Royal Mail

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Hi I know these things have happen and I'm willing to be told to leave it and get over it. There is more to life etc believe me I know.

Should I email them and tell Royal Mail I'm not happy?

My husband has been away for weeks (still has a few to go) and as it was my birthday yesterday had ordered me something to be delivered here. I had no idea what it could be. His big or shall etc.

On Friday I kept a look out for any delivery drivers / post men / couriers.

We have a ring door bell - fully charged. I kept my phone with me whilst home and I can also receive notifications on my Apple watch.

At 1pm I noticed a "while you were out card" from Royal Mail on the floor.

I was disappointed as I was home all day but didn't know if this was the item my husband had sent or something else I had ordered.

I immediately went online to rearrange the delivery for the earliest being today (Monday).

Saturday came and went. No parcels so I was assuming the missed item was the one from my husband (my birthday present).

Just now the postman (not our usual one who usually chats about previous deliveries etc) knocks on the door says hi gives me a parcel.

It's a large pink rectangle box with "Fresh Flowers" written on the box.

Obviously the flowers are dead.

I'm not blaming them. Maybe whoever tried on Friday didn't ring the bell and just knocked. Maybe I didn't hear the knock. However surely you would then try the bell or try a couple of neighbours.

I am in a lot during the day and the post man and couriers often knock on my door with parcels without knocking on the addressee as they know I'm in.

Maybe my immediate neighbours were out but wouldn't you try a couple of others knowing that you had fresh flowers in the box and that by Monday they would be dead?

Also on Saturday I had a knock on the door. I knew the lady as she is a mum at school and I know the house she lives in. We don't have the same surname. She lives at a different number to me and on the next road.

She had both my daughters new and old passports in her hand. Both in separate envelopes with my name and address on.

I know accidents happen but with both these things happening within a day of eachother it's pissed me off.

Having re read what I've just put it does sound petty of me but at the min I'm in a low place and it upset me at the time.

Thanks

Unfortunately the position your in is you don't have the 'contract'. The contract for the delivery of goods lies with your husband and the company, not Royal Mail.
Your DH needs to complain loudly to the florist.

The passports are a different matter and yes, complain! I suspect knowing RM lately you'll get a lot of bluster and a book of stamps but it will help if you need to complain again further down the line.

Complain to the florist. They have the contract with RM.

Maybe my immediate neighbours were out but wouldn't you try a couple of others knowing that you had fresh flowers in the box and that by Monday they would be dead?

I used to take parcels in from our postman for a few houses each way, as I work from home and there's a lot of London commuters who aren't available to pick things up. He hasn't been allowed to leave anything that isn't for one of my neighbours recently, he said it wasn't considered "reasonable" and they'd had a lot of complaints from people who didn't want their parcel left with Fred four doors down that they don't know, they want it at their house. I have no idea if it's true, but it makes sense.

I'd say it's more likely the parcel didn't even make it out of the sorting office and they just posted a card.

As well as being lazy arseholes, Royal mail are thieving bastards, too.

Typically their was nothing on my ring app not even to show the card being left which it definitely was.

You should definitely phone and complain - the box was cleqrly marked as fresh flowers so they should have made far more effort to deliver/redeliver and the passport misdelivery is shocking.

If your DH can show proof of purchase/value for the flowers they should refund.

Our Ring would show everyone passing the house, even cars on the road, and send an alert. I think you need to change the settings.

I would mention it to the manager at the sorting office because it might be a new or temp delivery person and delivering passports to another address is not a good thing from a security point of view. Dropping a card and running off is a common thing too, however having a designated safe place can help, as long as you don't have our postman who is mostly good and puts packages in it but also letters which is not so great since we got a new door with a very low letterbox.

You need to contact the company that send the flowers and let them know, they might want to raise it with RM.

A reply from Royal Mail:

Thank you for your email.

I’m sorry about the problem you’ve experienced with a the delivery of your item and can fully understand your concerns. Every item of mail is important to us and we typically pride ourselves on high levels of service, so I’m sorry we appear to have let you down on this occasion.

I fully appreciate the inconvenience caused if we left a ‘Something for you...’ card when you were at home. I hope you now have your item - if not, we’re happy to redeliver your item to you safely. For more information and to arrange a redelivery, please visit www.royalmail.com/redelivery.

I’ve reported this issue to the manager of the delivery office and recorded your complaint under reference number 1-48 The delivery office manager will take the appropriate steps to prevent this happening again.

Also, You can nominate which neighbour you'd like us to try first if you’re out when we attempt to deliver an item. For more information on how to nominate a neighbour go to the FAQs at www.royalmail.com/out.

I’m sorry you’ve had to contact us and hope you find this information useful. If you still need help, please visit our Help and Support Centre on our website at www.royalmail.com/help.

@DontCallMeShitley the settings are fine but often when there has been motion detected it won't show on the app for some reason.

I

I just replied

nothing to do with arranging a re delivery or leaving a card when I was at home or not leaving with the correct neighbour.

The fact is the box clearly stated fresh flowers and it was taken back to your office knowing they would be sat there for 3 whole days.

Also what would the florist say? They cannot help when post man would delivery surely?

