Why doesn't RM care ?

[filtertip]

Parcel posted 29.12.10 to USA
Parcel posted 30.12.10 to Sweden
Parcel posted 10.1.11 to France

None of them delivered as of 19.1.11
Phoned the "help" line and spoke to Adam who couldn't/wouldn't/didn't help

All I want to know is HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO CLEAR THE BACK LOG ?
Easy question. Just need to find a human being with a brain who can answer.

[POSTMAN]

We don't deliver them over there,it's in the other postal operators hands now.
In USA and France there has been some problems with snow lately,possibly Sweden as well i would guess.

The 1st 2 sent on the 29th and 30th would of been delayed over here as well because of our backlog and our weather problems.
I would be near enough certain that all 3 are in their respected countries now and the delay now is their end.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Just need to find a human being with a brain who can answer.

Just in case you missed the announcements - WE ARE AN UNOFFICIAL SITE and have no direct connection with Royal Mail except most of us work within the RMG.

As a quick answer - the official backlogs have cleared but we have heard through News Items and people posting on here that the USA and France have their own delays, Sweden probably has as well.

[andy2007]

Although despite the official reports of the backlogs being cleared, there are still large backlogs in certain areas (e.g. Scotland, NW England). But these are shrinking now.

[ajda]

We don't deliver them over there,it's in the other postal operators hands now.

Why then does RM not explain this honestly on their international updates page? They say there: "Most items, including personal letters and cards, magazines, CDs, DVDs and lightweight packets, will be delivered in the US within a few days of posting. However, there are delays of about two weeks for some heavier packets." That, to me, sounds as if I should expect most small, lightweight packets to be delivered to the addressee within a few days and that delays beyond 2 weeks would be unusual. Would you agree?

Since early December 2010 my partner and I have sent out 100+ small packets (RM Jiffy Bag size 000 - avr weight less than 20g) airmail to the USA, each containing one or two or a few handmade glass beads. Only one of these has arrived within a week. All the rest have been seriously delayed, generally by at least 3-5 weeks, in some cases 7-8 weeks.

It would help us to pacify disgruntled customers if RM would give realistic information that we could link to. Most people are perfectly reasonable if they do not feel they are being fobbed off with false or partial explanations. In the absence of such information I am sending them links to pages such as this, where eBay sellers discuss blacklisting the USA along with the likes of Nigeria and Iran because of the massive increase in disputes and negative feedback: http://forums.ebay.com/db2/topic/Intern" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... /510305788 - not great for international relations, perhaps, but helping to cover our backs!

[fishtank]

Royal Mail are simply relaying information passed on from the United States Postal Service and the U.S Department of Homeland Security...if that information turns out to be false it is the source that is at fault.
To be honest i would have thought that most people would be aware that Royal Mail does not deliver outside it's national borders in the same way that La Poste does not turn up at your door with a letter from France.

[ajda]

Royal Mail are simply relaying information passed on from the United States Postal Service and the U.S Department of Homeland Security...if that information turns out to be false it is the source that is at fault.
To be honest i would have thought that most people would be aware that Royal Mail does not deliver outside it's national borders in the same way that La Poste does not turn up at your door with a letter from France.

That last comment is simply patronising, fishtank. And your first comment doesn't really stand up. You can't tell me RM are unaware of the true extent of these delays. People like me are not blaming them for the delays. We are asking them for greater openness and honesty, which would improve customer satisfaction both for them and for some of the businesses that depend on them - a classic win-win situation.

[BELIAL]

We are asking them for greater openness and honesty, which would improve customer satisfaction both for them and for some of the businesses that depend on them - a classic win-win situation.

Two qualities that a lot of RM employees claim to be in very short supply within the company. I guess if you treat your workforce with contempt then those attitudes soon become the dominant culture within the business and it probably does not take long to filter through to the customer relationship.

[fishtank]

That last comment is simply patronising, fishtank. And your first comment doesn't really stand up. You can't tell me RM are unaware of the true extent of these delays. People like me are not blaming them for the delays. We are asking them for greater openness and honesty, which would improve customer satisfaction both for them and for some of the businesses that depend on them - a classic win-win situation.

