Royal Mail rant incoming...

[SixTwoSix]

Having a fight with RM at the moment - well I say fight, they're just banging my head against a brick wall while I can't do much.

Sold a member here some ram 3 weeks ago, sent it RMSD, showed as signed and delivered the next day. Day after the member emails to ask when it should arrive. Hence conversation with RM on the phone, being told to enter a compensation claim. That almost immediately gets refused on the basis it's signed for, delivered with GPS tracking info at recipients address.

RM admit the postman has signed for it as it's covid/etc and wasn't signed by the recipient 'As your item was delivered during the period we weren't capturing signatures, due to the corona virus, the post person has entered XP1' in the signature box to record the delivery' they've not yet answered my question where the postman left the parcel despite emphasising this question multiple times. Too big to fit through a letterbox as i'm a bit overboard with my packing as anyone who's bought from me on MM over the years can attest to.

Escalate to next stage, get a reply the day after parroting what the first compensation claim said, signed, GPS data, etc - they suggest I escalate to Postal Review board if not happy, which I did last week. Awaiting their outcome now.

Buyer paid £195 so sent RMSD with the view that it's very robust and covers me, also before someone makes the obvious comment, I am taking the buyer at their word it wasn't delivered, have asked them to open a claim at their side as it's harder for RM to tell them as the recipient 'yes, you've had this parcel'

/rant - just hugely frustrated as RMSD has been bulletproof up until now and going to be £200 worse off shortly. I have little faith the Postal Review board will give a different outcome despite claiming to be 'ring fenced' and sitting outside of RM customer services.

UPDATE - 12/10/2021

Thank you for your e-mail to the Postal Review Panel, received on 28 September 2021, regarding an item of Royal Mail Special Delivery™ mail, reference VE*********GB. Please accept my apologies for any problems this matter has caused. I have thoroughly reviewed your complaint and I am now able to respond.

I am sorry that you feel the responses received from Royal Mail Customer Services have bene taken from a textbook and are generic. Whilst letters and e-mails are taken from a standard template, I would always expect them to be amended to take account of individual complaints.

Upon receipt of your complaint, I raised this matter directly with the manager at the relevant Delivery Office to investigate. The Delivery Office Manager formally interviewed the appropriate member of his team and, after checking all information available to him, including the Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking for the delivery scan, again stressed his belief that it had been delivered as addressed. The Delivery Office Manager could find no proof that it was delivered anywhere other than ***********

I do appreciate that you have disputed this, together with the ‘signature’ obtained at the time of delivery. Although Royal Mail are not taking signatures at present, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, details of how Royal Mail are delivering items requiring proof of delivery can be found at https://www.royalmail.com/d8/coronavirus-changes-service. Unfortunately, without confirmation from the relevant Delivery Office that this item had been misdelivered or left in an unsecure location, there is no payment I could offer.

Please let me apologise once again. I would like to give you my assurance that Royal Mail are not complacent about the quality of their service and are constantly striving to ensure that you receive the level of service you have every right to expect.

 

[SixTwoSix]

I've had similar with couriers and also the Royal Mail delivering our stuff to a wrong nearby address which has a similar road name. e.g. Our address is 123 FakeName Gardens and our stuff gets delivered to 123 FakeName Road which is adjacent to it. Luckily I now have a Ring doorbell and telling them I have video evidence that they didn't deliver has been very useful. I'd highly recommend a camera of some sort.

The recipient told me they have the same issue, there is a fakename close next to fakename road that often gets mis-delivered, they have checked with them with no luck sadly.

 

[SixTwoSix]

Had this exact thing in work with a phone i sent. I had to wait 3 weeks till filing a claim though but a few days after I had filed the claim it turned up back at the office despite being marked down as delivered. Hopefully it might be returned to you in the next week.

I have some slim hope it might make it's way back to me, return address clearly labelled on the back. I had to wait 5 working days before submitting the original claim and got a reply in less than 24 hours back to decline it.

 

[SixTwoSix]

@SixTwoSix I forgot to ask.. does your postie not delivery when it been snowing?

