Registered Mail and GLS International in Europe

[Prestonjohn]

I posted a Registered Letter to Stemmen, which is situated 30 klms outside of Hamburg.It contained a £50 note which was placed in to a card as a wedding present.The card was sent on the 2nd of October from Highbury Corner Post Office here in London N5. On the advice of the counter person who asked us did it contain any thing of value , we replied that it contained a £50 note etc. We were then advised to Register it as a matter of safety. At no point where we advised that it was illegal to send money through the mail system in Germany and even my wife who is a German National was unaware of this rule.
After 2 weeks we checked the tracking reference and discovered that it had indeed left the UK and had arrived in Germany and was now in the safe hands of GLS International, who promptly stole it even though it was Registered.When you go to your local Post Office and send a letter that's been Registered you expect it to be passed from one government postal service to another, not a private company with a very dodgy track record of mislaid mail and wrongful deliveries.But the real revelation starts with The Royal Mail Complaints process who immediately pass the buck to Post Office Counters saying all the information concerning foreign deliveries is contained on their web site( First lie ) and that we should contact Post Office Counters for compensation not them. Contacted Post Office Counters who replied that all of their staff are fully trained and that no one advised us to post money in a Registered Letter to Germany , so sorry your not getting anything and that includes the wasted postage.Conclusion is that Royal Mail Customer Services tell huge lies because at no point on their much valued web site does it include the information that if a letter is lost by GLS International, Registered or otherwise, you do not get a penny compensation or even an explanation as to where it went or who possibly stole it....In fact in all the emails and phone calls i had with RM, GLS was not mentioned once, even though i demanded to know what was going on.I am still waiting for an explanation as to how a Registered Letter can go missing from a sealed sack and not one person in Royal Mail gives two hoots as to what went wrong with their once efficient service.The separation of Royal mail and Post Office Counters into two entirely separate companies is a thieves charter because both can pass the buck back wards and forwards for ever until you just faint from exhaustion. I have passed all the relevant information to my local MP, who i hope will do a lot better than i have in discovering what happened to my letter !

[TrueBlueTerrier]

We have no affiliation with either Royal Mail or the Communications Workers Union (CWU), except that most of our members work for Royal Mail and/or are members of the CWU.

[TeeferTiger]

We have no affiliation with either Royal Mail or the Communications Workers Union (CWU), except that most of our members work for Royal Mail and/or are members of the CWU.

What he said ^^^

[Minischoles]

We were then advised to Register it as a matter of safety. At no point where we advised that it was illegal to send money through the mail system in Germany and even my wife who is a German National was unaware of this rule.

Onus of responsibility is on the customer to find out the specific restrictions and prohibitions of a country they want to send something to.

But the real revelation starts with The Royal Mail Complaints process who immediately pass the buck to Post Office Counters saying all the information concerning foreign deliveries is contained on their web site( First lie ) and that we should contact Post Office Counters for compensation not them.

It very much is all on royalmail.com, or failing that you can search out the UPU for more specifics.

Contacted Post Office Counters who replied that all of their staff are fully trained and that no one advised us to post money in a Registered Letter to Germany , so sorry your not getting anything and that includes the wasted postage.Conclusion is that Royal Mail Customer Services tell huge lies because at no point on their much valued web site does it include the information that if a letter is lost by GLS International, Registered or otherwise, you do not get a penny compensation or even an explanation as to where it went or who possibly stole it....In fact in all the emails and phone calls i had with RM, GLS was not mentioned once, even though i demanded to know what was going on.I am still waiting for an explanation as to how a Registered Letter can go missing from a sealed sack and not one person in Royal Mail gives two hoots as to what went wrong with their once efficient service.The separation of Royal mail and Post Office Counters into two entirely separate companies is a thieves charter because both can pass the buck back wards and forwards for ever until you just faint from exhaustion. I have passed all the relevant information to my local MP, who i hope will do a lot better than i have in discovering what happened to my letter !

1 - Your letter wasn't stolen, it was either lost or when German Customs found it contained prohibited items, it was seized and disposed of.
2 - It does say you don't receive compensation if the item you sent is prohibited or restricted by either Royal Mail or the other countries customs.
3 - Your Local MP doesn't give a damn and it probably got handed off to his secretaries secretary who promptly filed it in the usual place

[Prestonjohn]

How do you know my MP doesn't give a damn ? Are telepathic or something ?The Royal Mail is riddled with thievery so please if you don't have anything constructive to give please shut up.

[adb2aber]

Minischoles gave you a nicely detailed response. You ignored it.

How do you know my MP doesn't give a damn ? Are telepathic or something ?

No telepathy needed:

I have passed all the relevant information to my local MP, who i hope will do a lot better than i have in discovering what happened to my letter !

