No presents

[madcatladyforever]

I ordered all my gifts online 3 weeks ago and none of them have turned up. I can't go Christmas shopping in the nearest town because I look after extremely vulnerable people so do the responsible thing and order online.
So I have no gifts for my family.
I rang the post office and they say they have a massive backlog and I won't get them before Christmas.
I have no idea what to do now, all my family are 300 miles away so I can't drive down there and leave them on the doorstep.
So pissed off.

I waited 3 weeks for the white company deliveries so it is possible. However it is not the post office’s fault- once it had been dispatched it took 2 days to arrive. It’s their warehouse that was overwhelmed.

I've had an eight day delivery time on a first class parcel UK mainland posted early this month and on the phone with a company in my local city yesterday they told me a guy had waited 12 days for a parcel sent first class to arrive.

It's happening round my way!

I’m in East Sussex and have had three parcels from three different places all very delayed. One has been 5 weeks and I’m still waiting for it

Things have been very slow here by Royal Mail, can be the delay in dispatching sometimes that doesn't help ( eBay sellers particularly) . I've had things taking over a week to come 2nd class. Deliveries by Hermes,DPD, amazon coming so fast, often the next day despite selecting standard. So Royal mail seems a poor service in comparison.

If sending overseas things are taking longer due to less flights.

I don't seem to be getting post daily then getting a load, so who knows. I queued at the post office for ages on Monday, it was heaving. Normally a queue of 1-2 there was 15 people at our little shop. So they must be busy.

But honestly OP they sound lost, not delayed.

Check the Royal mail website for how to claim compensation.

Also ordered every present online, and all delivered on time as expected. I’ve ordered a load of small bits and pieces today and all have been promising delivery before Christmas. Very rural Scotland, but not Highlands and Islands.

How bizarre. I’ve ordered everything online from many different places, all but one thing turned up by or before the estimated date. The one thing that didn’t disappeared in transit and I’ve had a full and speedy refund.

Did you order them all from China? What kind of fortune tellers are the Post Office employing these days, that they can confidently predict they won't be delivered to you 😂

All deliveries not sent royal mail have been QUICKER than in previous years!

Maybe the person knows their local depot is overwhelmed?

But I've seen your name before, so this might not be a wind up. In which case, is there any tracking? Did you order from stores in administration, such as Debenhams? Have the retailers confirmed all have been dispatched?

Use amazon prime. Get them delivered to your relatives addresses.

Job done.

None have arrived?

Did you order from Wish??

Royal Mail is currently experiencing delays in certain parts of the country due to staff being off sick and an increase in online shopping due to covid. I'm a small independent seller and have had a few customers from the end of November not receive orders yet. I'm still waiting for a cheque which was posted over 10 days ago.
I've not really had any issues with ordering from companies using other courier services though.

@Iseeyoulookingatme oh what areas, can I see online ?

If you were my relative, I'd actually be perfectly happy getting my gifts late from you. It's nice to get gifts a bit spread out over the weeks. It definitely brightens January.
I've had family members and friends really stress about it but I honestly love a late gift 😁

I’ve ordered tonnes of things recently and so have other people to arrive at my house. A few things arrived here a couple of days after my birthday but apart from that pretty much everything that has been ordered has arrived within the week. Various couriers as well as Royal Mail. It does seem odd that ALL your parcels have not been delivered and won’t be until after Xmas!

We post daily

11 days for second class- 5 parcels- posted 30th Nov
14 days for 2nd class- posted 3rd Dec
3 days for special delivery this week
etc etc

OP if everything was ordered 3 weeks ago there's still a chance they'll arrive. I've had a couple of items arrive pretty much 3 weeks after they were ordered. Both were very late and ordered in November. Other smaller things were also late but nowhere near that bad.

Have you ordered a lot? Would it be possible to return some of it and use Amazon etc instead? They're still doing next day deliveries.

Did you order from China? Amazon do next day delivery and you can get items delivered directly to recipient. Obviously it won't be wrapped in Xmas paper. I would do that and return other stuff when it arrives late.

Obviously it won't be wrapped in Xmas paper.

I've received gifts sent directly via Amazon that came wrapped in Christmassy drawstring bags.

The OP has certainly been very unfortunate - several places I've bought presents from are still posting/courier-ing tomorrow for delivery before Christmas.

I find it odd that so many people are incredulous of the OP's statement. My Mum lives in the North and their local sorting office has a 3 week backlog at the moment. They're delivering all day every day until Christmas Eve but haven't a hope of getting through it all.

I both sent and ordered parcels on the 7th December and neither have arrived yet. I don't consider either of them 'lost', just delayed and that can't be helped. The postal service are completely overwhelmed.

I'm not 'incredulous' Duzzy, just adding my own experience.

And the North is a big place! My relatives living in a particular Northern city have had no noteworthy delays in sending or receiving post over the past three weeks. But obviously things will vary at the very local level.

I'm in London and there's a huge backlog of parcels. Our local WhatsApp groups are awash with people waiting 2-3 weeks for first class signed for.

If they're late being delivered they will be late being given, shit happens.

It would be ridiculous to buy more gifts unless they're for a small child and yours are their only presents.