Royal Mail

[Anon751117000]

Not sure if I'm even posting in the correct place. More of a rant really. Is anyone else pi**ed off with the service (or lack of)? First class post is often taking 3-4 days to arrive. Sometimes I'm even paying extra for 1st class to still wait up to 4 days. I realise first class isn't next day delivery but really? It also took 6 whole weeks for a birthday card to make it over to the USA a couple of months ago. The frustrating thing is its now putting me off buying from smaller companies like Etsy because I have no clue if anything will even arrive. No wonder people are using Amazon more. Not blaming the postman here btw, but I really don't understand what is going on!!

NHS need to do something about communication with appointments other than the RM. How many people have missed appointments etc due to not receiving their letters on time?

It also took 6 whole weeks for a birthday card to make it over to the USA
Was that Royal Mails fault or the shipping/flight or the US postal system? Can't really blame one company when there's a few in the chain.

I'm getting my medical and banking letters quite quickly. DWP seems to be taking a lot longer 🤔

Surrey to Cornwall. 1st class, birthday card (so standard letter size). took 10 days.

Without fail, RM miss their promised parcel delivery time - 48hrs tracked ? That’ll be 3 days with no updates. Amazon delivery by 10pm via RM? That’ll be at a random time next day.

They quote really specific windows for delivery - like 9.13 - 11.13 . Then miss that. But honestly, they are so inaccurate why on earth quote to the minute ?

This is a failing organisation.

Normally I would defend Royal Mail as they have generally been good at delivering parcels to me when they say they will in the app. Unfortunately this week I've been waiting for a parcel which was meant to have been delivered on Saturday. It didn't arrive and reason given was that they tried but that my address is inaccessible (it isn't, it's a regular house on a regular street in a large city) was told they'd try again on Monday - no show. Complained to RM, then message pops up yesterday that they would deliver it yesterday, again no delivery and same excuse that they attempted to deliver but my address isn't accessible.

I've emailed the company I ordered from to let them know as I may need an invoice if I put a claim in. I know it isn't their fault, but I let them know that it has put me off ordering from them and they may want to complain to RM themselves if delivery problems leads to them losing sales.

Still seem to have decent service in my area, other than the larger parcel van that comes separate between 7-7, have a few times left expensive parcels on my open to the street doorstep instead of followeing policy to attempt a second delivery another day. Admittedly it was close to christmas last year that it happened, and i made complaints on both occasions.

My parents send a couple of cards to Canada one time took 3 days even if they live in the sticks

Royal Mail has nothing to do with the American postal service.

In my experience, the NHS rarely rely solely on letters these days. I have recently been through a series of appointments and each time had telephone calls to book the appointments and endless text messages. The letters invariably arrived after the appointment.

Clearly, though, this might be an issue for very elderly patients who don't have smartphones but you can put a different person's number on their records for these sorts of communications if they give permission. I'm on my Mum's records for example and get all her communications.

Great job, George Osbourne! Totally destroyed the service by privatising it. RM cannot continue as it used to be, because it now has to compete with parcel companies who do not have to deliver letters.
It not just a Royal Mail problem though—Amazon drivers won’t even attempt to enter my MIL’s block of flats, because they don’t get paid if the parcel takes more than a certain amount of time to deliver. So it just gets taken back to the depot. Not the driver’s fault, I don’t expect them to work for free, it’s Amazon’s fault with the ridiculous pressure they put on their employees. Royal Mail now want to go the same way.

Absolutely—look how great the water companies have become since they were privatised!

I'm in Scotland, which may differ from the rest of the UK, but some NHS departments in my area do rely solely on letters.

Sometimes I get a letter with an appointment, sometimes it's a letter telling me to make an appointment. Only about a quarter of these communications are followed up by a text message reminder. All the departments have my phone number and email address so they could phone, send messages or email if they wanted to.

I would prefer it if they moved to email communication but appreciate that might disadvantage the elderly.

I paid for tracked delivery, first class, this week. When I checked the item's progress this morning, it had supposedly been out for delivery twice, to no answer, yesterday and today... except I was talking to the recipient on the phone while the postman delivered her post and although he got her to take a parcel for her neighbour, there was no mention of the ghost item that he'd apparently tried and failed to deliver this morning.

I told my friend this and she said, Yeah, they often pretend to do that so you'll just go and get it yourself.

The delivery in my postcode is absolutely shambolic. I've had important NHS and HMRC letters go missing or turn up weeks late.

It seems a bit random and a postcode lottery as to how many deliveries a week you get.

Gideon Osbourne must take a share of the blame.

I find that this massively varies, even between departments at the same hospital. Some genuinely just send a letter (and then a snotty letter telling you off for not attending an appointment you were never informed about) and make no further attempt to contact you.

They have done! You can opt to receive appointments, letters and reminders by email and text.

I find the NHS's inconsistency about communication so frustrating. I had a text reminder a week before an appt I had no idea was even booked, because the letter never arrived. So why couldn't they have texted the initial appt details in the first place, along with the letter? And then the results took a fortnight to be conveyed, again by letter only, no phone calls or NHS app updates, but if that didn't arrive within the fortnight window, I was told I could email for the results - so, again, why couldn't they just email them in the first place?!

Fair enough, if some patients don't have access to phones/email, but I've tried to opt into paperless communication and still get these anomalies. And it must be costing the NHS £££ in postage.

I had three out of four items removed from a parcel I sent to DS. I filled in a complaint form and received a refund within a few days.

I live at #60 and I had three parcels last week, 2 for #48 and 1 for #96. Absolutely zero mail for myself so how does that work?

One of the parcels was a 'signed for' and left behind my shed. I was not happy skelping about my neighbourhood that night doing the job of a postie (my neighbours were relieved though!

I complained to RM but just got a stock 'sorry we failed you' response.

I post out all the time for my business and Royal Mail have been (touch wood) fabulous in comparison to other countries services and other UK couriers. There are sometimes issues but the volume I send out many are delivered within 2 days.

I've tried other couriers and had far far worse experiences so it's RM for me as far as is possible, DPD is my next go to then DHL/Fedex. Yodel and Evri ... don't get me started.

When I spent time in the US it was so expensive and too ages to arrive, any post sent cross state borders even if it was the next town, was so slow. Canada can take months after it has gone through customs, yet Japan no more than a week on average, also a good postal service.

But in the interests of balance, my DM's postman - out in the sticks - is as perfect a village postie as you could wish for. Knows everyone on his round, leaves parcels in safe places, is friends with the dogs, probably whistles merrily, etc.

Our postie is seen occasionally but appears to be virtually sprinting round with letters these days.

I agree that some departments have appts listed on the NHS app - not everyone and the majority of the elderly don't have smartphones - for whatever reasons - cost, reluctant to use modern tech, visual/dexterity issues which makes it difficult to use smartphones etc. Yet my DF's cousin who will be 90 in Feb uses her smartphone for everything and even pays for shopping using Apple Pay. Obviously her DC and DGDs helped her with this to start with,

Using just post to tell patients appts is not good. No idea what the solution is

Sadly that's not the experience of my Etsy seller. He has a lot of issues.

Well it would seem I am not alone then!! 😂I had heard that RM prioritise parcels now. I still wouldn't trust a parcel to get there. I send parcels overseas every christmas but having to send them earlier and earlier to ensure they actually arrive.