Sorry, it's been a hectic morning, that whooshed right over my head?

 

[SixTwoSix]

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...ry-letter-post-when-it-been-snowing.18098573/

Doh, ofc - got a chuckle out of me though.

 

[SixTwoSix]

The recipient's claim won't be processed.

Ah ok, thanks for that, just at my wits end with this and it was suggested they open a claim by a friend I know at Royal Mail nearby. Been ranting about this to friends for weeks, both online and in RL.

 

[SixTwoSix]

This might help you - with RMSD the Postie is supposed to hand the item over to an actual person with proof of identification, if they havent done that then they havent provided the service you have paid for, this is the case even during the COVID pandemic, dont let then fob you off. It is highly likely the Postie got lazy and leaft the item on the customer's doorstep and it got nicked or your Customer is lying

Basically the reason I used RMSD, supposed to be robust. They've fobbed me off 3 times and officially closed my dispute. I'm unable to raise the issue with them again, in the hands of postal review now.

I asked multiple times on messages where the parcel was left and never got a clear answer. This was the last reply...

I realise the signature is not that of the recipient, and would like to explain that during the current situation with the pandemic Royal Mail took the decision to suspend capturing signatures from the recipient and instead the Delivery Officer would sign for the item and then capturing the name of the person accepting the item. In this case the name entered was ********.
My position on this has not changed and should you wish to appeal my decision and response you will need to contact the Postal Review Panel. They can be contacted by emailing [email protected], or by writing to Freepost Postal Review Panel.

Please quote the reference number at the top of this email.

Thank you for contacting me again and I am sincerely sorry that I cannot send you a more favourable reply.

 

[SixTwoSix]

So its possible its gone to a nieghbours property by mistake - i assume the reciever has checked with the nieghbours?

Neighbours house is empty, he's checked with same number on adjacent street that has similar name (road v close).

You could always threaten legal action againt RM, see if that helps. It sucks that the OP is out of pocket tho.

Maybe an option of last resort, although the cost could quickly become more than the item i'm claiming for I imagine?

But ill say this - i work in 4 diufferent branches of post office - and in that time not one RMSD item has ever gone astray - well not that i know of anyhow. Its a premium service and they give it huge priority.

I've always sworn by it, with over 5000 parcels sent with RM over the last 20 years on ebay (based on my seller feedback, likely a little less), SD making a large part of that, i've only ever had 3 parcels go missing and they were regular 2nd class.

You deffo addressed it correctly didnt you?

Yeah, definitely, mildly OCD about these things and always check up addresses again before any parcel goes to the post office. Receipt again verified with right house number/postcode.

EDIT : looking at the buyers neg feedback i dont think id have sold to him in the first place.

While his feedback is low and marked by a prominent negative, looks as though it was something out of his hands entirely so giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Postie is the best source of the answer, and if buyer is genuine he won't have any issue following this up locally. All he needs is the tracking code, the depot can get all the info up locally from that.

This is a good point, i've exhausted what I can do from my side for the time being, 2 visits to royal mail centre, 1 to post office, 3 calls to RM of which I was waiting a good 25 minutes each time and a long chain of messages back/forth with RM and escalations that i've shared with the buyer.

@Apex apologies for tagging you in but based on The_Arbiters comments above, are you able to go directly down to your local RM hub and try and speak to someone? I'm stuck waiting for Postal Review at the moment and at a standstill.

Also, adding you into the thread gives you a chance to mention what you've done I might have forgot plus the other issues you've had with deliveries rather than myself parroting them.

 

[SixTwoSix]

In fact, just for you, here's an unedited screenshot from my CCTV which shows irrefutable proof that I have invented time travel and gone forward in time

Can you let me know if postal review comes back in my favour and honours the compensation please

 

[SixTwoSix]

Not that he would, but @SixTwoSix could argue the case that RM say it's delivered, his job is done

Frankly, if this were ebay/amazon MP, i'd be doing exactly that. I've fulfilled the burden of proof from my side it was sent and delivered. However as MM is more trust based and bespoke, i'm taking the buyer at their word and going beyond any effort i'd make on a more well known selling platform.

