Delivering to Flats

[youthnovels]

I know this has been touched on before (I've been reading these threads for the past few hours) and about RM no longer deliver to multiple occupancy buildings, point of delivery being postboxes, etc but my situation is a bit different..

I live in a building of 61 apartments, we have post boxes in the foyer and an intercom system outside.
I am self employed, I work from home, I make jewellery have my own website and sell some wholesale things on eBay, a lot of my supplies come via Royal Mail despite trying to avoid the service.
I have two deliveries a day, one parcel and one letter. The parcels have always been an issue.

I moved into my address 3 years ago for the first 4 months the postman would ring the intercom to say there were parcels at least once a week the postman wouldn't wait for me to go down and he would leave them on top of the post boxes in the foyer (for people to steal...) or I'd go down to the foyer and the postman would look at me with surprise because he had given out all the parcels (to the wrong people...). The postman was also signing for these parcels himself, most of them had contents worth between £100-£400, when they were lost/stolen RM offered no help, I was loosing a lot of money so I had to get the police involved. RM then decided it would be best to deliver to my door, they have been doing this ever since.

On Monday we got a new postman (my desk faces the window and I saw him further down the street). He has not been attempting to deliver the parcels, he doesn't ring the intercom and I receive cards with our normal letter post the next day. I've had four of these this week.

Apart from the obvious issue of if he doesn't ring my intercom how am I ever going to know about the delivery am I wrong in wanting them to still deliver to my door as arranged? I know £400 might not be a lot to some people but when you've had to re-order so the original order now costs £800 it does make profits low and is troublesome for someone who is self employed.

I also called customer services and they said the postman wasn't doing anything wrong by leaving cards and not ringing the intercom, how on earth?! If I am in and they won't come to my door or ring the intercom to notify are they not in breach of contract? And customer services also said the usual spiel that wasn't relevant to me. I can't collect from the sorting office as it is miles away and I don't have a car, it does feel like I am being penalized for living in a flat.

[TeeferTiger]

Did you make customer services aware of the previous history and the previous arrangement? Have you phoned the manager of the local Delivery Office (the number will be on the back of the red card you've been left)?

[youthnovels]

As soon as I phoned customer services they were already aware of the previous issues, I guess they log complaints in the system for each address? I was told by customer services that in regards to the previous issues I had actually been lucky to receive this service. He said the correct protocol in this situation would be to not attempt delivery, leave cards and then I'd have to pay to have them delivered to a local post office? Again that doesn't seem fair to me.

I have been trying to get hold of the right person to talk to, I phoned the delivery office (number on the back of the card) and spoke to the most senior person there but he said he's not in control of who does the rounds, etc he's just in control of the post in that office, apparently it is normal for city centers? He did arrange a redelivery for the items and added a note to tell the postman to use the intercom as someone will be in.
He has also given two phone numbers to contact the right person to talk to but I've tried phoning both every half an hour between 8 and 2 for the last three days but the phone is never picked up. Apparently this is the person who agreed to the original arrangement. I can't remember if these are the right numbers as I was contacted by them originally when the police were involved but customer services gave me the number on the back of the card?

[justdeno]

Noticed you "try to avoid the service" do you hate us that much?

[DGP1]

To put it bluntly, we really don't have the time to go either to you address or to wait for you come to the bank of post boxes, the best and safest way for you to get your packets is to take the docket and collect them from the delivery office.

If you hate us so much then maybe you should insist that the people sending you packets don't use us then we'll all get on better, you with paying more for a worse service and us from not having to listen to yet another person attacking us without knowing what actually goes on.

[not me]

the thing is
61 doors
waiting for people to answer the buzzer,get shoes on,come downstairs etc etc
whe the delivery is designed it is timed for a postie coming in and delivering to those boxes
time isnt given for waiting around
it may not seem like long to you,but all those minutes add up in a day
say you have 650 calls(a fairly average number)
an extra 5 minutes at every say 50 doors,makes an hour
I suggest you get an intercom service that allows you to let people into the premises and deliver to you door

[youthnovels]

I try to avoid having supplies delivered by the RM as they are expensive items. If the postman starts giving my post to the wrong person, or just dumps it in the foyer and signs for it himself because he is too inpatient is it my problem? Because it has been signed-for I then can't claim compensation from the RM or the sender which isn't fair on me? Loosing a £300 parcel, then having to re-buy the contents makes them £600 if it's been a slow month and this happens to a few parcels it can be the difference between making just enough money to pay the rent/bills and having money to actually do 'fun' things. If postage by a courier is an additional £15 or less I always opt for the courier, some UK websites only send by special delivery and I don't have a choice.

