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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

royal mail!!!

22 replies

dmo · 01/06/2007 16:06

aibu
sent a letter recored delivery last friday (25th May)
the letter was very important as the person who is recieving it owes me money and i wrote in the letter a dead line of june 1st

been on the internet every day to track the item but it always says the site has not been updated

so i phoned today and they said the letter was in the system but as yet has not been attempted to deliver
i asked them if they meant that they had tried to deliver but nobody was in (as it needs a signature) and they said no it has not been attemted to be deliverd because they are behind with the bank hoilday

so i phoned the complaints line and asked if they could take the letter out of the system as i did not want it delivery now and they said once the letter is in the system they could not take it out
they also said first class post can take upto 15 days to be delivered !!!

not impressed so i phoned my legel team who have said to send another letter with a later date but i feel like a fool now

how can first class post take over 7 days to be delivered?

OP posts:

Emprexia · 01/06/2007 16:38

I always thought recorded delivery was supposed to be "next day"

bookwormmum · 01/06/2007 16:42

I thought first class was within 3 working days .

I posted three postcards from abroad, (three different countries) recently using British stamps as I couldn't find a post office - and one of those was second class! All three arrived which did surprise me. I'm thinking that you have been very unlucky or that someone in the RM had forgotten to put it into the system.

Original poster

dmo · 01/06/2007 16:42

yes well so did i

OP posts:

nightowl · 01/06/2007 17:25

royal mail really peed me off a few weeks ago.

i sold an item on ebay, as i wasnt sure what it would go for i priced it with royal mail standard parcels with a certain amount of compensation. delivery was approx 3-5 days, all stated in my listing.

the buyer made it clear they needed the item fast and when i took it to the post office i was told that my quoted postage wouldn't cover it, that 3-5 days is target only, could be up to 30 days, and i needed to pay an extra £4 for 48hr parcelforce. she told me their website and leaflets were wrong.

so i paid the extra to get the parcel sent (at my own expense obviously)and complained to royal mail. they then sent me a reply saying that delivery should be 3-5 days and if it wasn't delivered within 15 days, it would be considered to be lost, that i didnt need to pay the extra postage

whomovedmychocolate · 01/06/2007 17:30

Yep, it can take up to 15 days. The problem is that most courier services are equally shit so they get away with it.

I had a ParcelFarce parcel which was on next day and WASN'T EVEN COLLECTED FROM THE POST OFFICE FOR 72 hours!!! They gave me my money back and delivered it but it was for a charity gig and I was lending someone an outside power cable (a long one) which obviously was needed for an event. And I couldn't get it back because it was sequestered (as your letter) at the Post office!

To piss me off today Royal Mail has kidnapped a piece of my mail. Why? Because apparently they say that it owes 6p postage plus £1 'handling charge' to collect the money. The item was sent a post office - ie one of their agents, and I have proof of that, so the scales are wrong or they have dropped the parcel in a puddle (more likely) making it heavier!

nightowl · 01/06/2007 17:41

oh yes, overcharging. if i take a parcel to my local post office with their old fashioned scales it costs more than at the main one. i know, because ive sold several items exactly the same.

whomovedmychocolate · 01/06/2007 17:44

Also to rub salt in the wound when you complain they send you a book of stamps to say sorry - so you can give them another go at losing stuff!

SuGaRCoAteDPoiSOn · 02/06/2007 18:19

does anyone else have this.. the postman puts a card thru the door to say he tried to deliver but the bastid never knocked cos I heard the card come through and was in the room beside the front door anyway? and then when you open the door to catch him, he doesn't even have it on him?

It's happened about half a dozen times in the last couple of months to me and it's sooo annoying!

Nightynight · 02/06/2007 18:25

yes, our postmen in uk always used to do this. really lazy and annoying, esp if you dont have a car and the pickup point is several miles away.

Bamzooki · 02/06/2007 18:25

Royal Mail always make me mad for any number of reasons - but I have established that the only way of making sure something gets there next day is to send it by Special Delivery. Costs an arm and leg obviously, but does get there (so far). Recorded delivery just gets you a signature when(ever) it is delivered. But no greater speed of delivery/guarantee etc than normal mail.

Boredveryverybored · 02/06/2007 18:26

My postman always used to do that. I emailed Royal Mail and asked them what exactly the postage costs were paying for when they expected people to go and collect their own bloody parcels anyway...I got a book of stamps

ScottishMummy · 02/06/2007 18:29

all the time - even when i know i was in resulting in me traipsing to PO to collect

Dior · 03/06/2007 12:45

Message withdrawn

bran · 03/06/2007 13:10

The most likely reason that the postman puts a card through the door without knocking is that he doesn't have the parcel with him. We complained bitterly after we twice heard the card come through the door and managed to catch up with the postman only to find that he didn't have the parcel.

