Mother's anger with Royal Mail

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/43971 ... oyal_Mail/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A BANBURY mum is furious after she paid extra to send a parcel by recorded delivery, only to find the contents were not insured when she tried to claim.

Linda Hayward sent birthday and Easter gifts to her sister and nephew in Scotland, but it was only after the parcel got lost that she was told that cash and store vouchers would not be reimbursed.

Mother-of-two, of Prescott Close, Banbury, had used the Royal Mail’s recorded delivery service and on posting the item was asked if the value was more than £39.

She said no, paid the extra sum for special delivery, and expected her sister to receive her £20 voucher in time for her 30th birthday, and nephew £10 for Easter.

But after a week her sister had not received the items and when Mrs Hayward checked the tracking number she was given it said the parcel was still in Banbury.

Because of Royal Mail rules she could not lodge a complaint until 15 days after the item was sent and had to wait 30 days for a response and spent hours on the phone.

Retail assistant Mrs Hayward said: “I received a letter and six first class stamps as compensation that the parcel had gone missing.

“It said in these circumstances they were not going to compensate me up to the value of £40 because it included cash and vouchers and I could be saying there was more in there than there was.

“I was given the wrong information at the post office.

“If they had said cash wasn’t covered I would have sent it first class.

“I sent another item further into Scotland and that got there the following day.

“I think it’s disgusting the amount of hours I have spent on the phone and now I’m out of pocket by £40.

“I’m just furious about it.

“I want to bring this to people’s attention.

“We have done it for years and never been told we were not covered.

“The only difference at all is you pay for a signature at the other end. I was under the impression I was paying extra money in case it got lost and it was covered.

“Why did someone not say cash and vouchers were not compensated.

“If they had said that I would not have paid the extra couple of pounds.

“I wanted to ensure it would get there.

“It was important to us that she got it and obviously she didn’t.

“Her birthday was in March and here we are in May and she has still not got anything from us.”

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We apologise for this incident, but unfortunately compensation is not available for items of monetary value sent using the recorded delivery service.”

[johnsouthwales]

But after a week her sister had not received the items and when Mrs Hayward checked the tracking number she was given it said the parcel was still in Banbury.

why was the parcel still in banbury?

how can royal mail say it's missing if it's on the tracking system?

[DGP1]

Maybe what's needed is a big sign in the PO telling people that money/gift vouchers should only be sent Special Delivery and that Recorded delivery will NOT compensate for loss.

[johnsouthwales]

feck the compensation bit...

why the fek was the package still in the same town as it was posted?? wtf is going on in the industry..

the whole point of a tracking system is to erm, track where the fek it is...simples.. especially recorded delivery. how on earth does this kind of shyte happen and p1ss people off all the time?

probably it's in some posties attic again????

[johnsouthwales]

public are fed up with this lark..

too much mail disappearing..

too many thieves working at royal mail..

[TrueBlueTerrier]

If you want to track something do not use recorded - its the same as an ordinary item except you get a signature when its delivered. Its not trackable.

Special Delivery is to a certain extent.

Please do not tar all posties as thieves, we have 180,000 people working for Royal Mail even with less than 0.1% being thieves (better than the national average) it still means that there are only 180 that could be.

At least we catch them and in most cases they get done in court, not just a slapped wrist like shop lifters.

[dvbuk55]

TBH I'd never send anything recorded - if I wanted to be certain of delivery I would always use SD.

Tracking is probably a better system, though I don't think it's available to the general public, what good is a tracking system that only begins when the customer has or in this case hasn't received it. Strange to tell that it was on the system at all, which means delivery had been attempted, failed and the item returned to sender UNLESS the sender hadn't put her return address on, in which case it's in the emerald Isle.

[johnsouthwales]

i used recorded delivery.. it gives me a tracking number.. i type it in rm website.. and it says it's in the process of delivery...from nearly 2 weeks ago.

another recorded delivery to someone else says its been delivered.

[johnsouthwales]

special delivery costs over a fiver. do you think businesses and customers enjoy paying that?

[johnsouthwales]

royal mail site - track an item

IT'S ON IT'S WAY

Your item with reference BR0########GB is currently progressing through our network.

posted May 13th - recorded delivery

[DGP1]

special delivery costs over a fiver. do you think businesses and customers enjoy paying that?

If I send anything of value I use the SD service, at least then if it goes missing then it'll be insured.

And before you go on about there being too many thieves you should remember that a lot of packages are poorly addressed, I had 3 last week (1 special) that had either the wrong address or an incomplete address but they still got delivered because I care about my job and am not in a rush, unlike a few days previous when one of the runners was on the duty and he returned a parcel for the same adress because of an incomplete address.

[DGP1]

royal mail site - track an item

IT'S ON IT'S WAY

Your item with reference BR0########GB is currently progressing through our network.

posted May 13th - recorded delivery

Maybe someone from Counters could let us know if recordeds are put into the system whenever they are sold.

[johnsouthwales]

sorry, thats a different circumstance with eligible writing etc.

if there was a problem with the address with the woman, the address gets read by the post office clerk because the details get typed onto a receipt.

that is a valid point, there was no reference in anyone asking the woman if the addresses were clear?

but i know my three packages have gone awol, and possibly a fourth, and i know that all the addresses were clear, because the post office certificate of posting also states the addresses and postcodes, and the recorded one too.

[pinstripe]

http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/43971 ... oyal_Mail/

A BANBURY mum is furious after she paid extra to send a parcel by recorded delivery,

had used the Royal Mail’s recorded delivery service

She said no, paid the extra sum for special delivery,

“I was given the wrong information at the post office.

“If they had said cash wasn’t covered I would have sent it first class.

“The only difference at all is you pay for a signature at the other end.

“If they had said that I would not have paid the extra couple of pounds.

So what exactly did she pay for Recorded Delivery or Special Delivery. For Recorded Delivery there is a standard charge of 75p added to the basic postage, not an "extra couple of pounds". As for the only difference between first class and recorded being a signature at the end, well yes, the delivery is recorded, hence the need for a signature (the clue is in the name). As our wee pal Adam says "it does exactly what it says on the tin."
I have a copy of RM handy price guide which is widely available is most post offices.
Quote: Recorded Signed For
Want proof your item was delivered but without paying for full tracking or extra compensation? Then opt for the service for items that are not especially urgent or high value.
Yes I agree it is sad that her item was lost but if it was that important then pay the extra couple of pounds, and use Special Delivery.

[johnsouthwales]

it's £2.20 special saturday guarentee. must be posted on friday only.

special delivery 9am next day costs £10.85 (100g) with £50 compensation

or special delivery next day £4.95 (up to 100g) £500 compensation £5.40 (500g)

are there any stories of special deliveries going awol? or is it mere coincidence they get delivered because rm would have to pay compensation?