Your MP, if he has the brains he was born with, will realise you posted a prohibited item when it is your responsibility to check if it is prohibited. You'll get a pro forma response drafted by the secretary's assistants 10-year old niece and signed by the MPs appointed letter signer telling you how shocked he is. He wont tell you it's your own fault for sending prohibited items. It is.


Back to your original post, you say GLS stole it. Did the tracking tell you that? Has it not simply been held up somewhere for a while between scans? CUSTOMS CAN TAKE TIME as you'll see from the large number of threads here asking about items at HWDC.

As an aside, you did put a return address on the card right? Like you're supposed to for signed services, so that it can be returned to you if there is a problem with it? A problem like being prohibited goods?

The Royal Mail is riddled with thievery so please if you don't have anything constructive to give please shut up.

This is an unofficial site (as TrueBlueTerrier pointed out in the first response) and that was someone from Customer Services, giving their own free time outside of working hours when they probably get quite enough of situations like that when at work. Don't tell them to shut up, listen to them.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

How do you know my MP doesn't give a damn ? Are telepathic or something ?The Royal Mail is riddled with thievery so please if you don't have anything constructive to give please shut up.

Sorry you are wearing out your welcome. You have basically just accused us all of being thieves and you ignored the rules. No one tells any member on here to shut up, least of all a Customer who is being so crass and impolite as you are.

I understand that the experience you have had is frustrating but the chances of someone on here actually being involved in your case is slim to the point of non existent.

If you had approached the site in a friendly manner and asking for advice you may well have received help instead you came on here accusing colleagues of being thieves and liars and now you tell someone trying to help despite that to shut up. Again we are not an OFFICIAL Royal Mail site.

I have not banned you as perhaps you will change your attitude, if you continue in the same vein then a ban is a distinct possibility and it would be a pity to deny you a useful resource if you send things regularly.

[Prestonjohn]

I glad i have worn out my welcome because i can see that for one you do not understand what i am complaining about and secondly what it is i have written to my MP. It all comes down to being given wrong advise by counter staff who have flatly denied it.Secondly the issue i have brought to my MPs attention has nothing to do with the letter going missing but the use of GLS in Europe to deliver Royal Mail post, when a simple search will tell you that the company is not exactly kosher in paying its drivers an honest wage and this is reflected in their delivery practices.I have also been in contact with GLS UK and they have admitted that the tracked Registered Letter has gone walkabout somewhere in the system.Thirdly if German Customs had intercepted the letter and confiscated the contents the card would have arrived with a note explaining what they had done and where to go to collect it as they only fine you.Also because it was wedding present of £50 they would in all likelihood just put it back with a reminder not to do so again.German Customs don't behave like the Gestapo.I have always been a trade unionist all my life and this smacks of cost cutting by Royal Mail at the expense of the customers who have to rely on Royal Mail and what it used to stand for in the past.Honesty integrity and service in all weathers.

[TeeferTiger]

I glad i have worn out my welcome because i can see that for one you do not understand what i am complaining about and secondly what it is i have written to my MP.

OK, so once again you're just spouting off on here when we can do absolutely nothing about your plight. By all means, take it to your MP and shout it from the rooftops, but you're wasting your time on here getting arsey with a load of people who will genuinely help if they can and are asked nicely-instead of a ranting post which you then take further by accusing all RM staff of thievery.

We can't do anything about RM's cost cutting exercises, and in the past when we've tried to warn people and do something about it (remember when we went on strike?!) we were blasted for it.

So, as I said, by all means get annoyed about RM and slag RM off, but don't come on here telling us how sh*t RM is when a) we know and b) we can't do anything about it. As has been stated before, this site has NOTHING to do with RM other than we are/used to be employed by them. Ranting on here won't make a blind bit of difference to RM in slightest. Heck, ranting on an official RM forum wouldn't make a blind bit of difference either.

If you want to rant directly to someone who works for RM and gets paid enough to deal with such abuse, then write to Moya Greene. She even says on this website that she "loves to read your messages" (I assume she means staff messages but then the site shouldn't be available to the public then, should it!) and by 'loves' I think she means she finds them hilarious... http://www.myroyalmail.com/blogs/just-say-it" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Drop her a line and you never know she might even deign to grace you with a reply.

[Prestonjohn]

Why is it only you answering my posts teefertiger ? Strange is this a one man band or something.Just spoke to the counter staff at my local and they have said that no one has spoken to them re Registered letters going missing because of cost cutting measures by RM.The Union guy there though is going to take it up with with his shop steward because even he didnt know anything about GLS acting for RM instead of Deutsch Post delivering for Royal Mail.This will be the last time i post anything on here because all i have had up to now is blatantly biased comments from you regarding the sanctity and saintliness of Royal Mail staff, former and present, when we both know thins is an impossibility in any large organisation. For your own personnel knowledge i have drunk with posties in my local for 30 years so i do know what i am talking about when i make comments about trustfulness in Royal Mail.What did you get sacked for |?

