What IS going on?

[NickRJ]

Is there anyone who can help me please. I am trying to deal with my late fathers estate in the UK, I live in Poland. I sent some very important documents priority and tracked from here in Poland on the 16th of September. The tracking shows that the item physically left Poland on the 19th and ended up at Heathrow International LC on the 3rd of October. Obviously the long delay between those dates is mysterious in itself but what is really frustrating is that according to the tracking information the item is STILL at Heathrow International LC. The documents are important but I can't get to talk to anybody, it seems clear from the recorded messages I am getting on my numerous attempts to call there is no one person actually answering the calls. I have even tried calling from 7 am when the office allegedly opens but the line is immediately cut off. Likewise there seems to be no one person responding to calls at Heathrow International LC. This is hugely frustrating, annoying and more. The documents are preventing me dealing with my late fathers estate and effectively holding up the sale of his house with the risk I could lose the sale which will be beyond annoying!! Is there anyone who can give me a clue as to what I can do to get Royal Mail to actually deliver the item to the recipient, PLEASE????

[SpacePhoenix]

What's the tracking number?

The mention of "Heathrow International LC" makes me think that it's not been released by customs yet as I'd expect an entry for Heathrow to be either "Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre" or "HWDC"

[NickRMCustomer]

Can I jump in and add a question here @SpacePhoenix, so if you see Heathrow LC, does that suggest it's stuck in Customs?

[Snaggletooth]

Firstly, can I echo Space Phoenix's request for the tracking information please? Without the exact tracking information, including the dates and the order it appears, it is very hard to say what is going on. You can either supply the tracking number or copy and paste the tracking information in to here.

The documents are important but I can't get to talk to anybody, it seems clear from the recorded messages I am getting on my numerous attempts to call there is no one person actually answering the calls. I have even tried calling from 7 am when the office allegedly opens but the line is immediately cut off. Likewise there seems to be no one person responding to calls at Heathrow International LC.

Individual RM offices don't take callers, neither do customs. So not sure where you got the Heathrow International LC number from but it is almost certainly the wrong number to be calling.

You can seek to people on RM, people often report on here that they have, but you need to call the right number and chose the right menu options.

Below is a link to RM's official contact details. I can't link directly, but if you chose "complaints and claims" then "I'd like to make a complaint" then "Still need help?..." then you will get all the official contact details. This includes the option to complain via email, useful if you can't get through on the phone.

https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/contact

[NickRJ]

The tracking no. is RR514953005PL.
The problem with the RM website, I've used all the options you suggest even the online form only to be met with a "We will try to reply in 4 days". It has now been five weeks since the letter was sent. To be bounced on the telephone every time or ignored with it automatically cutting out when I try to ring from the advertised opening time, that is using the options you have stated, simply implies the organisation of The Royal Mail, is treating customers with contempt. That isn't a criticism of individuals but of the organisation.

The Heathrow number came from an internet search after long, frustrating and futile attempts to find some way to contact Royal Mail, having failed miserably using the various menu options offered by their own website. Indeed using one option even offered me the advice to "Refer the matter to the postal authorities in the country it was sent from....Why, it is at Heathrow, Royal Mail have effectively accepted responsibility for it, even though that was two weeks after it actually left the country it was sent from. I do appreciate your comments and am truly grateful for any help that is offered. If I sound a little prickly it is the frustration at being stuck with no way of trying to sort this problem out.

[Snaggletooth]

Two weeks in customs is entirely down to HM Customs, RM have no control over them.

However, the next bit is down to Royal Mail. Unfortunately their customer services don't like to say that an item appears to be lost when that is the case, which might be why they haven't replied to you. But 5 weeks in total and 3 weeks in one place means that something has gone very wrong.

Most countries regard an overseas item as lost after 5 weeks. You will need to check Poland's rules, but it is likely to be something along those lines. And yes, you will have to apply to Poland's mail service for a refund.

[NickRJ]

Thank you. At least now I know I have to get on and get more documents sorted out, which I have to pay for and send them on to the UK again. This means I will have to rely once more on a system which seems to not work which is a worry. I want to send the documents electronically but the recipient wants originals and so I have no choice but to rely on an unreliable service. I asked my brother in the UK to try chasing this up as well yesterday. He pretended he was a business and Royal Mail DID answer the 'phone so it is clear the residential customer is not treated with the same degree of courtesy as business customers are by Royal Mail. He also raised it with RM, by slagging them off basically, on their Twitter (X) account and has got someone else trying to find out what is going on.

