "within 24 hours" call was promised and none of the above promised solutions have occurred.

Phone Call #6 - I'm told they are very sorry and someone from serious complaints will call me within 24 hours, then they hang up.

I refuse to let this go.

Any suggestions welcome.

Emmia

It's often better to raise the issue in writing, rather than verbally so there is a written record.

There does come a point where pursuing is pointless/not worth it for your own sanity.

Ksw3

You clearly feel quite strongly about this, if I value you my time at say £15 an hour and I factor in the hellish nightmare of CS, I'd probably let this go as not worth my time. Royal Mail will learn no lessons, either way. 

sheramber

ZephyrZer0 said:

Hi,

I'm trying to find out who I can go to to get a dispute with the Royal Mail (RM) resolved as they keep basically lying to me on the phone. I have now called them six times. The full story is below. There doesn't seem to be an Ombudsman I can contact. Can anyone suggest who I should talk to?

My sister tried to post me a package, a tool I need, from the south west in the UK to the north of the UK and unfortunately used the Roayal Mail's free courier service. She explicitly said on the delivery notes "package to be collected from the shed". The courier who turned up picked up a cat food delivery that had just been left outside her door by an Evri delivery person and posted that instead.

My sister had paid £6.55 online to send the package.

Phone call #1 - She called RM to complain that same day and was spoken to rudely by the person on the phone who said there was nothing they could do about it. Tough luck.

Phone call #2 - So I called. The person I spoke to said not to worry, the package wouldn't be delivered until the next day so she would just intercept it by calling the delivery office and get it sorted out. This was false information. A package cannot be intercepted once it is in the system. A few days later I received a huge box of cat food.

When I received the cat food, which my sister really needed for a very old and much loved cat, I posted it back, but for some reason the Royal Mail label that had been generated online didn't have a return to sender address.

Phone Call #3 - I called and was told by RM not to worry, I can just write her adress on the label and tell the post office I refuse the item and they would send it back for free. This was false information. Meanwhile they said they couldn't refund my sister but that they would send her a book of first class stamps worth £13.00 to cover the postage for the original package to be sent. They said this would take up to 10 working days. 

My local post office said they couldn't send it for free because I had clearly just hand written an address on the label. They charged me £9.29 to post it back.

Phone Call #4 - RM tell me they are sorry and that they will reimburse me by cheque (is it the late 80's?!). They said this cheque would arrive in the post within 10 working days.

Phone Call #5 - 15 working days later I call RM again. They say they are very sorry, check the system, only to find that the order to send me a cheque has been approved but nothing has been done about it and that there is no evidence of any attempt to send stamps to my sister. They assure me they will get this sorted and that they are escalating the complaint to the serious complaints department. I am assured they will call me within 24 hours.

My sister has now paid again at a post office to send me the original package. It cost her £8.99. Adding this to the original, £6.55 online charge, and my £9.29 charge for returned cat food we are now £24.83 down. It is now 20 working days since the stamps were promised, 18 working days since my cheque was promised, 120 hours since my "within 24 hours" call was promised and none of the above promised solutions have occurred.

Phone Call #6 - I'm told they are very sorry and someone from serious complaints will call me within 24 hours, then they hang up.

I refuse to let this go.

Any suggestions welcome.

If you have now received your tool the £8.99 charge is due and you are not down by that amount.