Verbal abuse from customer

matthew68 · Post by **matthew68** » 20 Mar 2020, 20:48

I have had 2 situations with a customer on a new round I am now doing, He has a warning on his gate saying beware of the dog, so on Monday there was a dog loose and no one around so I brought letters back and wrote the reason, so on Tuesday he went and had a write go at me saying his dogs were harmless and no other postie has ever done that and I was a bloody snowflake and a stupid prat! I said I am new to this round and was following procedures he just told me to deliver his mail or I will make a complaint, so then Thursday I have a large parcel for him and I open gate and enter his garden the dog then runs over and runs out of the gate so I called out and the guy goes mad saying why didn’t I shut the gate you idiot can’t you read it says shut the gate on the gate:I said I didn’t see or hear the dog until it was too late, he then went mad saying I was an absolute idiot and a stupid dopey prick! He then said I had to find his dog and if I didn’t would claim 500 pounds off Royal Mail , he demanded my name and said he was going to make a complaint, He said I was like a 3 year child who can’t read and am going to do his best to get me the sack!IHe found the dog just down the road and says you are lucky I found him or you would have been for it! I said to him he was over reacting and there is more important things going on at the moment and he should calm down,he said he will do what he wants and you are an idiot!t was my day off today so am expecting Dom to speak to me tomorrow.I said to him that I should not shut the gate on myself if there could be dogs loose, He says I should shut gates when I enter property and I am a useless idiot!he says this very aggressively and I didn’t feel comfortable at all I don’t think I have done anything wrong, in fact I think I should complain about him! Would I be in my rights to say to Manager about not delivering to him as he seems very aggressive in his manner? Also what is the procedure regarding shutting gates on yourself whilst in the customers garden?

noggin1969 · Post by **noggin1969** » 20 Mar 2020, 21:54

RM policy is not to enter any property with a dog running free. RM will say you are in charge of your own H&S , so endorse letters ' dog loose '. As for the owner , if you feel intimidated by him tell your manager that you'll not be delivering to the property. The manager will have to write a letter and deliver it telling them their mail is suspended for as long as it takes him to stop being a d*ck.

matthew68 · Post by **matthew68** » 20 Mar 2020, 22:06

noggin1969 wrote:RM policy is not to enter any property with a dog running free. RM will say you are in charge of your own H&S , so endorse letters ' dog loose '. As for the owner , if you feel intimidated by him tell your manager that you'll not be delivering to the property. The manager will have to write a letter and deliver it telling them their mail is suspended for as long as it takes him to stop being a d*ck.

Ok thanks for advice, just wandering if no dogs visible should I shut gate on myself in the property as that’s what he says as dogs could run out.

ted_e_bear · Post by **ted_e_bear** » 20 Mar 2020, 22:59

matthew68 wrote:
noggin1969 wrote:RM policy is not to enter any property with a dog running free. RM will say you are in charge of your own H&S , so endorse letters ' dog loose '. As for the owner , if you feel intimidated by him tell your manager that you'll not be delivering to the property. The manager will have to write a letter and deliver it telling them their mail is suspended for as long as it takes him to stop being a d*ck.
Ok thanks for advice, just wandering if no dogs visible should I shut gate on myself in the property as that’s what he says as dogs could run out.

No way,if your manager has anything about him he'll authorize suspending deliveries to this complete knobhead, mine would !

steve1873 · Post by **steve1873** » 20 Mar 2020, 23:24

matthew68 wrote:
noggin1969 wrote:RM policy is not to enter any property with a dog running free. RM will say you are in charge of your own H&S , so endorse letters ' dog loose '. As for the owner , if you feel intimidated by him tell your manager that you'll not be delivering to the property. The manager will have to write a letter and deliver it telling them their mail is suspended for as long as it takes him to stop being a d*ck.
Ok thanks for advice, just wandering if no dogs visible should I shut gate on myself in the property as that’s what he says as dogs could run out.

Absolutely not.

Do not ever shut gate on yourself. You require an escape route if a dangerous dog happens to be lurking behind a property and you don't see it til you are in the garden.

Explain situation to manager. Tell them you now feel intimidated and are thus refusing to deliver the customer mail until such time as he has had a managerial visit or letter explaining that any further harassment will involve both the police and a total suspension of mail delivery.

twoloops · Post by **twoloops** » 21 Mar 2020, 06:12

Once again the stupid posties who pat & fuss dogs f**k the job up, dog out bring it back, job done.

matthew68 · Post by **matthew68** » 21 Mar 2020, 06:42

Thanks guys some good advice, he insists that I close gate on myself but I will tell manager to send him a letter and won’t talk to the guy,the dogs are actually harmless but I didn’t know this at the time but I will still follow procedures and hope to piss him off

Post by **celtic1967** » 21 Mar 2020, 07:58

I love dogs, but any dog has the potential to bite. The bloke is being an idiot. Advise your manager, he should deal with it. There are procedures in place.

NWpostie · Post by **NWpostie** » 21 Mar 2020, 09:14

I once had such a customer making threats at me, I got the Police on him and informed my manager.

He soon shut up once he realised I wasn't going to take any crap off him.

twoloops · Post by **twoloops** » 21 Mar 2020, 13:47

You do not close the gate on yourself, that’s ridiculous, any dog is a threat they are territorial, if the dogs out all the time I would get one of my mates to nip back in the afternoon & let it out, hopefully it would get run over, end of.

exaandt · Post by **exaandt** » 21 Mar 2020, 13:50

I had a guy threaten to kill me
He even wrote to dom stating if he didn't do something about me he would
Royal mail didn't want to know so I went to police with a copy of the letter
They went and questioned customer and he was told to apologise
Dom and royal mail did nothing so if in doubt go to police with any evidence
Take care

matthew68 · Post by **matthew68** » 21 Mar 2020, 16:04

exaandt wrote:I had a guy threaten to kill me
He even wrote to dom stating if he didn't do something about me he would
Royal mail didn't want to know so I went to police with a copy of the letter
They went and questioned customer and he was told to apologise
Dom and royal mail did nothing so if in doubt go to police with any evidence
Take care

Will do some good suggestions! Thanks

world class male · Post by **world class male** » 21 Mar 2020, 16:19

twoloops wrote:You do not close the gate on yourself, that’s ridiculous, any dog is a threat they are territorial, if the dogs out all the time I would get one of my mates to nip back in the afternoon & let it out, hopefully it would get run over, end of.

what an awful thing to say

NorthernPostman · Post by **NorthernPostman** » 21 Mar 2020, 20:57

I'd be refusing to deliver to that address until a manager goes to speak to the customer. Unacceptable

Post by **celtic1967** » 22 Mar 2020, 08:53

twoloops wrote:You do not close the gate on yourself, that’s ridiculous, any dog is a threat they are territorial, if the dogs out all the time I would get one of my mates to nip back in the afternoon & let it out, hopefully it would get run over, end of.

Awful thing to say. As in all these types of incidents, its not the dogs fault its the gobshite owner