[michael61]

oh your very pleasant.bye bye.

[TeeferTiger]

Why is it only you answering my posts teefertiger ?

Because I'm strangely drawn to idiots?

For your own personnel knowledge i have drunk with posties in my local for 30 years so i do know what i am talking about when i make comments about trustfulness in Royal Mail.

Then you would know that we all take a very dim view of those stupid enough to do such things and bring the rest of us into direpute. We don't glorify them as heroes, we really don't like them. Therefore, we resent being tarred with the same brush. Incidentally, the rate of crime within RM given the number of employees is actually very low. And are you only commenting on their trustfulness because they lied saying they weren't going to the pub that night so they didn't have to put up with you?

What did you get sacked for |?

Well, this may come as a shock to you, but some people can actually choose to leave RM employment of their own accord, without committing any fraud or deception (apart from smiling at people like you for years). Shocking, I know. I mean, it's like there are other jobs and things to do out there in the big wide world which you don't have to get sacked for to go and do! I know, I couldn't believe it either until I left.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Why is it only you answering my posts teefertiger ?

hang on a sec you do really have a blinkered view, I responded to you (a Postie), Minischoles (a Customer Advisor) did (and you responded in a very rude manner), adb2aber (an MC Worker) and Teefer (an ex employe_) all responded to you. All in a calm and professional manner despite you ranting about their being loads of thieves in RM

As I said in my first post if you wanted advice and sympathy, then your first post was not really designed to endgender a good response was it. Yet you took offence to that.

Strange is this a one man band or something.

Now your getting it - yes it is this site is provided by, and paid for by 1 person. We know him as Postman

spoke to the counter staff at my local and they have said that no one has spoken to them re Registered letters going missing because of cost cutting measures by RM.

As though Royal Mail will offer that as an official reason or explanation. We suspect that's the reason, as probably do you, but no company is going to make that admission are they.

The Union guy there though is going to take it up with with his shop steward because even he didnt know anything about GLS acting for RM instead of Deutsch Post delivering for Royal Mail.

My manager doesn't know about GLS, in fact 99% of RM won't know about GLS as it does not affect our daily working life. RMC members know because some of us post stories and information on here about it and thats how most of us heard about GLS. Certainly not through official channels.

This will be the last time i post anything on here because all i have had up to now is blatantly biased comments from you regarding the sanctity and saintliness of Royal Mail staff, former and present, when we both know thins is an impossibility in any large organisation. For your own personnel knowledge i have drunk with posties in my local for 30 years so i do know what i am talking about when i make comments about trustfulness in Royal Mail.What did you get sacked for |?

Of course you are going to get biased comments are you so naive as not to expect that. This is a Royal Mail employee site and when you use comments like

"hands of GLS International, who promptly stole it even" (has it been stolen, or has it been lost, damaged or destroyed by accident )
"is a thieves charter"

Would you really help someone in your home town if they used statements like that. You'll probably say yes you would, but I think most fair minded people wouldn't. Of course there are thieves in Royal Mail we recognise that, but you got our backs up when you tarred us all with the same brush, you also didn't ask for advice in a polite or friendly manner, when someone tried to help you were rude, and now you call us biased - well with an approach like that why am I not surprised that we jump to our own defence.

[Minischoles]

Firstly, I do know plenty about it, I work in Royal Mail International and my entire day is spent dealing with international queries and complaints (most of the time anyway)

GLS didn't steal anything - Customs aren't the Gestapo, but if something is prohibited and they discover it, they seize it. End of story. You don't pay a fine and then get your prohibited item (try buying a gun and getting it into the UK, then tell the UK Border Agency you can just pay a fine to get your item) - it either gets destroyed, or if you're very lucky they auction it off.

Secondly why would counter staff and postman have any idea about international deliveries? It's not their job to know the minutiae of every foreign country, your average postman probably has no idea that Royal Mail use GLS for registered parcels in a number of countries.

GLS is in fact a great company, speaking from a customer and customer service viewpoint. Their tracking system is superb, their deliveries are very fast and they do a number of things to help the customer - including actually calling the recipient if you put a phone number on the address label.
Their responses to queries about lost parcels are incredibly quick (sometimes within hours) and they return parcels that can't be delivered very promptly after their holding period. Compare them to somewhere like China (a 4-5 month wait for a returned item) or Australia (6-8 weeks just to be put on a plane or boat back here).

Yes they do have a lot of problems, especially in Portugal, but compared to most national carriers they're far superior.