Recorded delivery

Al_Mac

Have sent three things off recorded delivery in the past year. They have never appeared as being delivered on the Royal Mail website.

One did as year previously! Re-use of references I'd guess.

Is this normal? Is there any point using this service?

:beer:

Pennywise

There is NO point in using recorded delivery.

In fact it can do more harm than good.

The trouble is that a lot a postman seem to think it is OK to get someone else to sign, i.e. next door neighbour, bloke walking past in the street etc. They just get a signature, so if someone doesn't sign their own name, or the signature is illegible, you have no way of knowing who has it.

Postmen also seem to think it is OK just to post it anyway without getting a signature. When that happens, the sender has no proof of delivery at all (which is the whole point of it) and the recipient can claim never to have received the item.

There is no tracking service within Recorded Delivery. All you get is proof of posting, and if a signature is obtained at the other end, you get proof that someone has signed for it.

My advice is that if you simply want proof it has been posted, then just ask for a proof of posting slip at the post office. If you want some form of insurance against loss or if you really need to know it has arrived, then go for special delivery, which does actually track the item through the postal system. I used to send everything recorded, but found an unbelievable 25% were never signed for. Yes, I got compensation occasionally, but it's a long process and very time consuming. Now I send things either by proof of posting or special delivery - the savings I make on not sending things recorded cover the additional cost of special when needed.

Rikki

I always ask for proof of posting and I tend to use registered mail for anything else.

allycat999

Our postman never gets us to sign for recorded delivery he simply just pushes them through the letter box. I've no idea if he signs or just doesn't get a signature. Makes recorded delivery a bit of a farce. Still at least he doesn't bend the mail our last postman used to do that, he seemed to love folding envelopes that were clearly labelled 'do not bend photos enclosed' and the really annoying thing is that they would go through the letter box without being folded!! :mad: :mad:

purplegirluk1

I've been trying to send a letter of complaint to a company for about a month now and of the two letters that I have sent by recorded delivery neither of the have been delivered, they have both been registered lost! I wanted them to sign for the letters so that I could pove they have recieved them but now I have no idea. I am now sending them letters by other means, ie normal post and special delivery to see if they are delivered or not. I complained about the first letter and was told I could get compo but I only got a letter to say sorry. Now I have to complaian about the second one and I will be getting compo for both. I paid almost £1.00 just to send a letter and was unimpressed when I didn't get at least my money back. I have since been told that this must have been a mistake as I should have been sent two books of stamps. Looks like they owe me four now!

RedOnRed

allycat999 wrote:

Our postman never gets us to sign for recorded delivery he simply just pushes them through the letter box.

Same here.

A lot of the so called Royal Mail "Recorded Deliveries" we've received this year have simply been put straight through our letter box.

They also tend to leave a lot of packages on our doorstep. The most recent being a package fron the States which should have had a signature, but was just left out front. To make matters worst, we were away on holiday at the time but luckily our neighbour took it in.

We have also received a letter recently from them saying that some of our mail was stolen earlier in the year and that the member of staff is being charged by the Police.

At least I never have to pay for my stamps any more due to all the free ones I keep getting every time I bring their substandard service to their attention.