complaining about a postman

[kelaroost]

Hi all i need to find out how to complain about a postman

our postman changed around 3 months ago and since having this postman he has made lots of errors, first of all he held on to a letter in my wifes name then knocked my door 3 weeks after the date on top of the letter and said "i didn't think she lived here so i was going to send it back"
he wrote on the top of the letter " DOES NOT LIVE HERE" inside was a contract on carbon paper (i think its called that) so we had to ask for another copy of the contract because the other one was ruined and could not be read. Our contract ended up being 4 weeks late and we had a fee of £25 to pay for admin fees

secondly:

the house next door to me has been empty for some time now, no one living there and no landlord visiting either, had a knock on the door 15 mins ago and it was the post man, he has posted my letters through next door and he said all he can do is post a "sorry you wern't in" card sayin please post the letters next door.
This is FAR from acceptable, nobody lives there! i dont know the landlord either so i cannot contact him (i shouldn't have to anyway).
My wife is in her late stages of pregnancy (8 weeks left) and is waiting on a few letters, lets just hope they arent sitting on the neighbours door mat!

[Patrick Clifton]

You can contact Royal Mail Customer Services. They would be the best to speak to.

If I can just add. If your new Postman is new to the job, it is quite a daunting experience being new. You can get little to no training to good training. It all depends on the individual office and who the training coach may be.

Is it always the same postie you get? Perhaps the one you often see is not your regular postman and they are getting shifted about different deliveries every day and not getting a chance to settle into 1 delivery.

Of course they should be taking care to make sure that the mail gets delivered to the correct address, but we are only human (well, most of us are anyway )

[krussel]

I am sorry you have received such a bad service.

Keeping a letter from being delivered for even a day let alone 3 WEEKS is something Royal Mail take very seriously and could have very well cost him his job . I understand he thought the addressee was no longer living there but he should have delivered it anyway and waited for it to come back endorsed “gone away" before taking any action by himself, ive no idea what he must have been thinking. Most posties would have simply knocked and asked at the very least.

Putting mail through the wrong door is perhaps a little more understandable mistake and is something that even I have had the misfortune of doing from time to time even with 23 years experience. Unfortunately it’s a brief lapse of concentration and the mistake is made. But of course this does not help if the house is empty.

It maybe he is new and being given the wrong advice concerning holding back that letter and no doubt rushing around causing the miss delivery.

Either way I think you have every right to complain so that things can be brought to his attention and the service improved. As mentioned Customer Services are available for this sort of thing . However if you have the time (dependent on your delivery office location etc) may I suggest you go to the office and ask to see a Manager whereupon you can explain your complaint in greater detail. The Manager can then have a word directly with the postie concerned which is not only quicker but normally leads to a more positive and successful outcome.

Good luck with this and I hope the service improves in the future.

Best wishes on your own expected “Special Delivery” I hope all goes well.

A Postie

[kelaroost]

thanks for your replies guys, the postman isn't a new postman he is just new to this round, but after 3 months im sure he would know it by now, he used to work another round not too far away because a family friend also kept getting messed around by the same post man.

I dont want the postman to get the sack because i know everyone makes mistakes, but perhaps if i speak to someone official about it then things may change.

still dont have a clue what to do about my post in the empty house next door lol

thanks :)

[Spedley]

Talk to the postman first and if that fails then get in touch with your local delivery office. There may be an issue with your particular address which makes mistakes more common.

As most post-people on here deliver nearly half a million items per year it is practically impossible to not make a mistake at some time. I delivered to a vacant house by mistake yesterday, fortunately it was only a 'you were not in card' so when I got next door (to another number 13 ... and realised my error) they were in so no harm done.

Also, it may be worthwhile spending 50p on some small number stickers and sticking them on the letterbox. I wish everyone would do this, it makes life much easier.

[bogstandard]

you might try contacting the council about your next door neighbour and explain your situation to them with regards to letters you are waiting for and the postie admittng putting them through the wrong door. i dont know if they will or can help but its worth a try.

[fishtank]

If i were you i would put a note through next door explaining that you are aware of your mail being there.
Even with the house being empty i would imagine the landlord would be visiting occasionally.
It may put him off binning it if he knows that you know it's there.

[windermeredave]

you are being a little harsh on the guy regarding the misdeliveries next door, I defy any postman on this forum to say it as never happened to him, concentration is needed 100 % when delivering but sometimes you go into autopilot mode, you put the letters through the wrong door then a second later you realise what you have done. at least he was honest enough to knock your door and admit his mistake.

