My Item has been retained

david007 · Post by **david007** » 03 Feb 2018, 23:49

Hi everyone, could some of you wonderful Royal Mail/ex Royal Mail employees please explain why my item has been retained even though I never requested it. I've just looked at the tracking 03/02/2018 @ 23:35pm and it states :-

"Your item reference (tracking number) was retained and not delivered on (date and time) ,as per the customer instruction at (local delivery office) .Delivery will be attempted on the next working day. If however a delivery attempt was made and a card left then there are instructions on how to collect your item or arrange a Redelivery."

I never asked for it to be retained, so i'm a little surprised that it says that I asked for it to be retained. I'll explain what happened....

I checked the tracking this morning and it stated it had arrived at my local delivery office at 7.58am. So I decided to go to the local delivery office this morning at about 8.30am on my way to work as i pass by it, to see if I could collect my item before they attempted to deliver it.

I was told by the person working at the collection desk that she would go see if they had my parcel. She returned 10 mins later and informed me that they have got it but she can't give it to me because they need to attempt to deliver it first, but they cant deliver it today and it will be out on Monday. I thought fair enough; Royal Mail obviously have a procedure to follow and i completely understand that.

However as i stated above, why is the tracking saying that i instructed for it to be delivered on Monday, when i clearly never asked for that. I also find it strange that they couldn't deliver it today.

Thank you and kind regards

Post by **SpacePhoenix** » 04 Feb 2018, 00:32

What's the tracking number for the item?

david007 · Post by **david007** » 04 Feb 2018, 06:44

Hi SpacePhoenix, i've sent you the tracking number in a PM

david007 · Post by **david007** » 04 Feb 2018, 06:56

tracking now states :-

An attempt to deliver your item with (tracking number) was made on 03/02/18 but we were unable to deliver as there was no access to the delivery address. The Item will be returned to (delivery office) to await instructions from the addressee or will be returned to sender. You can arrange a redelivery online, call the (delivery office) to arrange a re-delivery, or collect the item from (delivery office) by bringing proof of identification and address.

I can promise you Royal Mail never attempted to deliver the item on the 03/02/18 and I was also informed by the woman at the collections desk that Royal Mail would not be attempting to deliver it until Monday 05/02/2018

I know the item (5 items of childrens clothing) hasn't been lost, i'm just after information on why my tracking is saying these messages. I've never had these messages come up before on other orders i've received.

feduppostie · Post by **feduppostie** » 04 Feb 2018, 10:24

Was it going to a work address?? If so it's possible they have a saturday retention stating they do not want mail delivered on a Saturday - or maybe there are gates that are locked on a Saturday

david007 · Post by **david007** » 04 Feb 2018, 22:26

HI Feduppostie and thank you for responding.

No the parcel wasn't going to a work address, and there are no gates to my property.

I spoke to Royal Mail customer services and the person i spoke to also suggested that it may have been a Saturday retention, however when i explained its a residential address she then said it may be that whoever scanned the item last may have input a wrong code and that's why i'm getting the message that i'm seeing.

She also stated that the message i'm getting she doesnt see that on the system she uses. She explained she can see tracking on 3 different systems, 2 internal systems and 1 which customers can use to track on. (http://www.royalmail.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

She says on the internal system it states its being held on retention till Monday and that the reason why was because the delivery office received it on a Saturday at 7.58am and that most postmen have already left the depot by that time as it's a Saturday.

As i said previously, i just would like to know why i'm getting messages on the tracking saying that i requested for it to be held at the delivery office and another message on tracking stating that an attempt to deliver was made at my property when no such attempt was made.

The address is also correct on the parcel so its not been attempted to be delivered at a different address.

The last few items i've ordered which have been sent by royal mail have all seemed to have some sort of problem... either not being scanned on delivery so that it appears on tracking that i never received. I mean surely vendors must be losing money due to customers saying they never received goods and submitting fraudulent claims against them.

Also I had a bottle of whisky sent to me over xmas which arrived damaged and looked as if it had been opened.

