Please help a depressed customer.

[sokelengl]

Hello,

I am terribly confused and depressed about the UK postal system. I own online business and selling on ebay too. Forgot to mention I am posting this message from Malaysia. Due to unique items we are selling, we are constantly have to ship small to medium size( bigger than a shoes box) parcels to UK and all over the world. For the past two month, the Royal Mail has given me lot of headaches due to some recorded medium size parcel are suffering huge delays. The delays can be range from 2-3 weeks from the date of posting. Malaysia Post has confirmed with us, the parcels will leave the country within 48hrs after we posted it. We can confirm the parcels have been ship by getting the airline flight number and batch number. Theoretically speaking, the parcel will reach UK 3 days after the parcel was sent out. Why does Royal Mail take extra 10-15 days to deliver the parcels to addressee. We pay expensive postage ( £ 12.00 per kg)for the parcel, in return we don’t get an acceptable service! The tracking number isn’t traceable on Royal Mail website and only become traceable when the parcel is delivered. Those untraceable parcels are like vanish into air.

I want to help my customer get in touch with their parcel as early as possible. Can you give me a guideline, where the parcels will be after 10 days it has confirmed reach UK. If the parcel is still undelivered, will it be in the delivery office? Or will it sit at the nearest post office of the addressee? If my customer brings along the recorded tracking number( without delivery card) the to the delivery office, will Royal Mail staffs be able to find the parcel for him/ her?

I feel depressed and helpless in this situation. Can some shed some light?

Regards,

Lisa

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Hello,

Why does Royal Mail take extra 10-15 days to deliver the parcels to addressee.

It may be delayed going through customs as they search a certain amount

We pay expensive postage ( £ 12.00 per kg)for the parcel, in return we don’t get an acceptable service! The tracking number isn’t traceable on Royal Mail website and only become traceable when the parcel is delivered. Those untraceable parcels are like vanish into air.

The number is changed when it enters the UK system AFAIK so that it can be tracked within the UK - when it is delivered I think it is linked to the Number your Postal Service give you.

I want to help my customer get in touch with their parcel as early as possible. Can you give me a guideline, where the parcels will be after 10 days it has confirmed reach UK. If the parcel is still undelivered, will it be in the delivery office?

Possible - but it could be anywhere in the system.

Or will it sit at the nearest post office of the addressee?

No unless delivery has been attempted and they ask for it to go to their nearest Post Office

If my customer brings along the recorded tracking number( without delivery card) the to the delivery office, will Royal Mail staffs be able to find the parcel for him/ her?

Possibly but if they follow the rules they will be not be able to hand it over but will send it out on delivery. However, the chances of them finding it are very slim.

I feel depressed and helpless in this situation. Can some shed some light?

Regards,

Lisa

[sokelengl]

What a disappointed service. Medium size parcels will only takes about 5-7 days to reach India. Any good advice for shipping medium size( larger than shoes box) parcels to UK? I know I am not supposed to let my parcels to reach UK one day before or one day after the Bank holiday. Those parcels will take 3-4 weeks to reach customers. If law allow, I guess some of my customers will put a gun on my head!

[TrueBlueTerrier]

What a disappointed service.

We know we have to work within it. IMHO it used to be a better service before profits and savings became the main aim of Royal Mail.

Just so you understand we as a website have nothing official to do with Royal Mail - we are just a private forum that offers advice and shares information with customers and workers.

[randompostman]

Welcome to the free UK. we have the most upto date data basis on everyone we can, you arrive at our airports greeted by police with machine guns all over tanks on the runways at times more cctv than anywhere else passport control that would have gone down well in the ussr you cant remain silent when we arrest you we keep dna of innocent people and for your own enjoyment a custom service that have even more powers than the police and mi5-6 because they dont need a search warrant or permission to search your house bank account open your letters packets parcels delay them and then charge what they want or tap your phone when they think you may owe them some money the government just allow them to do it, but its all done for our own good and security not because big brother has taken over.

