To have completely lost it with Royal Mail, telling the customer services ...

[SalLikesCoffee]

... lady that I know she can't give a damn, but that it would be good if they would do the jobs they're paid to do?? I might have been a little, as it's not actually her fault that it all went wrong in the first place, but some compassion would have been good!

History: Home Office posted our passports via recorded delivery. No card left to say we weren't in. By the time we contacted HO again, they gave us ref no to find out from RM. RM then said oh, maybe postman forgot (!!!) and that they didn't know who to return it to, and that it was sent to Belfast central sorting office, where it would stay for weeks before opening (according to customer services).

After even more calls, demands to speak to manager, etc etc, "manager" promised that they've highlighted this as urgent (DH has to fly for work next week), and that it would be returned directly to us, not to HO. I even got a call from a lady in Belfast confirming they've found it, and that it would be sent to us directly.

Nothing received by Tues, so called PO again, only to be told it's been returned to HO, but they couldn't tell us which dept! It's at this point where I told her it's rediculous and not as promised, and she said I'm lying, no-one would have called me to say what I'm insisting. It's here where I lost it.

After repeated calls to H Office, they confirmed that it has been sent to us again - recorded delivery. Well, when I got home today, there was an envelope thrown through the gate (where others have access). Oh, guess what - our passports. Sorry, this last bit was just me moaning (still).

Should I have been nicer?

Holy cow! What appalling service! I would put this into writing and make a formal complaint. Although I suppose the trouble is that I would normally send a complaint of this magnitude by recorded delivery.
The passports thrown through the gate is reason enough. Thank goodness your DH has his passport for work next week.

recorded delivery isnt the correct service to send these documents- they should be in Special Delivery. I would be mad at the HO for using the wrong service, its not the RMCS fault.

I almost cried with frustration half way through the frantic search to find it again! (Foreign passports which would take at least 6 months to get replaced, meaning that not only dh would miss crucial business trips, but also the 3 of us the trip to our parents to have ds Christened.)

Chuqqabopps - Special Delivery would have been preferred, but Home Office uses Recorded Delivery - it's their policy. According to them the fact that it is recorded means it should be secure. RM also should have let us know it was here the first time (no card at all, so unless we chased HO we wouldn't even have known). And according to HO we should have signed for this second delivery that was just left outside. So this is their fault. But what got me was that she said I lied.

there would be no earthly reason for anyone from RM to tell you that the item had been returned to HO. The whole point of recorded is that it is only tracked when it is signed for on delivery, this is completely contrary to Special Delivery which is scanned at each point on its journey including when signed for on delivery. If there was no signature, then there would be no information in the Track-and-trace system for a recorded item. hence why she may have had the impression you were exagerating/confused/untruthful- nothing to do with what you said to her.

I recently got first passport for my DD. I paid an extra 3pounds for Special delivery to return her birth certificate and it was just posted through our door.
I phoned the customer services to ask what the difference was between this service and basic first class and was told that Special Delivery is a courier services and although they should get a signature, if they put it through the door it was because they deemed the house 'safe'. (incidently, this should only have been done on the SECOND attempt to post, but the courier obviously couldn't be arsed to try again later!)
Now, as far as I am concerned I paid extra to ensure that document was returned to ME. They have no idea who else can pick up our post and I basically paid 3 pounds for my letter to come by a man in a van instead of on a bike!!

nellie- i have sympathy for your situation, and you should have had the postage refunded as a gesture of goodwill for the service failing in your case.
I cant tell you what I do for a living- but I would strongly advocate contacting the consumer watchdog for postal services

ooh, I might just do that... I'm in the mood for a moan
I did tell the lady in customer services that I wanted to complain and she said I needed to complain to the passport office
Dh keeps telling me 'its only 3 pounds', BUT it is the principle, and I paid out enough for the passport and the ridiculously picky pictures and i hate paying for a service that doesn't deliver ('scuse awful pun!!)

KVC, glad to hear you got refunded. I think that this might be the only way for services to improve.

Nellie, that is shocking - I thought that the problem was only on Recorded Delivery. Oh, and general deliveries in our area, at least once a week we get someone else's post, but I reconed that that is just carelessness when our postman doesn't think it's important letters.

