international tracked traced and insured letter missing

uggybigboots · Post by **uggybigboots** » 25 May 2016, 07:59

Hello,

I sent a letter tracked and traced with insurance from Glasgow to Milan.
The end of my tracking is 'on way to Italy' (7/4) from there the track is cold. I don't know if it ever boarded a flight to get to Italy (there are 2 different times with 'on way to Italy'. Or Italian post have messed up. I have contacted poste italiane and they are saying it has abolsutely never arrived in Italian territory.
Its now 7 weeks and I am beside myself this letter is very important. My sister had a pack that was last traced at Heathrow for delivery to Spain and never went through the Spanish tracking system,
I don't think its right we are sold a service that doesn't exist - if it can be tracked and traced- where is it?
Anyone had any similar experiences regarding this?

Post by **Snaggletooth** » 25 May 2016, 08:51

I have never sent anything to Italy myself, but while working in Post Offices I have been on the end of dozens of complaints from customers about items going missing, usually in circumstances similar to those you describe. Frankly, the Italian Post Office is a shambles and has been for decades. However, due to various contracts and treaties Royal Mail have to keep offering these services and, by extension, so do the UK Post Office, even if the staff have no confidence in them.

Given that it's been 7 weeks, I hope that you have claimed your money back by submitting a P58international form? Claiming money back is the best way that you can register that there is a problem with this.

uggybigboots · Post by **uggybigboots** » 25 May 2016, 11:28

Hi,

Yes I have filled in the form but it will not in anyway cover it - which I will not go into here.
The fact is nothing was tracked also in Spain when my sister used this service- it is clear it doesn't work.
That the Royal Mail have their hands tied and have to offer this service is in no way an explanation- thats like saying a water company have to keep providing polluted water due to contracts etc they can't get out of it (not the best metaphor but you get my point). If it doesn't work and all workers know it, the consumer should be made aware of it. Is it Italys fault? maybe.. but the Royal Mail nevertheless offer the service, profit from it and can't fulfill what they are advertising they can do... in no way acceptable

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 25 May 2016, 14:14

uggybigboots wrote:Hi,

Yes I have filled in the form but it will not in anyway cover it - which I will not go into here.
The fact is nothing was tracked also in Spain when my sister used this service- it is clear it doesn't work.
That the Royal Mail have their hands tied and have to offer this service is in no way an explanation- thats like saying a water company have to keep providing polluted water due to contracts etc they can't get out of it (not the best metaphor but you get my point). If it doesn't work and all workers know it, the consumer should be made aware of it. Is it Italys fault? maybe.. but the Royal Mail nevertheless offer the service, profit from it and can't fulfill what they are advertising they can do... in no way acceptable

Just to reiterate and make sure its completely clear. We are not Royal Mail, we cannot provide any official comment. We are a forum for Postal Workers that happens to have a "Customer" section. Any information provided by members is unofficial and cannot be construed as endorsed or accepted by Royal Mail.

Having made that clear Snaggletooth is giving you an insight as a former counter clerk, its not their job to either defend or explain Royal Mails policies, but hopefully what they have said will help you in the future.

uggybigboots · Post by **uggybigboots** » 25 May 2016, 16:28

Pardon me if this seemed abrupt or on the attack- this is certainly not how I was wishing to come across.
Thanks for the insight indeed - I'm very grateful you responded. I am merely venting my anger at the Royal Mail NOT snaggletooth nor this forum.

Many thanks

Post by **Snaggletooth** » 25 May 2016, 16:38

uggybigboots wrote:Yes I have filled in the form but it will not in anyway cover it - which I will not go into here.

If correctly declared to the Post Office counter clerk what the contents were, and they sold you additional cover which was not valid, they you may be able to get some money back from Post Office customer services. Call them on 03457 22 33 44. Note that this is entirely separate from any claim against Royal Mail for the postage cost and the value of the item, but you might get a small amount of compensation.

uggybigboots wrote:The fact is nothing was tracked also in Spain when my sister used this service- it is clear it doesn't work.

Though there have been occasional issues in recent times reported on this board, on the whole it seems to work pretty well in Spain, your sister must have been unlucky.

uggybigboots wrote:That the Royal Mail have their hands tied and have to offer this service is in no way an explanation- thats like saying a water company have to keep providing polluted water due to contracts etc they can't get out of it (not the best metaphor but you get my point). If it doesn't work and all workers know it, the consumer should be made aware of it. Is it Italys fault? maybe..

Royal Mail is like the water company in one way, in that it is legally obliged to offer a certain set of services. If the water is polluted then the water company is obliged to send round water tankers and stand pipes, it can't just give you a refund for there not being water. Contrast this with your local shop, which can just not sell you any milk if the fridge fails and it all goes off, and there is no comeback apart from lost sales. Royal Mail are obliged to provide these services by their regulator and by international treaties between postal operators, and stopping doing this would have all sorts of legal ramifications for them. Nor can they publicly criticise the Italian postal service without causing a diplomatic incident. The big difference between RM and the water company is that the water company is in charge of their entire production process from start to finish. So in that respect, the Italian postal service is to RM what a drought is to the water company - an outside factor over which the they have no control.

The most interesting thing is that Royal Mail have not switched their Italian deliveries to a private operator, as they have in many other Western European countries.

uggybigboots wrote:but the Royal Mail nevertheless offer the service, profit from it and can't fulfill what they are advertising they can do... in no way acceptable

About 10-12 years ago there was a similar level of theft on these service going to Poland, now solved. We found out at the time that Royal Mail was giving out more in compensation for lost parcels than it was taking in revenue from selling the service. So no, RM probably aren't making money out of this, they are almost certainly losing money hand over fist. The fact that they keep selling the service in spite of massive losses from it should indicate to you how difficult it is to solve the problem!