[Stormproof]

A lot of international items, shoe box size and above are delivered by Parcelforce. It is no good your customers turning up at a Royal Mail Delivery Office, if it has'nt been attempted to be delivered already it is very unlikely to be there and if it being delivered by Parcelforce they have there own depots.

[k979aaa]

What a disappointed service. Medium size parcels will only takes about 5-7 days to reach India. Any good advice for shipping medium size( larger than shoes box) parcels to UK? I know I am not supposed to let my parcels to reach UK one day before or one day after the Bank holiday. Those parcels will take 3-4 weeks to reach customers. If law allow, I guess some of my customers will put a gun on my head!

Feel sorry for you but we now are a business not a service as the boss (Adam Crozier) says!. Here is his email address ask.adam@royalmail.com but before you give him your opinion let me tell you why your parcels are delayed!. It is because royalmail are modernising and as such all postmen must leave all the parcels to deliver letters as Adam Crozier does not care about parcels and only cares about his bonus and remuneration of £1.5 million £!. Like i said i do feel sorry but i like all other postmen (mail carriers) must do as they are told to do!. i wish you well in your response and please let us know how you get on with Adam Crozier.

[sokelengl]

A lot of international items, shoe box size and above are delivered by Parcelforce. It is no good your customers turning up at a Royal Mail Delivery Office, if it has'nt been attempted to be delivered already it is very unlikely to be there and if it being delivered by Parcelforce they have there own depots.

Hello,


We know for sure those undelivered medium size parcels are not delivered by Parcel Force. We only sent parcels via Parcel Force if any length of the parcel is more than 100cm or the weight of the parcel is over 2 kg. Usually those parcels are come with updated tracking details( from point of origin to addressee’s destination)

I guess by sticking more “ URGENT” stickers on boxes won’t help this situation. I am waiting for more customers to charge back their credit card payment!

Regards,

Lisa

[BELIAL]

Deepest sympathy Lisa, But Mr Leighton our Ex boss drummed into us the mantra that our customers were the banks,financial services and utilities; Joe public and their many and various packages were, according to our recent leadership ,mere window dressing, hence the piles of undelivered packets at the end of the day/week. Needless to say ,many time served ordinary postal employees find this situation abhorrent ,but who are we to stand in the way of progress and modernization

[sokelengl]

After the same old bash' n 'whine replies, the truth is that it's most likely Customs causing the delays rather than RM, and that's understandable given the region these parcels are being sent from.
Still, why allow logic to enter the reply to someone's enquiry?

A medium parcel we sent out on 27th April only reach my customer today ( 23th May) without paying any import tax and duty. what is the logic again?

Somemore a unclaimed parcel has returned today after it was sent 3 month ago. The reason is " not called for". However my customer say she didn't receive the delivery card.

[russ0r]

I'm afraid this is 90% customs. Very little of the delay is anything to do with RM.

[Izzy]

Recorded delivery is for items which you feel the recipient might try to deny getting (court summons, final demands etc). It is not intended to be used for valuable or urgent items.

Our staffing levels have been cut so that we prioritise letters. This is because the company can be fined for not delivering letters to every address 6 days a week. Parcels are not covered by this so they sit in trolleys in the corner until we get a quiet day and casual staff who aren't needed for letters ar sent out to do parcels. These are the least experienced staff so there is more chance of a mistake (e.g. trying to deliver to 22 Acacia Avenue instead of 22 Acacia Court and then leaving the 'we tried to deliver' card at the wrong address.)

So essentially the system is a shambles and the best way through is to use Special Delivery.

[DGP1]

trying to deliver to 22 Acacia Avenue instead of 22 Acacia Court

I'm sure we all know where Bananaman lives

Anyway, the packets where coming from abroad and I've never understood how some are recorded and some are specials whenever they have the same codes on them.

[sokelengl]

Anyway, the packets where coming from abroad and I've never understood how some are recorded and some are specials whenever they have the same codes on them.

Anyone can answer this question? Thanks for your time.

[sokelengl]

If the parcel is delivered to wrong address. Can the incorrect recipient of the parcel bring back the parcel to post office and reject it back to sender?