Sal, our postal service is pretty poor. Post generally doesn't get to us until after 2pm.
When we moved house not long ago, we paid for a redirection service. after a fair few weeks i got a RM plastic bag of letters that were post dated for several week previous. When i phoned to complain was told that there was a temporary postie on our round who didn't realise. No sorry, no refund... nothing. And I was left to phone various places and explain why bills hadn't been paid!!

when you say general deliveries for someone else- is it for another name at your address, or for a totally different address?
if the former then RM are actually doing their job, and you can write on not at this address and pop it back in a pillar box ot be returned to sender. If the later then this does need to be reported, initially to the 08457 740740 number then afterwards to the watchdog previously mentioned. They may request that you send them the envelopes as evidence.

We ordered new passports for the dc at the start of the year. They were hand delivered by a passport approved delivery person i.e. not a postie.

in my honest opinion the rediection service is pretty pointless unless you live in Greendale and have Pat delivering to your old and new houses.

We had new passports delivered the other week - came via courier, not post.

Royal Mail can be amazingly pants, though. They stuck a note through my sister's door, while she was in, saying 'we tried to deliver a parcel' while she was in. Lazy gits. To make things worse, when she went to the sorting office, they denied all knowledge and claimed it wasn't there, they'd never heard of it, and she'd imagined the the whole thing! Even though she had the ruddy card in her hand.

It was only when she threw a major strop that they 'discovered' the parcel was actually there after all. If my sister wasn't such a fine exponent of the art of behaving like a 2yo when she feels like it, no doubt some Royal Mail person would have helped themselves to her birthday present. Or chucked it down the back of the desk just because they couldn't be arsed.

well Pat and his deliveries "...in the early morning, when the day is dawning..." is waaaaay off!!

chuqqabopps - no, if it was someone else at this address, I wouldn't have minded, as there is no way they would know that. It is actually a different address (street name close-ish to ours, but the number doesn't even always correspond (nor the post code for that matter)). We used to write on it that it was delivered to the wrong address and pop it in the nearest post box, but since it's happening so often now we just pop it back and hope we don't get it a second time.

I'll start scanning it in as proof before I pop it back (I'm hoping whoever gets ours does the same - we do often get envelopes with something written on it re misdelivery), and then complain. Thanks for the number and details. Hmm, actually - do you think I should just keep it until I have a couple instead of scanning? I'm normally worried that it might be something important for the other person.

I probably shouldnt say this but largely the issues that the customers are now experiencing are the result of deregulation and the top management- like the "walks" setting out from the delivery office later in the day.
The average delivery guy/girl gets a lot of flack that they dont deserve- the walks have been re calculated to include many more houses each for a start. There are security people within the service that work in tandem with the police to try to minimise theft and fraud (they set up sting opperations).
There are many pressures on the industry that I wont bore you with- but essentially the universal service agreement that ensures that a stamp can take a letter anywhere within the UK is a bargain at 24p.

sal- yes scan the proof in and send it with a covering letter to royal mail customer services - (I would add the words Flag Case Unit personally) and send a copy into this address: Postwtch, 24-26 Arthur Street, Belfast BT1 4GF
this is where the consumer complaints are investigated nationally. RM should reply to both you and postwatch to get the situation resolved.

Thank you very much, chuqqabopps.

no problem sal

does anyone else have any postal questions or complaints while Im here?

Can't see that its ever unreasonable to be angry at RM, fwiw.

DH has lost several consignments recently going out; one keepd getting ssent abck despite the package clearly amrking this as return addy , at one point they told us it was on a return trip but we'd only re-posted day before! Clients clearly impressed, as you can imagine

They dont seem o leave cards much either now, firsta dvice to clients is always ask at sorting office (in fairness though our home postie is fab)

Our local office now advises people not to use recorded for London, they say it rarely seems to arrive due to backlog and confusion

(would also add in the interestsd f fairness that the TNT posting section s aprts of Dh's office and they're no better)

I'd rater pay a bit more for a more reliable service. The cost of a stamp now is a pittance compatred t the rise in costs that RM experience such as petrol. The only problem is that would affect lots of charities I know, but maybe a bulk buy reduction scheme for registered charities or something?

Royal Mail = Total crap shit service!

I think the lazy postman in Viz is not very far wide of the mark, at least in my former London borough.

A friend of mine has had to ask people to stop sending her cards. They were all going missing; someone was opening them to see if they contained cash (occasionally they did, from her grandmother).