Worthy of complaint?

[NvM]

Hey there,
Over the past while, at least one of the postmen around here has been causing us some serious headaches. Aside from (I assume the same person) snapping at us when we're in the house (for the horrifically long 20-30 seconds it took for someone to reach the door), a couple of more worrying things have been happening;
- Tracked and signed-for parcels are being forced through our letterbox when we're out of the house (lightly damaging several at this point).
- Parcels, signed for and otherwise are being delivered to neighbours that we don't know (nothing has ever been set up in that regard), and now more often than not without leaving us a notification slip as to where our parcel has been delivered.
- A parcel delivered this week was just dumped outside of our door, a terraced house in the middle of the city. Anyone could have lifted it or tampered with it. Made somewhat worse that leaving a parcel containing christmas tree lights in the rain is potentially dangerous.

Erratic delivery times don't particularly bother me but whoever has been doing this is seriously making me reconsider using the Royal Mail at all.
I can only assume(/hope) that this conduct is out of line for a RM postie. Has anyone had similar experience of this sort of thing happening?

If I complain, is there any element of anonymity or should I refrain from using RM services as a precaution against some packages mysteriously winding up scattered and broken over the street?
Can I organise some alternative to what's been happening that won't involve my paid for possessions being passed to strangers without my knowledge or consent (and actually have this adhered to)?

Many thanks,
M.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Leaving with a neighbour is actually heavily promoted by Royal Mail and its managers at the moment - they have even given its one mnemonic - FTD - first time delivery.

Tracked (no signature) can be posted through a letter box if physically possible. Again it's pushed hard, by management (an unintentional pun)

Signed for shouldn't though.


Doorstepping is definitely frowned upon. (leaving on view, or in an unsafe location).


You can opt out of the Delivery to Neighbour scheme http://www.royalmail.com/personal/recei ... -neighbour" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[NvM]

Leaving with a neighbour is actually heavily promoted by Royal Mail and its managers at the moment - they have even given its one mnemonic - FTD - first time delivery.

Tracked (no signature) can be posted through a letter box if physically possible. Again it's pushed hard, by management (an unintentional pun)

Signed for shouldn't though.


Doorstepping is definitely frowned upon. (leaving on view, or in an unsafe location).


You can opt out of the Delivery to Neighbour scheme http://www.royalmail.com/personal/recei ... -neighbour" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks very much for the information and quick response :)

[Spedley]

Unfortunately you are pretty much unable to opt-out of using Royal Mail. It seems you receive a lot of packages (and probably) mail but usually you have no choice in which courier the sender uses.

I always recommend getting in touch with Royal Mail, either via their phone line (very annoying) or in person at the delivery branch - ask to speak to someone regarding your concerns, preferably about 11am when the office becomes less hectic.
As long as you are just a concerned customer and not aggressive or argumentative then you should receive a very satisfactory response (are at least you would in my experience).

[NewPostieUK]

You are obviously getting a shoddy service, but how can delivery times be erratic? There are no set delivery times (unless you are talking 6 AM or 8 PM!).

Erratic delivery times

[Postie45]

are you sure the package that was dumped was delivered by RM ? the postie seems to have at least delivered to neighbours in the past... there are many different couriers nowadays delivering packages, not saying it wasnt the postie as he seems likes he doing things to rush around but its possible that it could have been another courier

[NvM]

You are obviously getting a shoddy service, but how can delivery times be erratic? There are no set delivery times (unless you are talking 6 AM or 8 PM!).

Erratic delivery times

Anytime between 11am and 5pm normally, but like I said it's not something that bothers me. My parcels going missing on the other hand is becoming an issue (currently two that are over a fortnight late, this never having happened before)

[NvM]

are you sure the package that was dumped was delivered by RM ? the postie seems to have at least delivered to neighbours in the past... there are many different couriers nowadays delivering packages, not saying it wasn't the postie as he seems likes he doing things to rush around but its possible that it could have been another courier

Couriers don't deliver the mail as well. Also, RM is currently the only service I'm having a problem with. The others at least notify us of where our parcels are and have more common sense than to leave them lying in a city street.

[NvM]

Unfortunately you are pretty much unable to opt-out of using Royal Mail. It seems you receive a lot of packages (and probably) mail but usually you have no choice in which courier the sender uses.

I always recommend getting in touch with Royal Mail, either via their phone line (very annoying) or in person at the delivery branch - ask to speak to someone regarding your concerns, preferably about 11am when the office becomes less hectic.
As long as you are just a concerned customer and not aggressive or argumentative then you should receive a very satisfactory response (are at least you would in my experience).

Thanks very much for this. Do you think it might be easier to opt out of the deliver to neighbour option than to try in the off chance that more of my parcels will go missing? At least that way I might get a slip to notify me of where my parcels are.

[wannabeek]

It is very simple to use the opt-out service for this. You would need to visit this site:

http://www.royalmail.com/personal/recei ... -neighbour

Follow the instructions and then you'll be sent a sticker in the post to attach to your letterbox. The postie should see this sticker whenever they deliver and follow the procedure of returning it to the office and leaving a card for you without trying a neighbour or looking for a 'safeplace' ( ) for it.

It would be even easier for you, and should have the same effect, to write out the words yourself and stick that bit of paper to your letterbox.

This is what the sticker looks like:

opt out sticker.jpg

[Postie45]

are you sure the package that was dumped was delivered by RM ? the postie seems to have at least delivered to neighbours in the past... there are many different couriers nowadays delivering packages, not saying it wasn't the postie as he seems likes he doing things to rush around but its possible that it could have been another courier

Couriers don't deliver the mail as well. Also, RM is currently the only service I'm having a problem with. The others at least notify us of where our parcels are and have more common sense than to leave them lying in a city street.

not sure what delivering mail as well has to do with knowing who left the package.... my experience is that many other couriers do not have the common sense you are talking about and are far more likely to leave packages unattended, altho its depends very much on the individual,

[NewPostieUK]

I don't mean to deflect away from genuine issues you are having, but that's not erratic, it's normal.

Today I left the office at 10:10am and last letter was 4:30pm . Any one of my customers could have had mail at any time between 10:25 and 4:30.

You are obviously getting a shoddy service, but how can delivery times be erratic? There are no set delivery times (unless you are talking 6 AM or 8 PM!).

Erratic delivery times

Anytime between 11am and 5pm normally, but like I said it's not something that bothers me. My parcels going missing on the other hand is becoming an issue (currently two that are over a fortnight late, this never having happened before)

[Deadly]

are you sure the package that was dumped was delivered by RM ?

I had a business owner hand me back a small package this week and proceeded to have a right old moan about it not being for them. It wasn't Royal Mail but DPD which was a surprise to them when I pointed it out.

[bogstandard]

had a conversation with one (who became) very irrate person at our local B.O. when they said the item they had was wrong and they had been toldby the vendor over the phone to take it to a Post Office to post it back to them.I was asked over by one of the counter staff for some advice and showed it was delivered by TNT and was nothing to do with RM or the post office and that they ideally should get hold of the courier to return it. RM would take it if they put the postage on it. "what if i just post it"? they said so i told them RM will deliver a letter to whoever you're sending it to letting them know we have an item for them that is underpaid and they will need to pay for it, for it to be delivered to them. Do you think they will pay the postage plus the £1 admin fee i asked. Crickey they exploded at me, but calmed down in the end. As i said to them " i understand it sounds as though i'm not telling you what you want to hear or what you have already been told so please seek an alternative opinion but this is my understanding of the operational process if you just post it".