 

[SixTwoSix]

To be fair, it does say on both the signed for and special delivery product pages that they don't take a signature (although I don't know if it makes the obvious at the point you're actually buying it?)

Nothing at all mentioned when paying for it to be sent, as you say it's on the website so post office staff probably aren't inclined to re-iterate it.

 

[SixTwoSix]

I am Jacks total lack of surprise

Thank you for your e-mail to the Postal Review Panel, received on 28 September 2021, regarding an item of Royal Mail Special Delivery™ mail, reference VE*********GB. Please accept my apologies for any problems this matter has caused. I have thoroughly reviewed your complaint and I am now able to respond.

I am sorry that you feel the responses received from Royal Mail Customer Services have bene taken from a textbook and are generic. Whilst letters and e-mails are taken from a standard template, I would always expect them to be amended to take account of individual complaints.

Upon receipt of your complaint, I raised this matter directly with the manager at the relevant Delivery Office to investigate. The Delivery Office Manager formally interviewed the appropriate member of his team and, after checking all information available to him, including the Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking for the delivery scan, again stressed his belief that it had been delivered as addressed. The Delivery Office Manager could find no proof that it was delivered anywhere other than ***********

I do appreciate that you have disputed this, together with the ‘signature’ obtained at the time of delivery. Although Royal Mail are not taking signatures at present, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, details of how Royal Mail are delivering items requiring proof of delivery can be found at https://www.royalmail.com/d8/coronavirus-changes-service. Unfortunately, without confirmation from the relevant Delivery Office that this item had been misdelivered or left in an unsecure location, there is no payment I could offer.

Please let me apologise once again. I would like to give you my assurance that Royal Mail are not complacent about the quality of their service and are constantly striving to ensure that you receive the level of service you have every right to expect.

Time for next level I guess with POSTRS but feel like i'm just wasting my time to be frank.

 

[SixTwoSix]

@Apex it was 15th September, 12:30 ish I believe

 

[SixTwoSix]

Appreciate its a lot to ask, but as I'll be going to the neighbours, does royal mail give an exact time it was signed for? Because I can't seem the neighbours happily going through 1/2 hours of potential footage, but if I can say exact 12.34 and 12 seconds etc then it's a little more likely to be achievable.

Here ya go:

Delivered at: 12:24, Wednesday 15 September 2021

 

[SixTwoSix]

https://www.gov.uk/make-money-claim

I guess at this point it's worth a shot, ta.

 

[SixTwoSix]

If it was memory you sent would the package have fit in the letter box?

For any normal person, sure However as I knew I was going to send RMSD as it's expensive I overpacked it a little. Bubble wrap around the ram box, then inside an amazon wraparound cardboard outer, likely made it a little too thick to fit through a letterbox.

 

[SixTwoSix]

From what the OP said, it was well packaged and bigger than an envelope slot.

I'm almost sure it wouldn't go through the letterbox due to my over-packing, however if the bubble wrap got popped along the way, it could likely be squashed down to fit through.

 

[SixTwoSix]

What you say is interesting about having to take a name. @SixTwoSix can perhaps see better than me while I'm away, but I'm sure it said online that the item was handed to occupier. But did they say the name of who?

It shows:

Signed for by: YOUR SURNAME
Delivered at: 12:24, Wednesday 15 September 2021​

GPS matches what I can see for your address on google maps as close as I can tell but could be a neighbour I guess.

 

[SixTwoSix]

For anyone still interested, Apex is back off holiday now and have asked if he can approach the depot with his GPS data. As RM are using this as proof of delivery, i'd hope his own GPS data showing him in another town at time of delivery might have some weight. I've suggested this is done by letter as then the reply will help with small claims if needed.

I've also been getting some advice elsewhere where they deal with these sort of disputes a lot, they've advised to request all records of the investigation from RM or if they won't supply them, at least request they are retained. This is prior to a letter of intent leading into small claims proceedings if it goes that way.

 

[SixTwoSix]

I had almost forgotten about this - @Apex anything back from RM around your GPS info yet?