What is going on with Royal Mail ??????????

[Rocker]

Had 2 different parcel go missing in one week this week by Royal Mail .One is some where in Cambridge and I live in Lincolnshire and the other parcel ,well your guess is has good has mine It has come to the point now that when I ordered some epoxy glue to day from a modeling shop I told them not to send it via Royal Mail !!! The ironic thing was when I rang the Royal Mail Customer Service they told me that this often happenings and not to worry .It seems Royal Mail do not seem bother about this

[alex nicol]

It's called progress, RM are really efficient when it comes to losing parcels........hope you get it sorted soon

[Nigel R]

Privatisation has really worked out for them.

[Rich too]

This is not unique to RM. courier services are very hit and miss. My wife ordered an item on Amazon Prime recently and the tracking says it was delivered and left in our preferred place. We were in the house the whole day and nothing has been left anywhere!

[Kevin 216]

Parcels! They don't have time to deliver them, Posties are too busy pushing junk mail through your letterbox!

[Gary Murphy 1]

The few probs I have had with RM have been with the postman him self.

regards parcels the worst service for me is DPD!!! Had 3 parcels go missing from 3 purchases. So bad with customer service I know ask or email on any purchase who they use.If DPD I go elsewhere.

And this was with 2 depots!!!!! useless

[Adrian Smith 1]

I agree about DPD, Gary. Poor service in Suffolk. By and large my experience with RM & PF has been positive apart from one instance where a Special Delivery (a motor) was due to be deliver prior to midday. On Tracking it after non-arrival at midday it said it was delivered! Our regular postie then turned up with it an 1.5 hours later. I suspect he was running late and just marked it as delivered to save any inquest/penalty from the sender as to why it was late.

[Cuban8]

Having worked as an engineer maintaining the equipment that deals with mail and parcels, I think very few people really understand just how huge the quantity of stuff that is processed is and how fast it gets through the system. I've seen it first hand, and it's miraculous. Let me also say, that the overwhelming number of people who work in the industry are hard working and care about what they do - often in a very high pressure and physically demanding environment, working long hours (don't forget it's a 24hr a day industry) for not a lot of money.

Stuff does get lost, but the percentage is miniscule given the quantities of items involved and very often the cause is poor packaging, wrong or badly written addresses etc.

Sorry if you've had a bad experience with RM or the other couriers - I've had a few issues myself, but having seen something of the industry from the inside, I needed to speak up for it.

[trebor]

All I will say on the subject is I wish they would employ people that can read English as we get a lot of other people's mail and it clearly states a different street to the one I'm living in we used to deliver it to the correct street if it was within walking distance but now I stick it back in the post box with a note saying it was delivered wrongly by someone who can't read. I mean come on there are big signs at the end of the street for people to read with big capital letters.

[Robert Armstrong 2]

I have had no problems with DPD and only one problem with RM. I sent a small package using Recorded Delivery to Horizon Hobby for repair (before they moved). I got it back from HH fixed and the RM Trace still said that it had not been delivered. I suppose I should have asked for a refund as I clearly didn't get the service I paid for.

[Cuban8]

Trebor, the problem is the employment of casual labour and having those people carry out jobs that they're really not up to. Put yourself in the position of delivering a sackload, or more, of mail into an area that you're not familiar with - how would any of us get on given the pressure to get the job done, and as you say, that assumes our English is reasonable.

Speak to a postie who has done the job for years - his/her knowledge of the area will be immense, not something that a here today and gone tomorrow casual will have or will be bothered about.

[Ronaldo]

Usually letters arrive ok, as our post lady knows who we are. Larger packages usually come by a different postie in a Royal Mail van, or by a different courier, and I do understand they must have a tremendous ever increasing work load to get though, and do the job best they can, but I just wish the actual deliverer (both Royal Mail and other couriers) would check the house number and street names first before parting with a package or parcel to a household. I've had larger packages of modelling stuff turning up at the wrong address a few streets away, thankfully the wrong recipients were kind enough to walk up and deliver the package to us, I even witnessed over my garden fence a large parcel of mine being delivered to my next door neighbour as I was talking to her, the deliverer didn't even check the name or house number which was in bold black and white on the garden gate ! other packages have gone missing totally even though the online tracking number say the package has been signed for and delivered to me !! Really ... do they even bother look at the address on the package !!??

Now when I order an item from ebay or any other company, I try and find a supplier who offers a 'click and collect' delivery pick up point. Usually this is my local Argos shop, 10mins away. So the postie/ courier can't possibly get the wrong address with the big lit up "ARGOS" shop sign staring them in the face ..... So far no missing packages with this method

Edited By Ronaldo on 13/11/2018 10:44:24

Edited By Ronaldo on 13/11/2018 10:48:24

[Don Fry]

Or try your hand at delivering up to 150 parcels a day. Soon kick the dog then.

[Dwain Dibley.]

Posted by Don Fry on 13/11/2018 10:37:41:

Or try your hand at delivering up to 150 parcels a day. Soon kick the dog then.

that is 1 every three minutes if you don't take a break, not easy.

I second the comments made by Cuban8, but I also acknowledge that if the loss is personal, it is easy, and understandable, to lose sight of the big picture.

D.D.

[David P Williams]

I live in a fairly remote rural location where one postcode covers almost all of the village, many small lanes have no name (certainly no signs), most houses just have names, and the 'post town' in the official address is 12 miles away, so delivery people often have a hard time finding us.