My sister has actually been a postman/woman for the last 8 years, she works in a different part of the country to where I live and the advice she gave me (which she checked with her boss) again goes against what customer services are saying. If RM really has this much trouble delivering to flats then why accept the money and parcels in the first place? I shouldn't have to pay extra to get all my post delivered to a local post office or pay £9 each way for a taxi to go and collect them. As for postman not having enough time it is extremely funny as my old postman came to the door and still often parked up his van around the corner from my flat and played on his phone for five minutes!

Our intercom does allow us to open the outside door. Originally when I moved in the postman would ring to be let in and then just abandon them. I can understand not a lot of people are in at 11:30am but our old postman did use the intercom and then delivered to the door as arranged. We usually have two letter postman and they actually know the door code and let themselves into the building.

I do support the RM and send 50+ parcels within the UK and 20+ airmail parcels a week with them, it would be cheaper for me to use a courier like parcel2go for the UK ones. (I know it's not a giant amount in the grand scheme), I just find the way they treat people who live in flats unfair.

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

I try to avoid having supplies delivered by the RM as they are expensive items. If the postman starts giving my post to the wrong person, or just dumps it in the foyer and signs for it himself because he is too inpatient is it my problem? Because it has been signed-for I then can't claim compensation from the RM or the sender which isn't fair on me? Loosing a £300 parcel, then having to re-buy the contents makes them £600 if it's been a slow month and this happens to a few parcels it can be the difference between making just enough money to pay the rent/bills and having money to actually do 'fun' things. If postage by a courier is an additional £15 or less I always opt for the courier, some UK websites only send by special delivery and I don't have a choice.

My sister has actually been a postman/woman for the last 8 years, she works in a different part of the country to where I live and the advice she gave me (which she checked with her boss) again goes against what customer services are saying. If RM really has this much trouble delivering to flats then why accept the money and parcels in the first place? I shouldn't have to pay extra to get all my post delivered to a local post office or pay £9 each way for a taxi to go and collect them. As for postman not having enough time it is extremely funny as my old postman came to the door and still often parked up his van around the corner from my flat and played on his phone for five minutes!

Our intercom does allow us to open the outside door. Originally when I moved in the postman would ring to be let in and then just abandon them. I can understand not a lot of people are in at 11:30am but our old postman did use the intercom and then delivered to the door as arranged. We usually have two letter postman and they actually know the door code and let themselves into the building.

I do support the RM and send 50+ parcels within the UK and 20+ airmail parcels a week with them, it would be cheaper for me to use a courier like parcel2go for the UK ones. (I know it's not a giant amount in the grand scheme), I just find the way they treat people who live in flats unfair.

if your sending 50+ parcels a week and 20+ airmail, you may qualify for a free collection service from your own door, might be worth calling RM business to look into and if they then do set up a daily collection its not going to be rocket science to get your mail droped off at the same time, well thats the way we do it here for a couple of business customers at their request

[youthnovels]

if your sending 50+ parcels a week and 20+ airmail, you may qualify for a free collection service from your own door, might be worth calling RM business to look into and if they then do set up a daily collection its not going to be rocket science to get your mail droped off at the same time, well thats the way we do it here for a couple of business customers at their request

Thanks for the suggestion! I always thought business customers had to send thousands a month but if I do qualify it will definitely save all this hassle. I'll give them a call on Monday.

[DGP1]

I just find the way they treat people who live in flats unfair.

Move to a house then................see how being snippy and rude can get, you've already offended people by saying that you don't like using RM, worse still you come on an unofficial site and say it.

Of course you could get a parcel safe box and the postman could drop your packets into that.

[shipmaster122]

if your sending 50+ parcels a week and 20+ airmail, you may qualify for a free collection service from your own door, might be worth calling RM business to look into and if they then do set up a daily collection its not going to be rocket science to get your mail droped off at the same time, well thats the way we do it here for a couple of business customers at their request

Thanks for the suggestion! I always thought business customers had to send thousands a month but if I do qualify it will definitely save all this hassle. I'll give them a call on Monday.

That's strange. We're a business customer, and to have an account with RM you need to spend at least £5,000 a yr (without collection), and if you want a collection you either have to pay £650 plus VAT/yr but if you want a free collection, you need to spend at least £15,000 per year. Think there's been a mixup?

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

if your sending 50+ parcels a week and 20+ airmail, you may qualify for a free collection service from your own door, might be worth calling RM business to look into and if they then do set up a daily collection its not going to be rocket science to get your mail droped off at the same time, well thats the way we do it here for a couple of business customers at their request

Thanks for the suggestion! I always thought business customers had to send thousands a month but if I do qualify it will definitely save all this hassle. I'll give them a call on Monday.

