... to expect Royal Mail to actually work?

[ifIwerenotanandroid]

I've been getting lots of stuff delivered, by RM & courier, since lockdown started. Everything got through until a couple of weeks ago.

One RM parcel simply disappeared without trace. I got a refund on that one.

Then last week the doorbell rang but by the time I got there, postie had gone leaving no card (I have cctv). I rang the local parcel office & was promised that someone would bring it back out to me that day. Nothing.

I couldn't ask for redelivery on the RM website till the next day, & it wouldn't arrive till two days after that. I tried guessing what had been on the card, i.e. my own name & address, was again promised redelivery & was given a reference number by email.

Actually, before that I tried the RM phone line, which has a voice recognition system that couldn't recognise my (very standard) voice so I couldn't input my address. And there was a 20-minute wait to talk to a human.

Nothing turned up on the specified day... or the next day. It's now a week since the bloke stood ten feet away from me on the other side of the door & this parcel, too, seems to have disappeared into the ether.

I just tried the website again, which told me to use the phone line if I had a problem with a redelivery. So I called again. I had to say the reference number I'd been given. The voice recognition s/w apparently can't recognise reference numbers as well as addresses. Either that, or the reference number RM sent me in the redelivery confirmation email is not in the required format. How can that be?

I've since tried tracking two other parcels with the reference numbers their senders provided to me. Neither is recognised by the RM website.

What the hell is going on?

Just to add: I have no idea why postie didn't leave it in the box which was right next to his bloody feet & had a label on requesting all deliveries to be left in it - which is what everyone else has done.

Why did he stand in front of the door NOT WEARING A MASK?

I would go to the sorting office.

Not with rising Covid cases, thanks. I've been in precisely one shop since March, & that was a petrol station, for petrol. (Older, underlying health etc.)

I suppose my questions are:

1. How can I get these parcels?

&

1. When did the Royal Mail turn to ratshit, because that's all I've encountered in trying to sort this out. When it works, it's brilliant, but all of a sudden it doesn't work at all.

I agree that going to the sorting office is most likely to be the way to get your parcels. Or asking someone to go on your behalf with a copy of your ID if you’re vulnerable.

Can anyone explain (a) why the sorting office is shut today (Monday)?

(b) why Royal Mail's tracking, phone line & website don't match & were completely useless?

My brother works for Royal Mail & I asked him what is happening with post, he says they are pulled out with work at sorting offices & parcel depots, so things could be taking longer. I bought something on Ebay in February, it didn't turn up, it has only just been delivered in the last week. We are only getting deliveries about twice a week here, the deliveries for both letters & parcels are coming together by van.

... and (c) whether it's worth even trying to buy off ebay any more, as I've spent a lot of time finding OOAK items & so far one's disappeared, one apparently will never be identified & redelivered, & another is late & untrackable?

Cheers, Nat. The post & parcels here have been brilliant since the start of lockdown, with some pacels coming with the letter post & some coming later in the day. Nothing was late or lost, until now.

For me, it started stuttering a bit after the August Bank Holiday & now it's hopeless.

In the last month I've had 3 items fail to arrive completely, one very sodden envelope delivered by a lady in the next street who found it in a puddle at the end of her drive and another small packet brought round by a neighbour.

Our deliveries are sporadic at best with a different person each time. I'd say we have 2 deliveries a week and those are almost always 3.30/4.30pm.

I get that they are busy, I get that they are short staffed, but it's not an excuse for constant mistakes and poor service.

I don't have much to comment but the advert under the last poster was someone giving someone else a parcel!

I hope you get things sorted!

Thanks to all. It's like Christmas here, as I just got the two late items, three others & two courier deliveries.

The attempted redelivery still hasn't worked, though. Will I ever see it again? Was it actually for me in the first place? Who knows?

postie had gone leaving no card (I have cctv).

What are you actually missing?
If the postie was trying to give you a neighbour's parcel, you'll never hear about it again.

@SantaClaritaDiet

postie had gone leaving no card (I have cctv).

What are you actually missing?
If the postie was trying to give you a neighbour's parcel, you'll never hear about it again.

You're right, I wondered about that, too. Or he might've come to the wrong house anyway.

I'd ordered lots of things off ebay, if that's what you mean about missing something.

I checked another camera: he came onto my property from where the posties usually park their vans. He didn't deviate to my nearest neighbour, who has her own covered box outside anyway.

Oh, & there's an old ebay item which is so late it's been refunded. It's possible the mystery package is that one.