Our local postman is fantastic, and his stand-ins when he's away are also good. Courier drivers are hit and miss - we used to always get the same DPD chap and he was fine, but now it's a different one every time. The Hermes chap is also great as he has been doing this round for a couple of years.

The thing that really annoys me is when they just give up, or are in the 'post town' at 4:30 and can't be bothered to come out here, and I get an email saying 'As you requested the delivery has been rescheduled for tomorrow'. I don't really mind if they can't deliver it on the day, it's rarely time critical, but I get really annoyed when they tell me I have requested the change.

[trebor]

Posted by Cuban8 on 13/11/2018 10:27:43:

Trebor, the problem is the employment of casual labour and having those people carry out jobs that they're really not up to. Put yourself in the position of delivering a sackload, or more, of mail into an area that you're not familiar with - how would any of us get on given the pressure to get the job done, and as you say, that assumes our English is reasonable.

Speak to a postie who has done the job for years - his/her knowledge of the area will be immense, not something that a here today and gone tomorrow casual will have or will be bothered about.

I know what you mean but you forgot to add casual "CHEAP" labour I mean maximum profit comes first nowadays. One morning I was working on the car down the side of the house next to the front door and postie turned up. I even said good morning to him, he never said a word, I saw him push letters through the post box and as I had dirty hands it was another half an hour before I got to read them He had even pushed a parcel undelivered card through as well so I had to wait 24hrs and go to the pickup point to get it. I was not happy and its a good job he never came back haven't seen him since.

[MaL]

I really don't care how difficult the job is.... the courier service / mail service is contracted to deliver the package to the correct address in a specified time scale and if they can't manage that then they should be held accountable. just the same as any other contract.

[Peter Jenkins]

I live out in the sticks and live on a C class unnamed road. My experiences have been that RM, DPD and Hermes are pretty darn good. Yodel is a bit variable though. I did send a high value parcel on a 24 hr guaranteed delivery with RM and it took 48 hrs to deliver. As they said the fee would be refunded if they missed the 24 hr target, I put in a claim and it was settled without delay or argument as they had the timings themselves.

Perhaps I've been lucky but I suspect that you feel far more inclined to post a complaint than the vast majority who get their stuff delivered without a problem. I can understand the frustration when it occurs though!

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Posted by Dwain Dibley. on 13/11/2018 10:48:40:

Posted by Don Fry on 13/11/2018 10:37:41:

Or try your hand at delivering up to 150 parcels a day. Soon kick the dog then.

that is 1 every three minutes if you don't take a break, not easy.

I second the comments made by Cuban8, but I also acknowledge that if the loss is personal, it is easy, and understandable, to lose sight of the big picture.

D.D.

I don't think many couriers have the luxury of working a 7 1/2 hour day...I suspect 11 hours is more typical.

[Daithi O Buitigh]

What really bugs me is the surcharge on items coming through customs. I'm not talking about the 'standard' rip-off 'handling charge' but the larger one on 'express delivery'.

The problem is that parcels that are supposed to be 'next day' never are (I live in Belfast and anything coming via Heathrow always comes 'standard' but they still slap that extra surcharge on

[cymaz]

I worked at DPD for 26 years! I will say that those drivers work damn hard.

You try and find a house with no number, no name on the house ( or it’s covered in weeds and brambles)....” well everyone around here knows where WE live”..no neighbours, customer gave incorrect phone number.

I’ve had all these things happen. And you still have 40 deliveries....not packets, deliveries!

Give them a thought this Christmas

[Ron Gray]

I must admit that even living out in the sticks I very rarely have problems with RM, Parcel Force or any other courier service. As I see it the problems tend to be due to post codes which, as mentioned above, cover several properties, in my case ours covers about 10. The sooner they change to What3Words instead of post codes the better as that will give direct property location.

[Piers Bowlan]

Always an excellent service from DPD round here. Courteous and friendly deliverymen and never had a parcel go astray with them - so far. Our RM postie is always a very jolly chap. I joke with him that he should get his red van souped-up with wide wheels, turbo and a spoiler, he is always clearly in a hurry! When I was a student I had a temporary job delivering parcels round the West end of London in a panel van. No sat-nav, just an 'A to Z' and parking where I shouldn't to make each drop - all very stressful!

[ken anderson.]

3 cheers for the royal mail lads from me,ok occasionally we don't get the delivery as we want it but i'm happy with their service at the price.

DPD...again a thumbs up for them,two weeks ago I missed the delivery by 5 mins,with a card in the door saying they would call next day.i phoned the local office and asked could I catch up with the driver and collect my parcel,i was put on hold ,then was told he was at the other end of our town and it wouldn't be possible,so next day it had to be.

anyway a couple of hours later a knock at the door ,the driver had called back knowing I was at home....all good and 100% happy customer.... well done that man..

ken anderson...ne...1...happy customer dept.

[Andy Palmer]

When my latest 'toy' from HK arrived yesterday the Parcel Force chap said "I don't seem to have been here for ages". To me that means I'm not ordering nearly enough stuff, although my wife says different!

Parcel Force have always delivered within the one hour time slot shown on the app and I've got to know the driver well enough for a brief chat, another happy customer

Have also had good service from DPD, Hermes etc although their drivers always seem to be in much more of a rush. I feel sorry for them, always under pressure and trying their best but not always managing to keep all the customers happy.