We have since become quite friendly with the postman and he told dh that it's fairly standard procedure for him just to be given the card, if asked he's supposed to say that there was an earlier delivery attempt but that postperson had run out of cards so couldn't leave one at the time. It was especially obvious with us that they weren't even trying to deliver the parcel because we have a concierge who will take delivery if we're not in.

Phone the complaints dept and get them to put a note against your address about knocking/having the parcel to hand. We haven't had any problems since we did that.

fireflyfairy2 · 03/06/2007 13:25

I posted a parcel in March, part of the swap on here. It never arrived, despite the lady at the PO telling me I didn't need to send it recorded as long as I kept the receipt as proof of postage.

It never arrived, so I had convinced myself I had a letter in the postcode wrong.

I re-sent the parcel, this time recorded, to the same address, this one arrived.

So, I wrote RM a letter, filled in a form for the lost parcel, stating everything that was in the parcel, their cost etc stating that I would like reimbursed.

Last week I got a cheque from Rm to cover the cost of the parcel & contents, I banked it.

Yesterday I came home from a walk & what was on my doorstep???? The bright pink parcel that I posted way back in March! With a RM plastic bag over it stating that it could not be delivered... but when I opned it....guess what???? The bar of green & blacks, a purse, a fridge magnet & a keyring were all missing from the parcel! Basically they posted me back the Easter egg, 2 pairs of socks & a neck scarf... So, am I justified in keeping the cheque they sent me....seeing as how someone (either @ the post office or the postman) has eaten a bar of green & blacks & stolen the other items!!!

Indith · 03/06/2007 13:31

Oh I hate the whole card collection thing. Every bloody time I get a card I try to phone to get it redelivered (no car, main office a trek away) but the number doesn't work. I phone customer services, they give me another number whihc also doesn't work (I have a collection of about 5 numbers, none of whihc get me through to the post office ). Eventually I persuade the main customer services to arrange my re-delivery for me. Grr

I've had so much post go awol. and some blatently stolen (empty, open envelope arriving just after ds was born and we had been getting loads of cards).

MrsWho · 03/06/2007 13:37

Our main PO where you collect the parcel from is in a really awkward place/no parking/middle of major roadworks so I have started phoning up to get it delivered to local PO BUT they don't answer the phone unless it rings for over 20mins so now I just let it ring and eventually someone answers!

Original poster

dmo · 03/06/2007 15:03

i had the card throught the door also
and i was in and i swear postperson did not knock
happen 3 times for the same parcel

wish they had a choice of who you posted your letters with like you do with gas and elec

OP posts:

catsmother · 03/06/2007 16:12

Nightowl, I have had exactly the same thing happening to me when I've sent parcels - exactly the same packaging, and exactly the same contents.

In the little village PO with the manual scales, the parcel apparently weighs more. This can make a big difference to postage costs if that takes it into the next bracket. At larger POs with digital scales, the same parcel is cheaper. I am half tempted to take in my own digital scales from the kitchen next time I have anything heavy to post.

Moral of the story as a customer is of course to use larger POs, but then the village POs - who are all under threat of closure - lose out. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if that was part of the strategy - piss off customers so they can turn round at a later date and argue the sub-PO wasn't used that much.

DaisysGotSausageFeet · 03/06/2007 16:39

OP is not being unreasonable....Royal Mail are a bunch of charlatans who have no real incentive to treat our mail with respect...

My son had a card arrive for his birthday last week, that had been partially sliced open along the top and taped back up again...and the £20 she'd put in was gone..

Now I know you're not supposed to post money (but we all do it), but when I complained they tried to tell me that the franking machine probably ripped the envelope open. (but there was no sign of distress to the edges of the top flap) They then explained that if this happens it should be sealed in a bag saying "sorry your mail was damaged". No such bag was with this card, which points to someone pilfering to me and it definately happened in the RM system as the tape was applied over the date frank...

And to make matters worse, RM complaints procedure means that they will investigate (chuh) but that I will not hear from them re the results of this investigation....

....strongly worded letter will be heading their way soon

seb1 · 03/06/2007 16:56

I notice our credit card bill is taking longer to arrive every month, Thought it was the bank stalling in the hpoe you would miss payment day but guess it is just the Royal "Snail"

SuGaRCoAteDPoiSOn · 04/06/2007 18:37

went to collect my parcel that wasn't delivered on Saturday despite me being at home and..... they can't fukkin find it

I rang the head office customer service number and have made a complaint which apparently will be investigated and I will have a response within 48 hours, yeah right!

thing is, the royal mail don't give a shit cos there's no alternative to using them is there? so there's no incentive for them to perform well and care about what they're doing.

I'm so bloody annoyed because in that parcel are 6 items of clothing that I ordered from ebay to go away with next weekend

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