Big RM lie about IT&S

[kurbads]

International Tracked & Signed is a separate service sold separately from International Signed by Royal Mail.

Yet there is absolutely no difference between International Tracked & Signed and International Signed only.

They cost the same.

And the moment the parcel leaves UK, tracking stops with the text,

e.g.

Item: RY080176370GB
via International Tracked & Signed
End-to-end tracking and signature on delivery

Latest update: It's on its way
Your item, posted on 27/08/16 with reference RY080176370GB has been passed to the overseas postal service for delivery in GREECE.

If you open the details it says

01/09/16 AM ON ITS WAY TOGLS ATHENS GREECE

Today is 11/09/16 for God's sake!!!

For those who don't know, TOGLS is 'TO GLS' with a spelling mistake.

And GLS is notorious Royal Mail subsidiary in Europe which cannot process any parcel with single non-Latin character e.g. umlaut in name or address and provides no tracking whatsoever.

My question is

If International Tracked & Signed and International Signed are different services, why do they cost the same?

If they are same, why are they sold differently?

If there is a separate service for International Tracked & Signed, how to obtain it?

And also

Is it not absurd that International Tracked only is more expensive than International Tracked & Signed?

Does it reveal a clue about why and where there is a lie about the product?

Does International Tracked provide true tracking abroad? Why is it not available with a signature?

Because no matter how you buy International Tracked & Signed, you are lied about what you bought and you end up having Signed only!

And it does not offer to buy a Tracked only on Royal Mail Click & Drop. It is an option well guarded by RM from their customers.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

My question is

If International Tracked & Signed and International Signed are different services, why do they cost the same?

If they are same, why are they sold differently?
If there is a separate service for International Tracked & Signed, how to obtain it?
And also
Is it not absurd that International Tracked only is more expensive than International Tracked & Signed?
Does it reveal a clue about why and where there is a lie about the product?
Does International Tracked provide true tracking abroad? Why is it not available with a signature?
Because no matter how you buy International Tracked & Signed, you are lied about what you bought and you end up having Signed only!
And it does not offer to buy a Tracked only on Royal Mail Click & Drop. It is an option well guarded by RM from their customers.

Sorry can't answer any of that we are not Royal Mail so we cannot answer your questions, as they are of a commercial/Marketing type when we are generally Operations and Customer Service, and posting on here outside of work.

Sorry but you will need to find another avenue to get answers

We have no affiliation with either Royal Mail or the Communications Workers Union (CWU), except that most of our members work for Royal Mail and/or are members of the CWU.

However GLS have tracking and its showing on there https://gls-group.eu/EU/en/parcel-tracking" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

here is their contact form as well https://gls-group.eu/EU/en/contact-form" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[kurbads]

Please do not answer if you can not answer. The GLS tracking website is fake. It will only tell you that your tracking number is not recognised. Please do not speak about something you have no clue about and do not say that you cannot answer, keep it to your self. Your admission of helplessness is not a virtue.

That is not a marketing question. That is rhetoric question. The same cost means that is the same product which is the lie about.

I will complain to http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/c ... laints.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Snaggletooth]

I think I can shed a small amount of light on this (this is how it was explained to us in the Post Office):

Foreign countries vary in the standards of equipment that they have in their postal operations. This affects what standards of service can be offered after leaving the UK. RM has split the countries of the world into two groups. For the high standard group, where the other country can offer end-to-end tracking (e.g. Germany), RM sell International Tracked and International Tracked & Signed. For the low standard group, where the other country can't offer any tracking at the other end (e.g. Italy), RM sell International Signed. RM do not sell the inferior International Signed service where they can offer the better services, so there are no countries for which all three of the above services are offered.

So to answer some of your specific questions:

• You will not be able to buy International Tracked unless your item is going to one of the fifty or so countries that have the IT infrastructure to support it;
  
  If you are not getting end-to-end tracking when buying International Tracked & Signed then you should claim a refund using a P58international form (but wait until the item has been delivered, the example you showed is probably stuck in customs);
  
  International Tracked is supposed to be given priority over International Tracked & Signed so that the former is on average supposed to be on the plane one day before the latter, that's what the price difference is for.

As to why Signed costs the same as Tracked & Signed, I can only speculate, but I would expect that Signed actually costs RM more than Tracked & Signed. That's because items are much more likely to get lost in countries that only offer Signed, leading to much higher claim rates. What I do know is that Royal Mail loses money on International Signed to certain countries because the claims from parcels getting lost abroad wipe out the profits RM would expect to make. IMHO the only reason that Signed doesn't cost more than Tracked & Signed is that the regulator would never approve that.

[Snaggletooth]

Please do not answer if you can not answer. The GLS tracking website is fake. It will only tell you that your tracking number is not recognised. Please do not speak about something you have no clue about and do not say that you cannot answer, keep it to your self. Your admission of helplessness is not a virtue.

This is no way to treat somebody who is trying to help you.

That is not a marketing question. That is rhetoric question. The same cost means that is the same product which is the lie about.

Well, yes it is a marketing question. I hope that what I told you in the last post sheds some light on this for you. As for the same cost meaning that it is the same product ... there is no basis for that either in UK law or practice. Further more, the pricing structure of Royal Mail has to go through a lot of processes that normal commercial companies are not subject to, including international treaties, public interest tests and the regulator's 'basket' pricing policy. The regulator has often over ruled prices that RM have proposed to bring in. The cost of an RM service is a poor guide to how much that service costs to provide or what is involved in providing it.

I will complain to http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/c ... laints.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That would be an enormous waste of time as the Financial Ombudsman have no power over Royal Mail. The process is:

• Complain to Royal Mail;
  Complain to Postal Review Panel;
  Complain to independent postal redress scheme (POSTRS) - see http://ask.ofcom.org.uk/help/post/postcomp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

It must be done in that order, or your complaint will not be heard.

If you are having issues with GLS' tracking site, try this one: http://www.track-trace.com/post" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Please do not answer if you can not answer.

You are very aggressive to a site that can't help you just like I explained. But to make it crystal clear

We are not a Royal Mail website, we are an independant website for Postal Workers

I would also recommend being a bit more respectful when dealing with an Admin on forum type websites. They usually have a ban button immediately available

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Cheers Snaggletooth.

I can see he is angry, rightly so, but not sure why he is taking it out on RoyalMailChat.