My husband just phoned. He says he ordered Prosecco and Chocolate and Cards to go with the flowers 😳

Sorry about your flowers OP - RM constantly wreck my post as they force large envelopes into my wall mounted post box (no letterbox in door). I ordered photos online and they were bent almost in half by the postman. I would much rather they took my large mail back to the sorting office for me to collect the next day. Could you have collected the parcel yourself from the sorting office on Saturday? Doesn't help you now but in the future?
Your DH needs to take up this issue with the florist as he was the one who ordered them - it may be the florist has had issues previously with having flowers delivered properly

Standards are slipping. We're lucky in that we have two regular post men. They know my routine and will come back after their round to drop things off if I missed their first visit. I do miss the old system though where the postman arrived at 7:50 so we had our post before leaving for school.

@DobbyLovesSocks Hi. I know this sounds like the simple option however I don't drive. Suffer with nerves and anxiety. Usually I would ask my mum or sister to take but they helped me last week so I didn't want to mention it.

Ah apologies OP - i shouldn't have assumed
Sorry again about your flowers

RM reply (how fast!!!):

I'm sorry to learn that you’re dissatisfied with our previous response with regards to an item which contained flowers that was returned to the delivery office, a Something For You card having been left when you were at home. I can appreciate the inconvenience this issue may have caused.

I've now had the opportunity to review the details of your case and I'm happy that our responses to you were appropriate. My colleague logged and reported this issue to the delivery office manager. Our failure to attempt to deliver the item to a neighbour has also been reported to the delivery office manager. The manager will take appropriate steps to prevent this happening again. I'm also confident that we've met our commitment to provide a consistent level of customer service, so I won’t be overturning our previous decision.

I appreciate that this’ll come as a disappointment as it’s not the outcome you were looking for but I hope I’ve managed to explain why we’ve taken this decision. However, If you’re unhappy with my response, you can contact the Escalated Customer Resolution Team. They’ll take a fresh look at your complaint and respond to you directly. They can be contacted at [email protected]. Please quote reference 1-48 at the start of your email.

I’m also very sorry about the problem you’ve experienced with incorrectly delivered mail and can fully understand your concerns. Every item of mail is important to us and we typically pride ourselves on high levels of service, so I’m sorry we appear to have let you down on this occasion.

I appreciate your concerns about potential security risks if your mail isn’t delivered to the right address, as well as the inconvenience it may cause.

I’ve reported this issue to the manager of the delivery office and have recorded your complaint under reference 1-48 The manager will do all that is required to ensure we do not trouble you in this way again.

I’m sorry you’ve had to contact us and I hope you find this information useful in resolving your enquiry. If you still need help, please visit our Help and Support Centre on our website at www.royalmail.com/help.

Regards

I guess I'll have to leave it. Thanks.

You don't have to leave it.
Report it to the flower sender.
Keep reporting it to RM, they have failed to deliver an item when you were home. They always try to get out of these situations in order to avoid paying compensation.
There is a RM Ombudsman.

They have a responsibility to deliver or compensate you for loss.

I will just add that using a long distance delivery for flowers is not a good idea, better to find a local company that delivers by van next time. I have also been sent dead flowers, however I didn't even get a card, they were just kept at the delivery office and the sender complained and got a refund.

Again, it's nothing to do with RM.

Your husbands contract is with the florist. Your husband needs to deal with the florist, the florist need to deal with RM. Compensation for loss will need to come from the florist.

Every postie is different. Where I used to live they would most often try to leave it with a neighbour if possible but failing that I had to either collect from sorting office if it was urgent or I’d arrange a redelivery. Where I live now they just leave them all in my greenhouse which suits me just fine.

I think some posties are reluctant to try the neighbours because some neighbours don’t talk or get along, it could cause some sort of dispute if the neighbours insist they don’t have the parcel etc.

Sorry about your flowers. I have had this happen before, where I’ve definitely been in and no one has knocked. No idea why they do it. Maybe ask your DH to contact the florists and explain what happened, they may send out new ones as a courtesy.

Hi I will ask him to contact the florist.

How can they make a claim when I have the flowers?

My husband just phoned. He says he ordered Prosecco and Chocolate and Cards to go with the flowers

I told you they are thieving bastards.

Depends on the postman/woman really I think. My postman is great, he will leave my parcels in my 'safe place' and leave me a card saying he has done so. He comes and knocks on my side door when he has a parcel as he knows this is the door I use and saves me running around the side and front of the house to get to the actual front door (which is out of use - weird designed house...). He doesn't have to do this. He's been away for weeks though and his replacements have been awful. Postwoman refusing to leave non-signed for items in my safe place or leave with a neighbour, letters left half hanging out the letterbox so anyone can nab them and yesterday I had a canvas delivered that had been rolled around a foam tube and then packaged inside a card tube. It's been squashed and folded to fit through the letterbox so now it's ruined. Why not just knock on the door!!!!

Saw my usual postie back today. Thank God!!!

How can they make a claim when I have the flowers?

You need to take photographs and forward them to your DH.

We have a constant problem with delivery people (not just RM) knocking on door rather than ringing bell - the knock will often not be heard. I now have a notice on my door just above the letter box saying to ring the doorbell - still ignored!

I also agree with PP - lots of stuff gets stolen. I have given up on flowers unless I order directly from a shop I know and have them deliver - otherwise I have had lots of missed deliveries or deliveries that were said to have been done but no trace, etc.

Frankly I think if RM delivery people were paid for each successful delivery this would not happen.

Get the florist to take it up with them.