Post Office Reg Mail - Undelivered

BallandChain

I sent something in the post recorded delivery and used the 13 digit reference number on the recorded delivery receipt to attempt to track the package as it clearly states that you can track your post on the Royal Mail website, but you must give it a few days to appear. I tried for a couple of weeks with the message 'Come back later.'

This really riled me so I e-mailed Royal Mail. Here is their reply. Note, I wasn't seeking compensation I just wanted to know where my parcel was (before I had a reply from the company I had mailed.)

Thank you for your e-mail regarding an item of mail that has not yet
arrived. May I firstly apologise for any inconvenience you have been caused

Our priority is to provide a good quality service and we aim to handle all
mail very carefully to make sure that it is delivered safely and on time.
Every item of mail is important to us, but problems do arise. Unfortunately
we cannot track 1st, 2nd Class post or Standard Parcels at any stage of its
journey; therefore we cannot search for your item. This also applies to
Recorded items, as they are only tracked once they have been delivered and
signed for. Therefore I am sorry that our records show no tracking for your
item.

Due to the vast number of items being processed at any given moment, and
the speed at which they travel through the system, it is not possible to
locate an individual item therefore we cannot search for your item.

If your item has not been delivered after 15 working days we will class it
as being lost and you/the sender may be able to claim compensation.

We are not able to process claims for lost items of mail by email due to
the specialised investigation required.

Please submit a P58 Inland Lost, Damaged or Delayed form. These are
available from any Post Office or alternatively you can download this using
the following link;

ftp://ftp.royalmail.com/Downloads/public/ctf/rm/Inland_(2006current_version).pdf


Please ensure you enclose your Certificate of Posting and any relevant
documentation relating to your claim. I should explain that compensation
claims for 'lost' 1st, 2nd Class post or Standard Parcels, need to be
supported by a certificate of posting. Without this I cannot pay any
compensation.

I am sorry that my reply cannot be more favourable however, if you require
any further advice about the services we provide, please do not hesitate to
contact us.

I did e-mail back to tell them that what would the point of offering a certificate of posting do as it doesn't tell you what was in the parcel and a recorded delivery slip is surely enough proof!

After that e-mail I received a response from the company I had initally mailed to. Then I got a second e-mail from RM saying this:

Thank you for your further email regarding a recorded signed for item you
posted.

As your item was sent recorded delivery it is only the delivered we record,
we do not track the whereabouts of the item before delivery.

Unfortunately it would seem that your item has not been delivered as there
is no information available for it. We would therefore recommend
submitting a claim for the item.

And it was still saying 'Come back later' on their website! The item wasn't lost in the post as I had a reply during this time from the company involved and yet RM were telling me to claim compensation. The upshot was a few days after the second e-mail my royal delivery package was showing up online.

I just tried the PDF link from the first e-mail and it doesn't work, just like Royal Mail's online tracking service!

custardy

link works fine for me

so there was a delay in the online track but its now updated?

was the RD slip franked?

BallandChain

Not franked but a reference number on the recorded delivery slip was printed and stated on the slip it could be tracked!

Yes there was about 6 weeks delay in the item showing online.

custardy

well i can get a roll of RD or SD labels so you see why having an RD tracking label means nothing without it being franked?
tbh im hoping the new handheld PDA's solve a lot of rd issues as the paper system causes issues.

take you example.what if the postie delivering that RD got a sig but took a tumble later on the duty.
was then of sick for 6 weeks before returning to work and handing in the delivery slip for scanning.
just an example but these things do happen

hra_2

Is it really the case that the recipient has to confirm in writing that an item has not arrived, before you can get compensation? Or have I been told something wrong?

I am claiming for a lost recorded delivery letter sent to BT Head Office at the beginning of November. It never appeared on the tracking system and BT verbally told me they did not receive it. I applied to RM for compensation on the earliest possible date after sending, and only yesterday had a letter saying "We have written to the person you sent the parcel to, but have not received a reply, so we must assume that we have delivered the package".

The letter tells me to ask BT for written confirmation myself which, given that they did not reply to Royal Mail and (thanks to the delay) it is nearly 4 months since I sent them the letter, seems unlikely.

The recipient is not under any obligation to go to the trouble and expense of replying, so how can anyone realistically get compensation in a situation like this?

superscaper

hra wrote: »

The recipient is not under any obligation to go to the trouble and expense of replying, so how can anyone realistically get compensation in a situation like this?

You tell me. I've just phoned RM again this week to be told (contrary to my previous conversation) that it (my loss claim) will now be passed on to "admin" to be investigated further and they will contact me in due course. This is for a parcel I sent in October. I only want my £10. But at this stage I want the money just to limit my losses considering the amount of time etc I've spent chasing this up. It's a ridiculous system and so far noone has been able to tell me what I actually paid recorded delivery for instead of simply getting a proof of postage for ordinary 1st class. Because if I want to claim from the recipient the signature was supposed to be my proof for claiming a refund but considering RM don't consider signature or lack of proof of anything how on Earth am I meant to have sent something with enough proof to get my money from either RM or the recipient?

hra_2

Perhaps it would be worth contacting Consumer Direct. I did so online yesterday, saying that the service was not fit for the purpose for which it is intended and is also in breach of commitments given on the Royal Mail website (not sure whether these count as contractual commitments though).

Their FAQ is an interesting read:
http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?mediaId=51200700&catId=500201

question 5:
Will I always get a signature and does the person named on the address label sign for the item?
We make sure we get a signature from whoever receives the item, but bear in mind that this may not be the person named on the address label. ...On the rare occasions that we don’t get a signature for any other reason, we'll refund your money.

question 8:
How do I make a claim for compensation?
... Remember that we process claims within 2 – 4 weeks.

pinkshoes

custardy wrote: »

take your example.what if the postie delivering that RD got a sig but took a tumble later on the duty.
was then of sick for 6 weeks before returning to work and handing in the delivery slip for scanning.
just an example but these things do happen

Then that would be alot of posties taking tumbles and being off sick for 6 weeks!!

BallandChain

Custardy, what difference does franking make instead of using stamps? I've never been offered the service of having my mail franked when sending by recorded delivery, so I don't know the benefits to getting the mail stamped by a franking machine as opposed to regular stamps.

superscaper

Just got a letter this morning from RM saying they've closed my case!!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

I've just phoned them up to bloody open it again because I'm still out of pocket, I can't claim off the recipient because unlike RM I don't have the luxury of saying lack of response of the recipient is proof they received the item. What a complete farce of a system. Even though I'm not selling the item I'd bought it off someone of ebay a long time ago and I was returning it to them informally for a refund RM consider it to be a purely ebay transaction and therefore I'm a "business customer" or in other words if I don't claim through paypal, tough luck. But I can't because it's been far too long to make any such claim and I have no proof that the item was delivered back to the seller, hence the whole point of me getting recorded delivery which is apparently worthless.