Also the postman decided just before xmas he was gonna sign for my new passport which was sent special delivery. I find this highly unprofessional that someone i don't know can sign for such an important document as a passport without my permission.

Hopefully i'll receive it tomorrow, but for my own clarification i'd just like to know if any of you very helpful members on here have experienced this before or have an explanation in to why this has happened.

Thank you and kind regards

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 05 Feb 2018, 07:36

Also the postman decided just before xmas he was gonna sign for my new passport which was sent special delivery. I find this highly unprofessional that someone i don't know can sign for such an important document as a passport without my permission.

Only residents at the address should sign a "Special delivery" so it was certainly unprofessional. I don't often say this but I would complain officially to the DOM(Manager) of the local Delivery Office it looks like you have a postie taking chances, We call them runners and door steppers and they let dedicated and hard-working colleagues down when they pull tricks like this.

I think what has happened is that the chancer did not want to take the "Special" out and as it was probably not a Saturday guaranteed so scanned it as inaccessible.

Your late today · Post by **Your late today** » 05 Feb 2018, 16:57

TrueBlueTerrier wrote:
Also the postman decided just before xmas he was gonna sign for my new passport which was sent special delivery. I find this highly unprofessional that someone i don't know can sign for such an important document as a passport without my permission.
Only residents at the address should sign a "Special delivery" so it was certainly unprofessional. I don't often say this but I would complain officially to the DOM(Manager) of the local Delivery Office it looks like you have a postie taking chances, We call them runners and door steppers and they let dedicated and hard-working colleagues down when they pull tricks like this.

I think what has happened is that the chancer did not want to take the "Special" out and as it was probably not a Saturday guaranteed so scanned it as inaccessible.

Didn’t realise we delivered passports,around my area they are all delivered by courier who if can’t get an answer take a photo of house and post passport through letter box, we only get the old ones.

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 05 Feb 2018, 16:58

We don't deliver UK passports, but we do deliver other nations passports.

Correction, we do deliver UK passports that are being returned to the holder from Embassies/Consulates after applying for Visas.

Janet Brum · Post by **Janet Brum** » 05 Feb 2018, 20:46

She says on the internal system it states its being held on retention till Monday and that the reason why was because the delivery office received it on a Saturday at 7.58am and that most postmen have already left the depot by that time as it's a Saturday.

As i said previously, i just would like to know why i'm getting messages on the tracking saying that i requested for it to be held at the delivery office and another message on tracking stating that an attempt to deliver was made at my property when no such attempt was made.

If it was received at 8 am on a Saturday and no postie was left to deliver it, that`s the procedure, to be scanned as a retention and those are the standard messages you get.

Also the postman decided just before xmas he was gonna sign for my new passport which was sent special delivery. I find this highly unprofessional that someone i don't know can sign for such an important document as a passport without my permission.

Probably he thought is best to sign for it and deliver it than leave you a P739 card and make you go to the delivery office to pick it up.
I`m not saying it`s right, it`s a possibility.

Post by **Snaggletooth** » 06 Feb 2018, 07:08

david007 wrote:Also I had a bottle of whisky sent to me over xmas which arrived damaged and looked as if it had been opened.

Whisky counts as dangerous goods according to the IATA. Banned from the international mail entirely and only allowed to be sent within the UK under special packaging conditions. As such, stopping for official examination is quite likely, and occasional damage in this circumstance also a real possibility, particularly if the sender didn't quite package it right.

steve1968smith · Post by **steve1968smith** » 26 Aug 2019, 09:22

Hi,
I have a similar question. Tracking my item, it says

Tracking no. QT854218422GB

We're holding this item at a Royal Mail site. We’ve received a request not to deliver mail to the property your item is addressed to today. We'll attempt delivery as per the instructions we’ve received, which is usually on the next working day.

It should have been delivered on Saturday. Other parcels have been delivered over the weekend, and I haven't contacted Royal Mail to ask for anything to be held? Thanks, Steve