royal mail woes

[thetyreman]

has anyone else been having problems with RM lately? I ordered something almost 2 weeks ago and still hasn't arrived, I have never known it be this bad, the seller recheduled delivery for today, was in all day and it didn't turn up!

 

[RogerS]

Don't quite follow you. You say the seller rescheduled for delivery today. Do you mean the person who sold you the stuff or RM? In order for the seller to reschedule then the item needs to have been sent 'tracked'. And so if it was then you should be abe to see the tracking history

 

[thetyreman]

Don't quite follow you. You say the seller rescheduled for delivery today. Do you mean the person who sold you the stuff or RM? In order for the seller to reschedule then the item needs to have been sent 'tracked'. And so if it was then you should be abe to see the tracking history

it's signed for but not tracked, so I need to be in yet don't know where it is, never known anything take this long to arrive, it's truly ridiculous in my opinion.

 

[Trevanion]

I've never had any issues with RM. I always send stuff with them as I know it will get there, unlike when sending stuff with the like of Yodel or Hermes/EVRI even though RM is a fair bit more expensive.

I had to send something via Parcelforce this week because regular RM couldn't handle it as it was oversize, it came to £15. Had I used Yodel, it would've been £7.50, so it's no wonder that they're struggling when all the competitors are undercutting them massively. That said, RM pays their employees a proper wage (even though they go on strike about it) plus all the other benefits, while the other companies either pay minimum wage or by the parcel which isn't much better.

 

[AJB Temple]

RM here is truly hopeless. There is also nothing royal about it. As is the accuracy of their tracking - which at times is pure fantasy. Very inconsistent and often things will arrive on a different day. I now refuse to accept anything at all signed for, for this reason, and tell sellers that. If RM take things back to their distribution centre they can send it back to the seller as I will not drive 12 miles to do RMs job for them. And post office stamps are a total rip off now - endless and frequent price rises mean we don't use them at all. Evri is dead reliable here, courtesy of Andrei who has been delivering to us for almost 5 years for them. Amazon are also 100% reliable on Prime next day or same day. Much as I dislike making Bezos richer, at least he runs a professional operation.

 

[Malc2098]

Hmmm. It seems we all have different experiences of all the different delivery organisations. I have no problem with Royal Mail, Evri, DPD, DHL, Amazon.

It seems it could be a postcode lottery.

 

[RogerS]

How's about this wowzer from DHL. Bouncing around all over the place. You can ignore the 'Further consignee information needed'. They use that when they cock-up or CBA to do their job.

 

[thetyreman]

I'm not anti royal mail, most of the time they do a good job, it's just odd, I missed delivery it was supposed to be last monday, then I contacted the seller and it was rescheduled to be 28th of may and it never arrived, it just happens to be a valuable item as well something I needed fast, because I was repairing a valve amp so I ordered NOS valves, every time I've ordered from them before it's been here within 2-3 working days, I'm trying to find out the phone number of the local sorting office to see if they've made a mistake or they've sent it back to the sender, they are supposed to leave a card through the door and tell you they attempted delivery yet haven't done that, not much I can do except wait right now.

 

[Dr.Al]

How's about this wowzer from DHL. Bouncing around all over the place. You can ignore the 'Further consignee information needed'. They use that when they cock-up or CBA to do their job.View attachment 33773

I had a similar one with FedEx a few years ago. My postcode is GL11, but the parcel had somehow ended up with a second label (added by FedEx after it had been imported at Heathrow) with G11 on it instead. FedEx sent it to Bristol (my local delivery office), who saw the G11 postcode and put it on a lorry to go to the Midlands distribution centre en route to Glasgow. The Midlands centre saw GL11 and sent it back to Bristol. Bristol sent it back to the Midlands. It bounced back and forth about 8 times before I managed to get through to FedEx Bristol just before the lorry left for the Midlands and they managed to pull the parcel off (I'd previously rang them a few times to ask them to stop sending it to the Midlands, but that was apparently too difficult unless I rang at just the right time).

Delivering it was still too difficult so I had to drive down to Bristol and collect it.

 

[SamQ aka Ah! Q!]

I'm not taking sides.

But...I live at the end of a cul-de-sac, served by an unadopted roadway (because its very poor concreting and put-it-right costs would give the local council conniptions). But...at the outer end of what is obviously a road to at least three dwellings, is a sign directing one to Chez Sam (and three others)...below waist level...because the garden wall that is behind it is that height....so...white van man, looking out of his Transit-lookalike, higher up than most drivers, expecting a sign at HIS eye level, like "Stop!" and "Give way" signs, 'e don't see it do 'e? Insert expletive of your choice Dear Reader; I've worn most of them out.

Sam, see him here, see him...No I bl**dy don't!

 

[Lons]

Our Royal Mail is pretty good, helped no end by a reliable and accomodating postman and Evei used to be good as the local guy had been there seven years and knew everybody but he's just left for pastures new and I've heard some horror stories.

Today I received three parcels via the postie no probs but the fourth came via Yodel, a pack of two Mapp gas cylinders except there was only one plus a rolled up bit of cardboard. Luckly I was suspicious, made the driver wait while I opened it, took photos and refused to accept delivery. That's never happened to me before.

 

[Dalboy]

Royal mail down here in the SE of the UK is terrible some letters not arriving for days even weeks and months after being posted.

I found this so are they committing a crime by delaying the Mail.

"84 Interfering with the mail: general.

(1)A person commits an offence if, without reasonable excuse, he—

(a)intentionally delays or opens a postal packet in the course of its transmission by post, or

(b)intentionally opens a mail-bag.

(2)Subsections (2) to (5) of section 83 apply to subsection (1) above as they apply to subsection (1) of that section.

(3)A person commits an offence if, intending to act to a person’s detriment and without reasonable excuse, he opens a postal packet which he knows or reasonably suspects has been incorrectly delivered to him.

(4)Subsections (2) and (3) of section 83 (so far as they relate to the opening of postal packets) apply to subsection (3) above as they apply to subsection (1) of that section.

(5)A person who commits an offence under subsection (1) or (3) shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both. "

 

[spb]

The key word there is 'intentionally' - incompetence, either individual or organisational, is explicitly not included in the offence.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

My wife works for a bank, they get transactions held up by a poor postal service. Often even first class post gets delivered only twice a week. Letters apparently are are low priority for the R.M. as they have a monopoly. I read of someone sending all his really important mail by 24hr small parcel, just putting the envelope in a small box.

 

[HappyHacker]

I have usually had good service from RM parcel delivery but the mail comes two or three times per week. The 24 and 48 hour deliveries seem very unreliable.

The rest of the delivery services are hit and very miss. The local WhatsApp group regularly has appeals for have you seen our parcel, often with a photo of said parcel on some random doorstep. We are in a village where they are very few house numbers and lots of house names which must be a problem for drivers who don't have the local knowledge even the sat naves dot always get it right.

 

[thetyreman]

It finally arrived today...so only 3 days away from being 3 full weeks late