I have to go to the Post Office here in Poland tomorrow to pick up a letter, I live in a remote village so going into town is a bit like an event which is why this makes it all the more frustrating, I can't just "pop down the road" to go to the shops, Post Office etc. Oh and the documents I need have to be certified which means I have to go to a different town in the opposite direction from the town where the Post Office is as there are no Notaries in the town where the post office is. Thus my frustration.

[NickRMCustomer]

I can't give specific advice, I only use the postal service, like you.

Normally, that scan would suggest it had cleared customs and was being sorted by Royal Mail for delivery, but there does seem to be quite a few on this forum, with the same scan, waiting a long time for parcels to move.

In my experience, once they are processed by HWDC they normally move within hours to a local sorting office.

Perhaps a more informed participant, will have some insight as to whether there is currently an issue a HWDC with incoming international mail? I can't see anything in the daily bulletin or incidents.

My personal advice would be if you have control over how the documents are sent to the UK, I have never had any problems with the well known international couriers like DHL, Fedex, etc., but they will cost considerably more than national postage systems that mostly have service level agreements with Royal Mail or ParcelForce.

(I'm not expressing an anti-Royal Mail sentiment, simply the action I would take if I was sending items into the UK).

[NickRJ]

Thank you NickRMCustomer, I think you are right, courier has to be the way to go as it seems RM are not only unreliable but totally geared to not helping. Customer Service needs to be re-named, it clearly has nothing to do with offering a service and is clearly not there for any benefit of their customers. After some posts on RM's Twitter account highlighting there shortcomings to the world RM did contact my brother. They are now denying ever having received the item, despite their tracking advice announcing loud and clear "We have it"! Obviously my brother has now screen shot the tracking info and is asking them how it ties in with RM's representative's statement. Looks like I have a long and expensive day tomorrow traipsing around various towns to get these documents prepared again and off to the UK by a service that is capable of handling them when they arrive on British soil. I have to admit, it is this sort of thing that makes me realise that it was most certainly the right decision to leave the UK!!!

[NickRMCustomer]

I can understand your frustration, and I think it is mostly accepted that since the UK has been outside of the Customs Union, it's not just the movement of good in and out of the UK, but the movement of everthing that has become difficult, possibly owing to so many systems being overloaded.

I hope you have better luck second time.

To give you some optimism, although it's probably difficult for you to feel optimistic right now; I have experiened some very long delays with Royal Mail and terrible customer service from their official call centres; however, although I have some very long delays (I think 8 weeks on one occasion) I have never had any mail fail to be delivered eventually by Royal Mail even if it has taken longer than expected. (Now I've said that no doubt it will happen).

The best support I have ever had on Royal Mail matters is from this forum here, the official RM customer service could learn so much from the administrators of this board, that go out of their way to try and explain what might be happening and what you can try; and my personal experience with the post delivery guys has always been great. The fact we have a chat board of ex-RM staff prepared to help others says a lot about how dedicated many are. But alas, the system is failing under the same pressures as so many other core functions.

Good luck!

[NickRJ]

Just to update. The letter was finally delivered to the recipient today. I am hoping one of the documents it contained is still accepted by the addressee as it's criteria was that it had to be less than three months old. It was just under two when I sent it but as the post has taken more than a month it may not be, so fingers crossed the addressee will accept the postal delays as reasonable reason . It is a huge relief. Oh, the tracking information on the website is still telling me it is at Heathrow....go figure

Thank you for the helpful comments on here. I agree with NickRMcustomer that it is good to have people here who are prepared to put the time in to explain things and help where they can. It is a shame that the RM Organisation doesn't have the same level of commitment to its customers, the ability to get an element of positive help is worth a huge amount, to get no help at all is quite beyond belief. I'm not sure I agree about the customs union bit, the umbilical chord between Britain and Europe was severed two years ago. Somehow everything I have directed from here has suffered delays and seemingly AFTER it has hit the UK side of things. Everything I get from the UK arrives on time. The Polish postal system is often ridiculed here but to be honest, in my experience it has always worked effectively for international mail.

At the end of the day, it looks as though I can sleep soundly tonight. Thank you all.

[NickRMCustomer]

Pleased to hear it finally arrived!