The last comment was not patronising given the original post...unfortunately you assumed wrongly that my reply was directed at you.In reply to your second point it does not matter whether Royal Mail are privately aware of the true extent of the delays,any of that will be purely anecdotal.
If they ask USPS for their evaluation of the situation and they say "Most items, including personal letters and cards, magazines, CDs, DVDs and lightweight packets, will be delivered in the US within a few days of posting. However, there are delays of about two weeks for some heavier packets."...what do you believe Royal Mail should then pass on to the public?
That USPS are saying one thing but we believe they are lying because ebayers are telling us otherwise?
Not very professional...whether it's accurate or not.

[BELIAL]

Not very professional...whether it's accurate or not.

What are you saying there fishy?

[fishtank]

Not very professional...whether it's accurate or not.

What are you saying there fishy?

I'm saying that you can't put "According to some of our ebay customers it's taking 10 weeks for stuff to arrive"...on the website....it isn't professional.
It doesn't matter how you or me or the poster feels about that Belial or the politics or whether you think Royal Mail are conning the customer...it still isn't professional.
What they could and should do is make it plain that this advice is based on information supplied by the USPS.

[BELIAL]

Just wondering about the "if it's not accurate" saying so is not professional , not a big thing but still ,it is crossing a line

[ajda]

The last comment was not patronising given the original post...unfortunately you assumed wrongly that my reply was directed at you.In reply to your second point it does not matter whether Royal Mail are privately aware of the true extent of the delays,any of that will be purely anecdotal.
If they ask USPS for their evaluation of the situation and they say "Most items, including personal letters and cards, magazines, CDs, DVDs and lightweight packets, will be delivered in the US within a few days of posting. However, there are delays of about two weeks for some heavier packets."...what do you believe Royal Mail should then pass on to the public?
That USPS are saying one thing but we believe they are lying because ebayers are telling us otherwise?
Not very professional...whether it's accurate or not.

Apologies for calling you patronising - I was being oversensitive.

But I don't agree with you here. If, as a business, you have a supplier of goods or services giving you information likely to be false or misleading, do you simply pass that on to your customers at face value? Better to say "we don't know" than to repeat the unreliable information as if it is fact. And as for dismissing customers' feedback as "anecdotal", that is another example of avoiding responsibility - RM make it difficult enough to give feedback directly, but you don't have to look very far to see what their customers are saying (on eBay and elsewhere). A business with even half an eye on customer service would make it a priority to know what their customers are actually experiencing.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

The last comment was not patronising given the original post...unfortunately you assumed wrongly that my reply was directed at you.In reply to your second point it does not matter whether Royal Mail are privately aware of the true extent of the delays,any of that will be purely anecdotal.
If they ask USPS for their evaluation of the situation and they say "Most items, including personal letters and cards, magazines, CDs, DVDs and lightweight packets, will be delivered in the US within a few days of posting. However, there are delays of about two weeks for some heavier packets."...what do you believe Royal Mail should then pass on to the public?
That USPS are saying one thing but we believe they are lying because ebayers are telling us otherwise?
Not very professional...whether it's accurate or not.

Apologies for calling you patronising - I was being oversensitive.

But I don't agree with you here. If, as a business, you have a supplier of goods or services giving you information likely to be false or misleading, do you simply pass that on to your customers at face value? Better to say "we don't know" than to repeat the unreliable information as if it is fact. And as for dismissing customers' feedback as "anecdotal", that is another example of avoiding responsibility - RM make it difficult enough to give feedback directly, but you don't have to look very far to see what their customers are saying (on eBay and elsewhere). A business with even half an eye on customer service would make it a priority to know what their customers are actually experiencing.

But who are RMs customers - is it the ebayers who pay £10s - £1,000s of postage - or is it the USPS who probably have multi millions of dollars and £s in recipricol agreements. Now ask yourself who would RM rather keep on side.

Another way of looking at it is if they upset you by not passing on annecdotal information they may face a claim for refund of postage. If they do indeed pass on this annecdotal evidence as you ask will the USPS (with their thousands of Government Lawyers) really allow RM to sully their international reputation, and would the USPS then resign contracts with them when they have been treated so badly in their eyes.

We KNOW what it looks like from YOUR point of view, we experience it every working day - but you have to look at the bigger picture as well and see it from RMs point of view. I don't agree with it even slightly, but when we were a service not a business we could afford to upset USPS, now we are a business its a different matter entirely.