The Royal Mail

[Laurinha]

Hi, this will be quite a long question but I really hope someone can stick it out and offer me some advice..please?

About ten times over the last four years my mum has sent me birthday cards, christmas cards etc and the majority have not arrived!  The ones that have done have inevitably been torn open and the contents removed!  (I didn't have the heart to tell my mum the first few times) anyway.. along the same lines...

I recently posted a package to Ireland and paid �8 to have it registered and tracked, it was to arrive 2/3 working days after postage - the package went off the radar for two weeks!   So... I called Royal Mail customer service who were actually rude to me, said they would call me back and never did.  I took it upon myself to try and find out where my package went.

I spoke to a woman in the actual post office who said she remembers it getting put in the wrong mail bag and sent regular post! 
During this time I had to call International to Dublin on numerous occasions to a professional company continually asking them if my package had arrived!

I sent an email to Royal Mail customer service three weeks ago and received an automated reply to say that my message had been received.  I have heard nothing since and have emailed them twice again to say I am awaiting a response.

Is there someone outside the Royal Mail I can contact about the theft and ineptitude?  Can Trading Standards or even the police help?  The Royal Mail are ignoring me! 

[ninja]

I have experienced the levels of ineptitude you mention first hand. A while back I had a bank card sent to me by my bank go missing in the post & used fraudulently. After making a claim & getting the money back I was advised to let the Post Office know about it, which I duly did over the phone. Two days later I got a letter basically saying it was my own fault & perhaps I should consider sending things registered post next time. I couldn't really see how that would be possible considering I was the expectant recipient not the sender!!

[lilyfrog]

I have had similar with cards stolen in the post and also packages lost in the post.

As for your birthday cards I would report it to the police (not that they are really much better it following up your enquieries)

[BigB]

Hi

The Royal Mail are a bunch of t�&ts.

If you are going to send a birthday card throught the post it is best to put it in a plain brown envelope. The thieves at Royal Mail know anything in a pretty envelope is probaby a card with something of value in it so they nick it.

You can complain to ********* (www.*********.co.uk) who are the watchdog for Royal Mail and such like.

Hope this helps. If you need any more info let me know. After all the problems i have had with Royal mail i think i can be classed as an expert :)

BigB

[BigB]

substitute the stars for Post Watch without the space

[VINNY100_2]

I sent my mum one of these indoor waterfalls.It didnt arrive so i got in touch with the postoffice and they said they couldnt do anything about it.About a month later it arrived.I can only assume the thiefing postie who nicked it, had it in his house and got fed up with the constant noise of water flowing,or did he actually feel guilty.I had a red stamp made with ********* on it and I always stamp the corner of the parcel.so far so good.(:)

[VINNY100_2]

That says p..o..s..*..*..*..*..c..h.why was that edited?

[VINNY100_2]

okay try again post..................

watch.

[kazza12345]

it's edited because of the rudey word in the middle - rather like weight watchers and scu nthorpe

[VINNY100_2]

Now I see it kazza.lol(:)

[Laurinha]

I can't believe that this is so wide-spread!  What a disgusting situation - people can longer simply post an item safe in the knowledge that it will arrive (sooner or later).  We have to fork out for Tracking it and even then items go AWOL!  I can't believe that the Royal Mail can get away with it, everybody knows what's happening yet they continue to blatantly rob the public.  What a massive breach of trust!  I find it sickening.  I am so going to try and do something about this... watch this space... I'm on a mission!

[ursula62]

Last year I ordered a film on DVD from amazon for a christmas pressy for a relative. The film never arrived. I contacted Amazon and they sent a replacement next day, which arrived fine - by registered post.

Then a couple of months later I got a letter from the royal mail saying that if I didn't reply to their letters regarding the loss and possible theft of my parcel (none of which I had received) they would tell Amazon that I had received the missing goods and I would be billed for them and the police would be informed about the theft/fraud. Numerous phone calls to the number on the letterhead resulted in me not receiving any of the letters they claimed to have sent, and two letters I wrote did not result in a reply.

Nine months later I received the film - it had been sent to a town with the same name in Canada and returned via Australia and the Isle of Wight.

I rang Amazon to say it had finally turned up butthey didn't want it back as by then they had been paid compensation by the royal mail insurance, but I sent it back to them anyway as I didn't want it - the darned thing was only �5.99 in Morrisons as it was so old hat!

[Laurinha]

They take no action even when you are the sender 10ClarionSt 

[delboy3]

To add to the list of woes...

Not long ago my wife & I were expecting bank cards in the post. Neither ever arrived, yet someone got hold of them and went on a spending spree. Luckily the bank noticed the sudden splurge and cancelled the transactions.

All the Royal Mail did (after a heated phone call) was send a letter of apology and some stamps.

More recently, I ordered a special box of biscuits as a birthday present for my wife. I ordered it to be delivered to me on a Wednesday, when somebody would be in to receive it. It arrived the day before, but as there was nobody in, it went back to depot. However, when I later went there to pick it up, there was no sign of the parcel. After a week (and well after my wife's birthday plus the biscuits had started to turn) they called me to say it had turned up. No word of explanation.

And on a few occasions when we received other people's mail, when my wife finally got to calmly point this out to the postwoman, she (my wife) was met with a mouthful of abuse!

Thankfully the EU is working towards eradicating the monopoly of Royal Mail; can't come soon enough!!

[Laurinha]

And they gave themselves a massive bonus at the start of the year because their earnings went up!  No wonder - They're not delivering peoples mail they're taking it home by the sack load and making people pay for special delivery!

[d0gsb0dy]

On the subject of Post Office dishonesty, when sending small items of value always put them in a large packet. if they packaging is pocket-sized, the risk of theft is increased.

[jackbox]

What staggers me is the statistics we're supposed to believe. According to Royal Mail the loss rate is 0.005%. It HAS to be at least double that simply because a lot of missing mail won't get reported. After all, if you're expecting THREE parcels (as I was this week) and none arrive, you get suspicious and might then make enquiries but what about mail you never knew had been sent?

I'm informed that there was "An incident which is being investigated" (Mail was stolen is what they mean). Had I not been expecting parcels I might NEVER have known my mail had been stolen - and what about my neighbours? How much of theirs has gone missing? And if its never found (or indeed reported), how does that fit into this absurd 0.005%??? 

Added to which, this unbelievable figure is cooked up by Royal Mail - its not independently verified and as there have been no end of reports of forged log books, I am inclined to take it with a pinch of salt. The danger, and no doubt why Royal Mail was so keen to pick up on the TV Documentary about theft inside Royal Mail, is that once its undermined and seen as an unreliable and untrustworthy service, its future is dead.

The truth is - it is. You CANNOT rely on Royal Mail and its long term future is bleak to say the least. If it takes 50p a letter to ensure a reliable service then thats the way it has to go. For now I won't use Royal Mail and if i HAVE to use them, I'll only use Special Delivery in any case. Everything else is at the mercy of whoever handles it.

Agree though, there is no one to complain to other than Royal Mail themselves and no matter how much they try to keep the lid on its poor state, we the end users see it for what it is.

[jackbox]

Actually I've just been musing over Royal Mail with a friend this morning. He is right in saying that deep down this country has a respect for its postal service but unfortunately 1st class post is a curse for them. The business sector is where its at and they'd rather ditch normal post from a financial point of view. 

Theft of mail is (or was) a SERIOUS effence. We think death should be the minimum sentence - and of close family members, friends and anyone the employee ever spoke to. Certainly a ten year sentence should apply. We're all for putting them in a Post Office Iron Maiden contraption and then driving them around for a week on a REALLY bumpy lorry - by second class post.