[coxie]

I am with windamere on this one. Every postman does it from time to time, the public have to understand we are human too, I would like to know how the people who complain would feel if someone made a complaint about them for making a mistake. I appreciate mail is important and it doesn't help your cause if the premesis is empty but give the guy a break, why not just have a word with him face to face, ask him if he can take extra care because the house next door is empty. If everyone complained about a misdelivery then I am afraid there wouldn't be any postmen left.

In the first case it seems as though he was trying to be helpful but got his wires cross, a helpful postman is the best to have. I am helpful but had a lady complain about me because her letters didn't go right through the letter box, i explained to my DOM because she had a dog barking the otherside of the door so I wasn't going to put my fingers in. 2 weeks later she told me she was expecting a packet and could I leave it with her neighbour, but I remembered she tried to get me in trouble so unfortunately I left her a form so she had to pick it up.

Remember we are normal people, we think like normal people and we make mistakes like normal people in. We don't mean to do it and we are sorry if we do but if you wan't to think that this guy might have a family to support and could at worst lose his job then go ahead and tell his manager but I know if it was me I would give him a chance by having a quiet word in his ear, If he is a decent postie who does appreciate the importance of letters he will apologise and promise you he will take extra care.

[bogstandard]

what concerns me is that judging by the initial post the postie concerned is taking on tasks not proper to them. We are employed to deliver mail to the address, nothing more. i know that sounds harsh but why would you do what is not asked of you ?
Could it cost you your job ?


However i was waiting for the post,
Can we have our old postie back.

[stokes11eg]

Difficult this! As both a postie and a customer--even I get a little annoyed whan my mail so misdelivered! But. I have in the course of my work misdelivered too--and feel terrible when I do. If this chap has been honest enough to admit his mistakes to you, I would just have a quiet word in his ear----

[Radmilka]

I have similar problem - our regular postman has been relaced and this guy don't deliver our parcels and don't even leave the "Sorry you were out" note! he just sends them back! I discovered that just recently, as our friend was passing by and noticed how the postman saw that the parcel was too big and wouldn't fit through door, so he just chucked it back to his bag and left. I am waiting for one more parcel and it has been 28 days since i ordered it.i contacted the seller-he said that parcel was refused and is on it's way back to them! i am shocked, so if anyone has a good advice-i'm open to any suggestions.

[Bazman]

That doesn't sound right.

It's far easier for a postie to deliver a package that he's got rather than just chucking it back in his bag and leaving a note (or in your case, not leaving a note, which is even dumber :x)

It's simple really, we'd rather get packages delivered so we're not saddled by the weight for the rest of the delivery.

On the other hand RM have been known to recruit some real numpties so your best bet is to write a letter to the Delivery Office Manager.

[bogstandard]

i would suggest that you and your friend write individually to the Delivery Office Manager and request they look into it give them 2 weeks to respond then go to the Investigation side of RM who can be contacted via the RM website.

[jina1k]

Talk to the postman first and if that fails then get in touch with your local delivery office. There may be an issue with your particular address which makes mistakes more common.

As most post-people on here deliver nearly half a million items per year it is practically impossible to not make a mistake at some time. I delivered to a vacant house by mistake yesterday, fortunately it was only a 'you were not in card' so when I got next door (to another number 13 ... and realised my error) they were in so no harm done.

Also, it may be worthwhile spending 50p on some small number stickers and sticking them on the letterbox. I wish everyone would do this, it makes life much easier.

Hi every1. I have the same issue about my letters deliverd. I never have to sign for my recorded mail it just gets posted. I've been waiting for my new bank card for ages now. D postman keeps posting other peoples letters thru my door always.... I've had my neighbours new bank card and pin deliverd to me.. imagine dat went a few doors Down to the other neighbours who would keep em to themselves?? Has my bank card gone else where?? I've been waiting for a really important letter for two weeks now that was deliverd 1st class I wonder where dis has gone?? When ever the postman cums u always hear him it sounds as if he drunk. Cz he allways ends up hitting himself onto my front door. It's not only me dat has noticed dis behavior its my neighbours aswell. I really #idnt want to have to complain but I feel as if I don't have a choice.... its a shame because mostly postmen are allways polite and hard workers and u get d odd 1 spoiling it for the rest...