To be fucked off with the postman!

[hereismydog]

Waited in today for a delivery, I chose Next Day (for £6!) as I need to wear what I’ve ordered to a wedding reception tonight because nothing else fits me at 6 months pregnant 😤

Received an email at 3pm saying that nobody was in but I was in the kitchen at the time, so right by the door! Nobody knocked or rang the bell (they didn’t even come through the gate!) and the dog didn’t bark either, so I know nobody attempted delivery. Now my parcel won’t be delivered until Monday and I’ve now got two hours to find something in my wardrobe that’s going to fit around my belly and not make me look like a sack of spuds 😭

I’m having a shit time of things atm and was looking forward to wearing something pretty 😫 not the end of the world in the grand scheme of things but I just wanted a wee rant!

I chose next day delivery from Next for swimsuits for my holiday, the delivery got ‘delayed’ and they were delivered after I’d already gone. 🙄

Had to return them unopened when I got back.

Two years ago, my grandson’s birthday card arrived damaged and late. I think someone thought it had money or voucher in it.

Last year, I posted it a week early. It arrived three weeks later.

This year, we’ve used an online service.

Our usual postie is very good. His cover is not. I got one of the bullshit you-weren't-in emails. I emailed the delivery office with a complaint, and attached a snip of the CCTV footage for the 10 minute period when he'd allegedly attempted delivery. There is no other way of accessing our front door without being on camera.

I got an apology from the delivery office manager and it's not happened since.

That's not good
We are lucky that the posties and our Evri lady are great. Even the Amazon ones arrive on time too. We never take it for granted as I know it can be a lottery with deliveries

I can’t stand Royal Mail. I hadn’t had any post for 2 weeks, so I went up to the sorting office for my post. I was told there was nothing for my street so everything would be out that day. 3 days later (on a Sunday) it dropped through my letter box 😂.

Coal is more valuable
🙄

YANBU. My heart always sinks when I order something and I get an email saying Royal Mail are delivering it. It takes about a week longer than anything delivered by Evri or DPD.

Our postie is wonderful, we know him by name and he is always reliable. At Christmas, however, the change the rounds and we can get different ones.
I was in one day, saw the chap come up the drive then walk back down again with no knock or ring of the bell, went to the porch and found a "Sorry you weren't in" card. I chased after him and asked where my parcel was and he just said he had too much to carry so I'd have to collect it the next day.
I was not happy!

I always understood that there was something with Royal Mail - the clue is in the first word of their name - that they were considered a respected integral part of the establishment. I know they always used to have strict government-sanctioned standards to which they had to comply, but I can only presume these must have been quietly scrapped in recent years.

They were always supposed to be the best delivery company and the model to which the others could only aspire; now it's the exact opposite. They should risk very heavy fines for making promises that they clearly have no interest in keeping. Most people don't pay lots extra for guaranteed urgent delivery just for a laugh. It would be much better for them not to offer the special services that they can't/don't care about achieving in the first place and let other companies who can provide the service get the business instead.

At a very minimum, there should be a standard automatic 300% refund of the postage cost every time they break the special delivery contract, unless they can provide extremely good evidence that it wasn't their fault.

I know it was an extreme case, but I'm reminded of the news story from the other week about the (properly-addressed) postcard sent in 1903 that has only just been delivered. The BBC included this gem: Royal Mail think it is likely the card was "put back into" its system, rather than "being lost in the post for over a century". Hmm, yes, that sounds veeery likely. So even that supposedly wasn't their fault; they truly do have an excuse for everything, no matter how unlikely.

A friend recently sent me something urgent via registered delivery and paid extra for guaranteed Saturday delivery (I think it was meant to be before 1pm). It didn't turn up, no explanation/card/email, and then on Monday the postman awkwardly got me to sign for it whilst holding the envelope covered in Saturday Guaranteed stickers. No mention at all of the lateness.

With lots of delivery companies you can log in on the app and choose a 'safe place' to leave it . I live somewhere where it's fine on the doorstep I just choose front porch on the options and they leave it in the doorstep as we don't have a front porch. It's so annoying when it happens! Hope you
Found something to wear in the end

I love RM, my postman knows my safe places. Evri is good at moment, because he comes to back door. DPD excellent read instructions and 1 hour slots.
Yodel and Amazon just leave on doorstep at front door and don’t close front gate and I live on a main road. No attempt to hide behind plant pots.
I don’t think any of them get the time to deliver properly.

That is code for 'we never even put your parcel on the van as we ran out of time/room when sorting that rounds deliveries'.

They didn't knock, they didn't have your parcel to knock with it, but there is fuck all you can do if they say they did and that you didn't answer.

Usually on the back of shop bought cards there is an image of an envelope and the type of stamp needed.

I have had the exact same today - really annoying as its an amazon prime order for a birthday present tomorrow.

Apparently they were unable to make it to my front door due to it being inaccessible! Husband managed to use it about 30 mins before, so did the other part of the present from Amazon manage to make the ardous journey to my front door!

