On Saturday November 7th, I missed the first half of a very important delivery of documents. Tragedy? Not really. A red Royal Mail card had been dropped through my letter box, and all I had to do was stop by my local post office on the way home from work on Monday to pick it up. 54 hours after the first delivery, the documents were safely in hand.
On Wednesday November 11th, I missed the second half of the same delivery. This time it was a tragedy. This time the card wasn’t red; it was blue. The delivery company had come by mid-afternoon on a weekday looking for my signature, and were surprised to find I wasn’t at home! I called to arrange redelivery only to find the customer service office was only open from 9 to 5, so I had to go online and trust a website service to sort it out for me. A confirmation email did little to comfort me – I would receive my delivery on Saturday the 21st, 10 days later, sometime between 9 and 5.
On the appointed day I was awake well before 9am, and spent the whole day waiting. I never strayed more than a few metres from the door, never stopped straining my ears for the sound of the delivery arriving. I kept reassuring myself that it would come at any time, any minute now I would be freed from my waiting. By mid-afternoon I couldn’t take it any more. I called the dispatch office. “Your delivery failed this morning ma’am. When would you like to have it redelivered?” My delivery has what? Someone came by at 8.45 and no one was there to receive it, she said. Had I not received a blue card? No, of course I hadn’t. I had been waiting by the door all day. No one had knocked, no one had called, and wasn’t 8.45 outside of the delivery window anyway? She repeated that the delivery had failed, and would I rather collect it during the week? Anytime between 9 and 4, the nearest location was only thirty miles away.
After much frustration, and completely wasted attempts at reasoning, I was assured that it would be delivered the following Saturday as a priority, and I would be given a shorter delivery window. On the morning of the 28th, I call to check on this. “Sometime between 9 and 5, ma’am,” says the innocent on the end of the line. I resist the urge to yell at him. I calmly explain the situation, explaining the conversation I had with his colleague. He understands, is terribly sorry, but there is nothing he can do. Four hundred and eight hours after that first attempt, two Saturdays lost sitting and waiting, and still I’m empty handed.
So here I sit, waiting for a delivery, thinking fondly of that little red card from Royal Mail. I shouldn’t sit idly. ‘Tis the season for Christmas shopping, the websites all tell me. But which of them will deliver through the only people I trust?
i sent a letter 4th may to croydon surrey to a friend they still have not recieved it i posted it 1st class with post code c r 2 o q f why have they not recieved it you expect your mail to be safe when you post it and get to that person and it has not
i am complaning about a birthday card the was posted about a week ago but because it took so long to reach me i have all ready had my birthday. Not only that as its was 12p short on the postage i also have been charged £1 handling wich is a bit much. i would not of minded if the birthday card had of turned up before my birthday. i nave never known any letter or card to take a week to get from basingstoke, hants to get to me at flat 3,15 woodland terrace, plymouth, devon, pl4 8nl. SORRY BUT THE SERVICE IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH. YOURS ANNOYED
Posted a jiffy bag with my Grandaughters little present and card in it. her birthday was 8th nov posted it on 3rd nov to make sure it got there on time .Rang everyday surprise; no parcel. my grandaughter was so upset and I cried all day. How can you tell a child that you have sent thier present’ but it never gets there paid £3 1st class. What is the point. Do they have a big hole in the sorting office and some things dissapear down it Or it could have been the fairies. Who knows. All I know is that if I could have spoken to anyone to complain it might have softened the blow but when you ring all I got was.”press 1″ Press 2 ” press 3. I know what I would have liked to press and it would have been painful . How are they allowed to get away with this. Sort it out cause none of my family or friends will be using them this xmas..
why do we as public have to put up with the constant rip off merchants royal mail?
i was always under the impression that if you sent a letter 1st class it got there the next day ????
I have recently sent 2 letters 1st class and one 1st class special delivery and on the 3 occasions none of them got there within 3 days what a complete shambles and when i complained they were so sorry and would get back to me after looking into it !!! still waiting they have not even got the decency to respond, what garbage they must be the worst company in this country to deal with..
Are we eligible for a refund on our 1st class stamps if they do not arrive ? no they make the excuse that 85% of letters arrive next day, sorry but 15% failure to me is a hell of a lot of letters.
I now I email everything my company sends where possible and if i have to send any documents I send by courier even though it costs more I do it on principal
whoever is CEO of royal mail wants replacing with someone who has customer care at heart because the idiot they have now obviously does not.
When I mentioned my recent experience to a postmaster he told me “They are a complete shambles and I have to work with them”
YES ROYAL MAIL WHO ARE USEING ARE ROYAL CROWN AS THERE LOGO LET US DOWN AGAIN AND WHEN YOU COMPLAIN .THEY SAY NEXT TIME PAY FOR A SPECIAL DELIVERY WE PAYED FOR RECORDERD DELIVERY AND YES WE SENT MONEY TO ARE BROTHER INLAW WHOS 50th BIRTHDAY IT WAS THINKING ALL THE CARDS WE HAVE SENT OVER THE YEARS THIS WOULD BE NO DIFFRENT BUT ROYAL MAIL HAVE A HIDDEN AGENDA IT IS THEY CAN NOT CONFIRM IT WILL ARRIVE BUT PAY FOR A SPECIAL.DELIVERY THEN WE CAN TRACK THEM. AND EACH PERSON WHO WORKS FOR US KNOWS THEY CAN BE MADE ACCOUNTABLE .WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT THE BIGGEST COMPANY IN THE UK IF NOT THE WORLD 14.3 BILLON BILLION ITEMS HANDLED 2013/4 AND EVERY DAY16.300 COMPLAINTS WHATS WRONG ROYAL MAIL.IS EVERY WORKFORCE POLICE CHEAKED QUESTIONS NEED TO BE ASKED THIS COMPANY WHO ENRICHED WITH HISTORY AND EXELLENT POST MEN AND WOMEN ONLY FOR HITS MINORITY WHO STEALS OF ITS CUSTOMERS I WAS IN THE ARMY AND HAD THE QUEENS BADGE AND WORE WITH PRIDE .ITS SAD TO SAY BUT HISTORY AND PRIDE OF THE ROYAL MAIL LOGO IS TAKEN FOR GRANTERD. LET THE COMPANY BE RUN CORRECT. AND SPECIAL DELIVERY BE AT ALL CLASS OF DELIVERYS INSTEAD OF BEING ONE TRACKED PARCELS AND SPECIAL DELIVERY .I AM NOT POLITICALY MOTIVATERD IN ANY FORM BUT ENOUGH IS ENOUGH ITS AL ABOUT SPECIAL DELIVERY AS I WAS TOLD WHEN COPLAINED .THE WORDS WERE I WOULD RECOMMEND USING OUR SPECIAL DELIVERY SERVICE IF SENDING MONEY OR VOUCHERS IN THE FUTURE .WHAT FUTURE WILL ROYAL HAVE .
I had a card saying Royal Mail couldn’t deliver a package last week
I went at 7.30 am to my sorting office where you can’t park and even at that time had a queue to collect my package. I gave in the card and was handed a package. It was only when I got home that I realised they had given me the wrong one. I rang and was told they could redeliver to my home between 1 and 6 pm on Tuesday. I arrived home by 1 to find a card saying they had tried to deliver at 9.45. When I ranf again they said there is nothing they can do. They can’t even deliver to my work as its in a different postal area even though its local. You is their error and yet no service is provided by them. A manager was supposed to ring me to discuss- still haven’t heard and its 8 pm now. Disgusted!