Address Incorrect - Return To Sender Issues

David240789 · Post by **David240789** » 19 May 2020, 15:43

Hello,

I just a few questions I was hoping someone could shed a bit of light on.

I had a parcel (games console for my nephew) shipped from London to my flat in Edinburgh 1st class tracked.
The sender did not put the building number, just flat number on the postage.

Once it reached Edinburgh DO it was immediately returned to sender as address could not be identified.
Since it should be following the same service as mentioned on the website to be returned, it should be back with the sender by now but isn’t.

My questions,
Does it take a significantly longer period of time to be returned to sender?
There is a return address on the packaging.

As there are only 3 buildings on my street, and there was a postcode and obvious tracking number that I was keeping an eye on, could the parcel not be left at the post office which is a 2 min walk away instead of being sent all the way back to London just to be sent back up again at additional cost? I could easily prove it was my package.

Once delivered to sender, will this be updated on the tracking?

I spoke to customer services and got little to no information.

The tracking number is:
KB352846655GB

Sent on the 14/05.
Reached Edinburgh DO and returned to sender 16/05 8.32am.

Very frustrating as I live a 5min drive from Edinburgh DO where it was.

Any information or help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

yellowbelly · Post by **yellowbelly** » 19 May 2020, 19:29

The RM tracking seems to suggest your parcel was sent as 'Signed For' not actual 'Tracked' so there is no intermediate tracking trail,
so the next tracking event you will (should) see is when it gets back to the sender.

As to how long it should take to get back - in an ideal world 1 - 3 days. It may (probably will) take longer at the moment.

As for keeping the item at the delivery office, by the letter of the law we're supposed to only deliver to the address. In a
smaller delivery office where the majority of the posties stick to the same round the regular postie might have got it to you
due to their local knowledge of streets, buildings and names.

However, currently at most delivery offices due to Covid 19 we are only delivering parcels on Saturdays (which seems to be the date your parcel was due
to be delivered). As we are only delivering parcels, staff are being asked to cover more than their normal rounds. If your regular postie
was not on your round, on his day off, sick or on leave and the postie on the day couldn't positively identify the delivery address
then unfortunately the decision to send the item back was a legitimate one.

David240789 · Post by **David240789** » 19 May 2020, 19:41

yellowbelly wrote:The RM tracking seems to suggest your parcel was sent as 'Signed For' not actual 'Tracked' so there is no intermediate tracking trail,
so the next tracking event you will (should) see is when it gets back to the sender.

As to how long it should take to get back - in an ideal world 1 - 3 days. It may (probably will) take longer at the moment.

As for keeping the item at the delivery office, by the letter of the law we're supposed to only deliver to the address. In a
smaller delivery office where the majority of the posties stick to the same round the regular postie might have got it to you
due to their local knowledge of streets, buildings and names.

However, currently at most delivery offices due to Covid 19 we are only delivering parcels on Saturdays (which seems to be the date your parcel was due
to be delivered). As we are only delivering parcels, staff are being asked to cover more than their normal rounds. If your regular postie
was not on your round, on his day off, sick or on leave and the postie on the day couldn't positively identify the delivery address
then unfortunately the decision to send the item back was a legitimate one.

Thanks for your reply!

Yeah I makes a bit more sense now if it wasn’t the same postie, the usual guy probably would have recognised the name.

With parcels only being delivered on a Sat, would this also apply to the parcel being returned to the sender?
As in it won’t arrive back there until this Sat and won’t be delivered to me until Sat of next week?

Hope this isn’t the case but fingers crossed!

Post by **fb1969** » 19 May 2020, 21:08

It is only parcels on a Sat, not parcels only on a Sat.

Parcels are delivered Mon - Sat, letters etc Mon - Fri. Not the clearest communication from Royal Mail. So the return could be on any day.

David240789 · Post by **David240789** » 19 May 2020, 21:51

fb1969 wrote:It is only parcels on a Sat, not parcels only on a Sat.

Parcels are delivered Mon - Sat, letters etc Mon - Fri. Not the clearest communication from Royal Mail. So the return could be on any day.

Ah perfect, thanks for clearing that up!