I could swear they've given up on doing postal rounds on my estate altogether. I haven't seen a van or a postie all week, and haven't several received items I'm expecting. A bank statement that usually lands on the doorstep 3 days after the last transaction date took nearly a fortnight this month. I was beginning to think someone had nicked it for ID.
On Saturdays the post round always used to be done by lunchtime, but now, instead, an unmarked van occasionally pulls up mid-afternoon to deliver one or two items to the odd house on the street, similar to an Amazon delivery, but with stamped franked letters. It looks to me as if they've extended this over the rest of the week, when they can be bothered.

Ii was going to post similar, but we actually caught the postie and they admitted that they never took out the large parcels for delivery

That just sucks.
About ten days ago I was expecting a package and was following the tracking - all good - until the day of delivery when it suddenly said “delivery attempted - incorrect address.” I’ve lived here forever and have had several deliveries from this company, not to mention several others including Amazon.
I told them that and also told them that the delivery driver’s laziness was apparent and not my problem. They never admitted any fault, and I never let them off the hook.
It was successfully delivered the following day.
It won’t solve your immediate issue @hereismydogbut I’d recommend strongly that you lodge a complaint with the company and tell them how unsatisfactory their service was.

True - although I looked at this one that we (eventually) received and it didn't. The thing is, though, even if they do put that on the back, I'll bet the vast majority of people sending cards never look at the back - a lot don't even remove the price ticket! I know they should, but people just don't.

The card manufacturers should bear it in mind when designing the cards. Fair enough if it's obviously a large one, but a few mm over the limit is just asking for trouble. Even if everybody who bought that card knew that it would cost a large letter rate to send, would they consider the extra cost worthwhile for an extra 5mm of margin?

Of course, the card manufacturers and purchasers are not blameless in this; but my point is that what was originally brought in with the justification of charging people extra for 'outsize' items, to account for the extra costs that RM incur in handling them, was surely never intended to cover what almost everybody would consider to be a very standard (even on the small side) card.

Considering, in 'the old days', you could just know that 'it's a card', slap a stamp on, post it and forget about it, I think it's a real backward step to have to think about checking for a small symbol on the back, or getting your ruler out if there is none, for every single standard card you send. In a world where fewer and fewer people are sending physical cards anymore, it's madness to make it harder, more confusing and less convenient for people to send them. Not to mention that a card received a week late, for which the recipient has had to go online and pay a penalty charge, is very much not in the spirit of what anybody would want when sending a greetings card and destroys all good wishes.

As the amount of cards and letters sent in the post plummets in the internet age, RM seem to have resigned themselves to mainly being a parcel delivery service... and yet, whilst Amazon (and even Evri) send you tracking/delivery updates and bring your parcel in their van promptly, RM bring you a card, lying that you were out and then give you more admin to actually get it.

You can't compete with a rival for long by deliberately offering a far worse, much less efficient and convenient service than they do! To be honest, if Amazon decided to start delivering post as well - which they could do at any time, I guess - that would be the end of RM in no time at all.

@TheHangingGardensOfBasildon I make my own cards and don't make the ones for posting too fancy. The cost of postage in the UK is astronomical compared to other countries. A friend sent me a postcard from Germany and the stamp cost 95c (a letter is E1.10. For me to send a postcard or letter anywhere in the world it's a flat rate of £2.50!

I can't remember the last time I had a "sorry we missed you" card. I have the app so it's the only way to know if you've missed something. Most of the time when I have an issue it's when my regular postie is on holiday or it's the weekend when they use the agency workers who are horrific. They often mark things as attempted delivery when they haven't. They even leave bags of post on random streets when they lose interest in finishing their route.

Now I order stuff so it comes midweek to avoid the weekends! Definitely complain though.

They no longer leave cards on the first attempt anyways, they just automatically redeliver the next day.

I've had an issue this week that's really fucked me off. Waited in Friday morning for delivery of my refrigerated medicine - usual postie came, no parcel delivery. For context my postie is great and we don't have any issues unless he's on holiday.

So I went out as we never get a second delivery with being fairly rural. 5pm I get a missed parcel notification on my phone. My DP got the doorbell notification on his phone but by the time he opened the app, the postie had gone.

They were supposed to redeliver on Saturday so when usual postie arrived I thought all was fine - but no parcel in his hands 😑. Called the helpline and half an hour later discovered the reason it came late was because it went to the wrong delivery office. So instead of redelivering it Saturday like they're supposed to and the bloke confirming they know it needs refrigeration, they've decided to send it to the correct delivery office for re-delivery next week. By this time the medicine will be completely warm and basically no good. The £170 cost will be mine to lose as the pharmacy won't be interested in dealing with the issue.

I was also informed that the 24hr signed for service actually gives them 5 working days to deliver an item 😑

On RM website, all the " guaranteed " delivery times have become aspirations. My usual Postie is lovely, knows where to leave a parcel if we're out, even my dog loves him. Any other service, large parcels etc, is terrible.

@hereismydog

We've got a really shitty Amazon delivery driver at the moment who does this - caught her on our Ring Doorbell last week - she sauntered straight past our front door & threw my package into the large shrub by the garden gate & jogged back to her van! I was in the bloody house at the time!!
Didn't know anything about it till I wondered where my stuff was & checked on Amazon to see 'parcel handed to resident'!!!! Fucking fuming.