That's strange. We're a business customer, and to have an account with RM you need to spend at least £5,000 a yr (without collection), and if you want a collection you either have to pay £650 plus VAT/yr but if you want a free collection, you need to spend at least £15,000 per year. Think there's been a mixup?

http://www.royalmail.com/delivery/outbo ... ons/prices" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

theres no minimum for a collection, for a free collection annual postage should exceed £15000, from the number of packets she says she is sending weekly i think she probably be around the border line for an free collection

[not me]

I try to avoid having supplies delivered by the RM as they are expensive items. If the postman starts giving my post to the wrong person, or just dumps it in the foyer and signs for it himself because he is too inpatient is it my problem? Because it has been signed-for I then can't claim compensation from the RM or the sender which isn't fair on me? Loosing a £300 parcel, then having to re-buy the contents makes them £600 if it's been a slow month and this happens to a few parcels it can be the difference between making just enough money to pay the rent/bills and having money to actually do 'fun' things. If postage by a courier is an additional £15 or less I always opt for the courier, some UK websites only send by special delivery and I don't have a choice.

My sister has actually been a postman/woman for the last 8 years, she works in a different part of the country to where I live and the advice she gave me (which she checked with her boss) again goes against what customer services are saying. If RM really has this much trouble delivering to flats then why accept the money and parcels in the first place? I shouldn't have to pay extra to get all my post delivered to a local post office or pay £9 each way for a taxi to go and collect them. As for postman not having enough time it is extremely funny as my old postman came to the door and still often parked up his van around the corner from my flat and played on his phone for five minutes!

Our intercom does allow us to open the outside door. Originally when I moved in the postman would ring to be let in and then just abandon them. I can understand not a lot of people are in at 11:30am but our old postman did use the intercom and then delivered to the door as arranged. We usually have two letter postman and they actually know the door code and let themselves into the building.

I do support the RM and send 50+ parcels within the UK and 20+ airmail parcels a week with them, it would be cheaper for me to use a courier like parcel2go for the UK ones. (I know it's not a giant amount in the grand scheme), I just find the way they treat people who live in flats unfair.

flats are no trouble(Ive had duties with 900+ flat calls including one with no service button and 60+ calls,no way to buzz people in,2 buildings joined together and no signs to show which was which)
when people organse it so you can actually gain access
as for the part in red(and I say this a lot)
things change.seems folks are always happy fro the changes in RM until it actually affects them

[youthnovels]

I just find the way they treat people who live in flats unfair.

Move to a house then................see how being snippy and rude can get, you've already offended people by saying that you don't like using RM, worse still you come on an unofficial site and say it.

Of course you could get a parcel safe box and the postman could drop your packets into that.

Why should I move to a house to receive the service I pay for?
If a postman who just delivers parcels drove to a cul-de-sac and thought: these parcels aren't going to fit through the postboxes so I'm going to be lazy and dump all the parcels for the street on the top drive. Would people not be angry?

I avoid using RM because they failed to deliver items properly, it cost me money and they wouldn't reimburse me, I think anyone in my situation has the right to be annoyed? My local office and I came to an agreement, now they have gone back to square one. I have also mentioned on here that despite this I do support the RM by sending all my items with them despite the fact that if I used a courier I could save at least 50p per parcel.

[youthnovels]

if your sending 50+ parcels a week and 20+ airmail, you may qualify for a free collection service from your own door, might be worth calling RM business to look into and if they then do set up a daily collection its not going to be rocket science to get your mail droped off at the same time, well thats the way we do it here for a couple of business customers at their request

Thanks for the suggestion! I always thought business customers had to send thousands a month but if I do qualify it will definitely save all this hassle. I'll give them a call on Monday.

That's strange. We're a business customer, and to have an account with RM you need to spend at least £5,000 a yr (without collection), and if you want a collection you either have to pay £650 plus VAT/yr but if you want a free collection, you need to spend at least £15,000 per year. Think there's been a mixup?

http://www.royalmail.com/delivery/outbo ... ons/prices" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

theres no minimum for a collection, for a free collection annual postage should exceed £15000, from the number of packets she says she is sending weekly i think she probably be around the border line for an free collection

50 UK parcels and 20 international parcels are the minimum I send each week. At least 10 of the UK parcels are sent by special delivery all others are recorded and I probably send around 10 - 20 large letters a week too. I can't work out the figure in my head but I will give them a call to see if I am eligible if it means they drop off my post without issues it would be perfect.