Funeral letter delay is Royal Mail's final insult

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/News/Dundee ... nsult.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Royal Mail has come under further fire after a letter confirming funeral arrangements arrived at a Barnhill woman's home nine days after her father's funeral took place.

Eileen MacDonald, who lives with her husband Alex in Stracathro Terrace, received the letter on Wednesday which confirmed arrangements they discussed with the undertakers more than a fortnight ago.

It is the latest incident involving the 100,000-strong backlog of mail, with Mr MacDonald branding the situation "ridiculous."

He has written to Royal Mail to complain about the situation and has also urged the undertakers to complain.

Mr MacDonald told The Courier, "I'm furious. Royal Mail took a fortnight to get this letter from Lochee to Barnhill.

"Mind you, it's franked south East Anglia. I don't know why it's got to go down there.

"This letter was posted on December 14, confirming the arrangements we had already discussed with the undertaker. The funeral was on December 20 and this has only just arrived now."

He added, "I don't think you can print what I think about this, other than to say I'm thoroughly unimpressed.

"It has really upset my wife. It was her father. It's brought it all back to her, she was just beginning to get over this."
'Furious'

Mr MacDonald said, "I've asked the undertakers to raise it from their side as I don't think me raising it will do much good.

"I'm absolutely furious."

Another irate Dundee customer, Gregory Davidson of Granton Terrace, has written to Royal Mail to express his "utter disgust at the incompetence of the sorting office in Dundee East" after they "lost" his baby daughter's passport — sent to him on December 18.

"Unfortunately I was not in to sign for the parcel when it arrived at my house so a slip was left by the postman advising me that I needed to rearrange delivery or pick the parcel up from the sorting office after 48 hours," he said.

"I decided to rearrange delivery via the Royal Mail website and this was to take place on December 21."

He added, "I waited until Christmas Eve before deciding to visit the sorting office at 9am to collect my parcel in person."

However, it emerged that staff were unable to locate the passport and Mr Davidson had to leave empty-handed after being unable to speak to a manager.

He was contacted and told they still hadn't found it and, despite strongly "debating" the situation, was told no-one could help until after they returned to work on Wednesday.

Mr Davidson said, "I advised her of the importance of getting back to me early to allow me time to make arrangements to travel to Glasgow to arrange an emergency passport as we were leaving on Friday to travel abroad."
Two deliveries a week

He said that a manager advised him on Wednesday the passport was lost, as she was unable to find it.

Mr Davidson said, "I advised her that I was going to put in a complaint to the Royal Mail about this.

"I also advised her that I would be contacting my local councillor and Tayside Police as I felt that my baby's passport had a monetary value and I was deeply concerned about its whereabouts."

Meanwhile, a resident of Emmock Woods, Dundee, says her son's hospital appointment went missing in the post.

The woman said management can't claim the weather is to blame as she experienced difficulties with mail from early November.

She said, "I have been awaiting delivery of an urgent letter posted on November 16 from Ninewells with an urgent appointment for my son.

"Had we not been in contact with the hospital, the appointment contained in this letter for November 26 would have passed and failure to attend could have impacted adversely on diagnosis and prognosis."

She added, "Also two packages from Amazon despatched on November 20 as well as numerous packages (all intended Christmas presents) despatched on November 30 and numerous letters containing sensitive information (bank statements, insurance documents) have all failed to arrive.

"The postman advised me that we'd be 'lucky to get two deliveries a week from now on... that's just the way things are."

[Straight4ward]

Sorry for their loss - but - were the telephone lines down then?

[Lounge Lizard]

Sorry for their loss - but - were the telephone lines down then?

Yes, surely something of that importance merits phone confirmation or Special Delivery, especially given how much we pay undertakers for their services.

[sareknees]

The Way Forward/Backwards "PRIVATISATION" RM

[arnold cheshire]

id would have thought face to face contact would have been the norm under these circumstances

[Lounge Lizard]

And if the undertaker had addressed it wrongly it would have ended up as a Dead Letter.
Sorry, I'll get my coat.

[arnold cheshire]

sorry my condolces but did the family miss the funeral altogether deepest sympathy