Advice desperately needed

Ady2020 · Post by **Ady2020** » 13 Jun 2020, 13:40

Hi all

I know that all you royal mail guys do a really good job and this is the first time I have ever had problems with my post.

I moved house back in mid March and set up a mail redirection from my old house to my new house which is on the next road from my old address and so would be covered by the same delivery office in Derby. In the first few weeks I had a very small number of redirected letters but then this dried up despite numerous letters being sent to me at my old address. To give you an example, my bank has now sent me 4 replacement copies of the same bank statement and a number of letters and not a single one has arrived. I have asked my previous landlord and he has confirmed that he has received no mail for me there.

I have spoken to customer services about 5 times about this and they just give me another reference number and say they will send a message to the delivery office. Since trying to chase this up, all royal mail deliveries to my new address have also stopped. Royal mail have sent me a test letter which has not been delivered and I have sent 2 test letters - one to my old address with my name on it and one to my new address and neither of these have been delivered. In the last month the only thing that has turned up is a letter asking if I want to renew my mail redirection!

This has now been going on for 3 months and the sheer amount of mail that has been sent and not delivered confirms that my mail is not going missing but is being stolen or dumped somewhere.

Please give us any advice that you can - Royal Mail customer services are not interested when I speak to them and I am feeling so frustrated. What else can we do?

Thanks

Post by **SpacePhoenix** » 13 Jun 2020, 13:52

Have you tried contacting the local delivery office directly? With both addressees being only a road apart there's a fair chance that both will be on the same delivery round.

clashcityrocker · Post by **clashcityrocker** » 13 Jun 2020, 14:09

Did you send the test letters by regular post? I.E First or second class?

Try sending yourself a Special Delivery to each address.
They can't simply go missing and have to be scanned. The last person to scan it might tell you what is happening to your mail and where it is going, though maybe not why.

Post by **Snaggletooth** » 13 Jun 2020, 14:33

This needs escalating. There is a three stage complaint process, it sounds like you have been through stage 1 several times, you need to go to stage 2 (an “Escalated Complaint”). Don’t be tempted to go straight to stage 3, that will delay things. More information:

https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app ... mplaint%3F" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ady2020 · Post by **Ady2020** » 14 Jun 2020, 16:58

Hi all

Thanks for the advice.

I have not tried contact the delivery office directly but customer services keep sending them messages which is reassuring that it is on record.

I sent my test letters first class. It looks like special delivery is £6.70 so I am a bit put off by the high prices. I bet the signed for service doesn't include the same level of tracking?

I have already asked the customer services to escalate the complaint to stage 2 and they refuse and say they will just send the delivery office yet another message. It looks like raising a stage 3 complaint is the only way.

I am tempted to go down to the delivery office and have it out with them. Something is happening to my mail but I can't find out what. I always thought it was an offence to tamper with somebody else's mail. At what point will the police get involved? Is this something I need to report myself?

Thanks

Post by **SpacePhoenix** » 14 Jun 2020, 17:02

For stuff posted within the UK going to an addres in the UK there's only three services that get tracked through it's journey:

* Special Delivery: usable by anyone

the other two are Tracked 24 and Tracked 48. For them two I know postage for them can be bought online but I don't know if it's restricted to business customers only if bought online

NewPostieUK · Post by **NewPostieUK** » 14 Jun 2020, 20:39

Are the initials and the surname on the redirection exactly the same as on the letters sent?

I had my deceased aunts mail redirected to me, she was M SMITH. Letters for Mr and Mrs C Smith were not redirected.

Ady2020 · Post by **Ady2020** » 14 Jun 2020, 21:33

I will ask at the post office about the Tracked mail and see if that is an option.

We included my full name as it is on the mail redirection when we posted the 2 letters. To make sure the postman did not pick up that they were test letters, my wife wrote on one envelope and myself on the other. I took a photo of myself putting each one in the post box as evidence. I feel like I have done everything I can. It seems that my mail is being stolen from within the mail network and that includes these test letters!

Post by **Snaggletooth** » 15 Jun 2020, 08:45

If sending test letters, I would recommend getting a certificate of posting from a Post Office. This is a free service, but it does mean going to the counter. It can be used with any service that the PO does.

Unfortunately, I don’t think the PO sell any tracked service except Special Delivery.

Ady2020 · Post by **Ady2020** » 19 Jun 2020, 00:02

Hi all

Thought I would like you know how I have been getting on. I went through the stage 2 investigation really quick and am now onto stage 3.

Despite my old landlord initially saying that no mail had been arriving at the old address he has since been forwarding on my mail which has been turning up there. I am just glad to finally get the mail. As part of the stage 2 investigation they made enquiries at the delivery office who said that there was absolutely no problems with the mail redirection. I am however currently sat here with 4 letters with my full name and address on that were delivered to my old address with no mail redirection sticker on them. This is going to be an interesting conversation when the stage 3 people give me a call to discuss this.

Thanks for all your help

NewPostieUK · Post by **NewPostieUK** » 20 Jun 2020, 17:31

Ady2020 wrote: 4 letters with my full name and address on that were delivered to my old address with no mail redirection sticker on them.

Is the redirection set up with your full name and aliases?

There has been problems with William Smith getting letters for W Smith but not B Smith. People call him Bill.

Ady2020 · Post by **Ady2020** » 20 Jun 2020, 21:17

I don't have any aliases, I just use my full name. The mail redirection was set up in my full name and the letters sent to e previous address all had exactly the same full name on them. There is no explanation for them not being redirected.

One of the letters I have received at my new address was a letter from Royal Mail asking for another £42 to renew my mail redirection service for another 3 months. "Can we have another £42 so we can carry on not redirecting your mail sir".