Neil White: my fury over Royal Mail

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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WHEN I was younger I used to get annoyed... a lot.

In fact, in Birmingham, where I worked in my 20s, I was dubbed a "scrapyard Alsatian" by my editor.
​

Over the years, thanks largely to the calming influence of Mrs W, I have mellowed.
If you sense a "but" coming, you'd be correct.

This week, I was absolutely ruddy furious.

Now that I have calmed down, I shall explain why.

On my desk, among the letters which had been collected from the Royal Mail, was an envelope which had been ripped along two sides. Its contents, which I knew had been three DVDs, were absent.

To me, it appeared obvious that someone had felt the DVDs inside the envelope and then taken them.

Why they had not stolen the envelope at the same time I could not fathom.

The DVDs had been sent to me by a film company so I could review them.

We have gone through the same process many times, so there was no reason to expect that they would not turn up or that anyone would interfere with them.

And yet they had disappeared.

I can't say it's the first time that DVDs have not arrived. Too often they have been "lost" in the post.

But never before have I seen such obvious pilfering. And, it seemed to me, that the delivery of the empty, ripped envelope was an unsubtle attempt to stick two fingers up to me.

I called the customer services department of the Royal Mail to complain. Its number wasn't particularly easy to find. It appeared the Royal Mail preferred that I moan online.

Finally, I did get through and registered my dismay about my missing DVDs.

The call centre operative didn't seem to understand the seriousness of the situation. She asked if the DVDs had been sent by recorded delivery, implying that this would have assured their unmolested arrival.

She declined to answer when I asked why just popping the envelope in the post and us picking up the mail from Midland Road wasn't good enough.

Then I was told the process for claiming compensation.

I suggested the call centre operative was missing the point.

There was no retail value on the DVDs because they were sent by the film company which created them and they are not yet available to buy.

And, in any case, I was more concerned that a Royal Mail employee might have been responsible for theft.

This clearly wasn't a scenario for which she had been trained. I suggested she wasn't taking me seriously. She responded by giving me the number for the complaints department.

And that's where we left it. If I was hot under the collar enough, I could ring up and go through the whole palaver again. If not, it would just be forgotten and a potential thief inside would be free to pilfer whatever they wanted.

Sadly, it seemed that if I didn't want to spend more time on the case then Royal Mail didn't care.

[Lounge Lizard]

"To me, it appeared obvious that someone had felt the DVDs inside the envelope and then taken them. Why they had not stolen the envelope at the same time I could not fathom." - maybe because they weren't properly packaged and they fell out during automatic handing or sorting.

"The DVDs had been sent to me by a film company so I could review them. We have gone through the same process many times, so there was no reason to expect that they would not turn up or that anyone would interfere with them. ..... And yet they had disappeared. I can't say it's the first time that DVDs have not arrived. Too often they have been "lost" in the post." 'the same process many times, so there was no reason to expect that they would not turn up' OR 'I can't say it's the first time that DVDs have not arrived- make your mind up.

[UnhappyGremlin]

If something is that important, spend a few extra quid for Special Delivery.
There is zero evidence that this was theft, and is very possible the packaging was damaged during sorting in automated machinery.
Though, IF it was stolen, then it is a sad and disgusting state of affairs. But an unfortunate fact of life.