royal mail advice

[RoyalMaill]

Hi,

Any sane thoughts would be appreciated.

I have an important event on Wednesday. I ordered a critical item to be delivered last week with next day delivery, but Sod’s Law dictated it will be delivered this Wednesday itself due to Black Friday delays. I’m fuming with the company, they haven’t even offered to refund the delivery.

I can reschedule the appointment but it will be in about 4 weeks. I would lose money due to the short notice cancellation and also waste a day of annual leave.

What do you think Royal Mail would do if I visited the delivery office at like 6am on Wednesday with ID in hopes of collecting my order instead of it going out for delivery? I’m just trying to see if I can still get it on time.

Let’s hope the poor worker in the sorting office understands the importance of your event and just how critical it is.

They won’t give it to you. That’s not how it works.

They may well be on strike.

Alternatively they'd laugh at you.

Your lack of foresight doesn't equal their emergency.

Why are you furious with the company? You chose to order it during the strikes and just before black Friday.
Why should they refuse d the postage? They've paid the postage which they won't get back from royal mail.

Gotta love the typical mn vipers 😂

The order was placed Monday 21/11/2022 for delivery Tuesday 22/11/2022 - I paid £11 for specified next day delivery. The appointment is on 30/11/2022 so it should have arrived over a week in advance. How far back should I have ordered, baring in mind it involved a colour match?

The company didn’t ship the item out until today, 29/11/2022. This is outside their promised timeframes for next day delivery, not what was advertised before purchase, nor what was listed on the order confirmation email. Hence why a delivery refund could be appropriate.

This is a major retailer, presumably they cpuld upscale resourcing for Black Friday demand as it comes around every year? The items I ordered were full price and before Black Friday launched.

Ultimately I don’t know to what extent you can blame strikes the item hasn’t been in RM’s possession until today. Beyond that, they’re not the only courier that exists, the retailer could have chosen to use a different service.

I wouldn't bother going to the sorting office, they won't cross the picket line for no matter what's in your parcel.
Was your parcel send by special delivery? Those will still be delivered during the strikes

Royal Mail are on strike Wednesday and Thursday this week you have no chance.

Any sane thoughts would be appreciated.

Well, you first.

Buy one locally and return the online one. I'd have spoken to that company the day after they'd not posted it.

You can claim the money back on postage via credit card as company failed to despatch the item as promised. But you can’t collect the item from delivery office, they won’t go and look for it for you.

You can only get your money back for the failed delivery. That’s assuming you paid by credit card, it’s more difficult via debit card.

Did the website have a big banner on it saying delivery would be affected by strikes/black Friday?

I would see if you could source this item in person today and forget the one in the post.

Seek your money back from the retailer first.

The only post you can collect from the delivery office is post you have been told is awaiting collection from the delivery office (usually when you aren't in and they've left a card) but round here they tend not to do that any more and give it to neighbour or hide in a bin.

I’d say you have zero chance unfortunately. What is the item and is there no chance it can be bought from a shop?

I think it depends on your sorting office, my local one would be absolutely fine with this but it's a fairly small area so not a massive amount of parcels to look through. Your main problem is that the sorting office won't be open as they are on strike.

There would be no chance of you getting it where I am. To collect a parcel you 100% need the red card that’s put through the door to say you have a “missed delivery”. They wouldn’t even entertain you until it had been out for delivery and then returned to the sorting office.
As others have mentioned, RM are on strike this week.

Can the item be sourced locally?

If you’re going to do anything, do it today not Wednesday.

You can claim your postage back from company if they did not stick with the agreement. Tbh next day postage is always a hit and miss and scam

I’d submit a formal complaint. I’m not sure what their complaints / compensation process is like, but my government department we do sometimes pay out of pocket expenses for things that have occurred as a result of our mistake (within reason)

My sane thought is that you go get the item from elsewhere. Somewhere you can travel to get it in person. Then you have it for Wednesday if it is so critical

Then sort out the postage / return with the seller when it arrives as you'll have the right to return if you've ordered online.

As an additional piece of advice I'd suggest not coming across as strident as you do in your post when asking for something or complaining. It will immediately put people's back up and you won't get as far.

Are delivery offices open during strikes? I don't think they are - I couldn't collect something last week.

Did you not contact the company when your item didn't despatch/deliver on 22nd?

I'd complain to them and expect to be reimbursed for the next day delivery. If you no longer need the item, return it once in your possession.

Even if the posties were at work it would be a hopeless trip to rock up at 6am because your requested critical item will already be in a bag in the back of the van ready to deliver to your house, or it will be under the piles and piles of other delayed unsorted mail that's clogging up the office.

(DH is a postie.)

Also remember that companies have been inconvenienced by this strike too, and have had to adjust accordingly. I don't think complaining about the vendor holds much water, given how things are.

I appreciate you may well lose four weeks work but the postal workers are losing money too, both within their terms and conditions and by taking part in industrial action.

They're on strike on Wednesday, so you know what a strike is? It means they're not working, nor are they allowed on RM grounds.

You'll find your post is disrupted, because that's the point of a strike.

Can you read that or do I need to put some words in bold?

If your sorting office is in strike on Wednesday, they won't get it.

Maybe you should have got your arse in gear and ordered it sooner. It’s not like we didn’t know about Black Friday and postal strikes ffs. No reason to be furious with others when in comes down to your incompetence and lack of planning.

Oh another Royal Mail slagging off thread. At least this one is slightly more coherent. And of course 'vipers' who don't agree with you, how predictable 🙄

You have zero chance. Take it up with the company who failed to organise delivery. If they parcel hasn't been in Royal Mail possession until today, then it has fuck all to do with Royal Mail. So why are you starting a thread, with a snappy username, to slag off Royal Mail? Rather that the 'major retailer' who have failed to ship your order?

And the strikes have been well publicised for about 6 weeks, so you've had ample notice to order your critical parcel in advance.

You'd think Simon would have more important things to do than be on MN at 2am would you.