Royal Mail bureaucracy gone mad. (Are they serious?)

Psyxologos

Well-Known Member
To cut a long story short, I was let down by an international seller for some (tiny) bits I needed for a project I am making. I mentioned it to a friend of mine in this site, and out of the kindness of his heart decided to sent me a couple of spares he had FOC. Great news, I thought. Well. He sent the bits to me last Thursday first class. I was worried as I had not received them yet, but I thought I give it a couple of days and enquire at the post office. Anyway. Today the postman slips a card through my letterbox informing me I have to pay some money (9p, believe it or not) as I had a small parcel that was not correctly priced. When got to the post office I was greeted by a very rude employee who clearly enjoyed the power and was told I have to pay £1 on top of that as administration and handling fee and that I needed to prove my address (despite there was only mention of proof of identity needed). So I was sent on my way to bring that. Once I returned I was once again refused my parcel (in reality a small padded envelop, smaller than a standard letter and containing a featherweight piece for a torch) as my friend instead of my name had put a series of numbers as the recipient's name (a standing joke between the two of us). After about 20 minutes pleading and explaining I was passed on to a manager who 'because he is kind and helpful' let me have my property. I am rather annoyed because something that should have been straightforward was turned into an adventure. Anyway. I go the bits and my friend offered them to me FOC, so I guess I should not complaint about my 'ordeal' too much...
 
My god..... All that hassle for 9p! ...This is where common sense has gone out of the window in our days. On the flip side to this, if you send something in the post via first class postage, they "aim" to deliver the following day. well their "aim" is more often than not inaccurate... Do you have any right to a partial refund if the letter/ small parcel fails to be delivered (after all they charge enough) of course not!.... A pretty one sided contract then unless you are prepared to pay for special delivery.

Talking of parcel delivery, I was once cleaning the landing window inside my house and whilst doing this I saw a post office van pull up outside, after about 30 seconds the driver got out and started to walk to my door so I walked downstairs to meet him, he got to my door fractionally before me and was in the process of posting a card through the letterbox. I quickly opened the door and asked if I could help, he then tried to make out that he had knocked the door but couldn't get an answer (he was delivering a parcel) the card was to explain this and that I could pick the parcel up at the sorting office...... I told him that he had just concocted a pack of lies as I had watched him get out of the van empty handed, I told him that I would be reporting him for this ( which I did ) and made him give me the parcel... I have since read that this is apparently a fairly common occurrence with some lazy postmen and is done in an effort to speed up their delivery run!
 
I had a Royal Mail guy drop my new Sightron scope on the outside mat before ringing the bell. He was incredibly snotty when I told him to wait whilst I checked it, and if there was a problem I'd make sure that it was replaced from his paycheck... Kn*bhead
 
Ah the post office my pet rant ! Absolute shower of a***holes. As I have previously posted I sent 50 used cases to Devon, they were intercepted and then sent to Ireland to be destroyed as they were considered dangerous ! Can't provide anything in their T&C's that say they don't carry used brass we're just meant to know apparently. Quite happy to carry knives even the though the police would nick you if they caught you with one but a few bits of brass, heaven forbid. Bunch of petty bureaucrats.
 
+1 for all the above they have misplaced a box that is 70x70x100 its no that small. have waited 2 months noo and still they cant find it, what a shower of a===holes right enough.
 
Ah the post office my pet rant ! Absolute shower of a***holes. As I have previously posted I sent 50 used cases to Devon, they were intercepted and then sent to Ireland to be destroyed as they were considered dangerous ! Can't provide anything in their T&C's that say they don't carry used brass we're just meant to know apparently. Quite happy to carry knives even the though the police would nick you if they caught you with one but a few bits of brass, heaven forbid. Bunch of petty bureaucrats.

Best of it is David I received 100 used sako 243 cases today courtesy of royal mail :)
I'll be dropping the other cases off this Thursday or Friday.
 
Best of it is David I received 100 used sako 243 cases today courtesy of royal mail :)
I'll be dropping the other cases off this Thursday or Friday.

Hi Tony

Hope you are well and had a good show ? I am assuming the 100 cases you received were meant for you ? :D

Thanks for dropping off the brass, will have another 50 shortly that will not be getting sent via the PO !

David
 
I believe the need to verify your adress has been introduced as a result of royal mails competitors complaints that royal mail were not abiding by the terms of the universal service obligation (the legal requirement to deliver to every adress in the uk for the cost of a stamp 6 days a week, amongst other things), slightly ironic as the competitors are not bound by the terms of the universal service obligation and are free to cherrypick the profitable bits whilst leaving the unprofitable for royal mail which is legally required to deliver it. Oh and royal mail and the post office are not one and the same, not even part of the same company now
 
An absolute shower, a disgrace to the country. The Royal prefix should be withdrawn as a mark of how low what was once a very good service has sunk.
No insult to the poor guys delivering the mail and working for this shambles but I absolutely refuse to use Royal Mail if I can possibly manage to do what I want another way. Consequently most of my communication both business and personal is now sent electronically or hand delivered and I only resort to them as an absolute last resort.
 
I have since read that this is apparently a fairly common occurrence with some lazy postmen and is done in an effort to speed up their delivery run!

It happens once a week around here. I am really annoyed with this as there is NO parking nowhere near the sorting office in Lancaster. Not free, anyway!
 
Sent my Mum a card for Mothers Day, First Class, on the Thursday before Mothering Sunday. She got it this last Monday!

Sent 2 letters to DVLA both recorded delivery first class . One took two weeks and the other is lost. Complete Toss Pots! Got to sort DVLA now in the hope they do not start issuing fines.

Yorkie.
 
Whilst I generally agree that the Royal Mail has many issues, I have to stand up for my postman, not only does he sign for "signed for" packages if I'm out (to save me the 15 mile round trip to the sorting office), if any other courier has left a parcel on the step he takes it round the back of the house for us and leaves it in a dry and secure place.

What really winds me up is the courier who rings the door and then throws the package on the doorstep and drives away giving us no chance to open the door and, unless my postman looks after it as above, it lies there in the weather until someone gets home.

Fortunately we live in a very low crime area so in most cases the parcel is still there when we get home. :D
 
My wife received a delayed birthday card (6"x6") yesterday which was posted first class and it had a sticker on it saying 11p underpaid + £1 administration charge. It was posted with the rest of the mail but I wasn't asked for the payment. Don't know if someone saw sense and released it to be posted or not.

In defence of our postie he is a great guy, as above he signs for my mail if required ( with my permission) and makes sure it is placed somewhere secure and dry and sticks a card through the door to tell me where he put it.
 
It happens once a week around here. I am really annoyed with this as there is NO parking nowhere near the sorting office in Lancaster. Not free, anyway!

Same here, the Wife caught the postman pushing a card through the letterbox without ringing/knocking - turns out he didn't even have the parcel with him !
 
I have had to pick up a couple of parcels from the royal mail depot in the west of Edinburgh recently. The pick up point is at the back of the depot so with great consideration for their customers they make you park near the front of the building and walk round the perimeter of their carpark to get to the pickup point. Oh and just to ensure you cannot take a shortcut across the carpark they have built a 8 ft metal fence to keep you out until you get to the back of the building! Probably a distance of 300 yards.

Really helpful for the elderly and infirm...

Mulac
 
Just wait till you receive something from the USA. It cost less to get it to GB from the USA than what it is for the Royal Mail handling fees
 
I got a fail to deliver. Collect from sorting office. No response from doorbell. 6.05am. Guess where I was?
 
Back
Top