Reply to: Royal Mail, beyond a joke now

[cojak]

Anything expensive is at your own risk unless it's RM Special Delivery.

I was surprised to discover a while back that the cost of Special Delivery for heavy items is way less than it used to be.

Yes, I realise that. It’s more about risk assessment, if the package is more likely to get to the recipients I’m more likely to use that courier and take the risk.

[d000hg]

Ask the recipients who the best couriers in their area are.

For example Evri are tulip where I am but Yodel and the rest are fine.

Yeah it's really down to the individual. When we moved 5 miles it changed dramatically who we knew we could trust and who we dread seeing on the consignment note!

I do love that RM (and others) can collect a return and within seconds Amazon confirm the refund - once it's marked collected I'm not worrying if it gets lost.

Evri lost a parcel from Hobbs last year. They have no customer service, no means of contact unless you are a retailer. Unless you tell them the courier set fire to your house, they will not accept any contact.

Hobbs kept telling me the parcel wasn't lost and so they couldn't issue a refund because that's what Evri was telling them. If it wasn't lost, why couldn't they say where it was?

It took a month of me contacting Hobbs every couple of days before they accepted that Evri had lost the parcel and issued a refund.

This is one reason I care who I buy from. Amazon have always been very quick to refund or ship a replacement, many other companies insist on checking it is lost first - which is understandable, but irritating.

[vetran]

Evri lost a parcel from Hobbs last year. They have no customer service, no means of contact unless you are a retailer. Unless you tell them the courier set fire to your house, they will not accept any contact.

Hobbs kept telling me the parcel wasn't lost and so they couldn't issue a refund because that's what Evri was telling them. If it wasn't lost, why couldn't they say where it was?

It took a month of me contacting Hobbs every couple of days before they accepted that Evri had lost the parcel and issued a refund.

from herpes to evri std.

that rebrand went well then!

[ladymuck]

Evri lost a parcel from Hobbs last year. They have no customer service, no means of contact unless you are a retailer. Unless you tell them the courier set fire to your house, they will not accept any contact.

Hobbs kept telling me the parcel wasn't lost and so they couldn't issue a refund because that's what Evri was telling them. If it wasn't lost, why couldn't they say where it was?

It took a month of me contacting Hobbs every couple of days before they accepted that Evri had lost the parcel and issued a refund.

[NigelJK]

Private Eye has it that Amazon parcels get priority over 'normal' parcels within RM. I'm 3 miles from Crewe and I get both an Amazon van and the RM parcel delivery for my Amazon purchase. All returns are via Evri and all parcels I send are via Evri. Not had any go missing yet.

[ladymuck]

Compared to postal services in other countries, RM is pretty good. Internally, compared what it used to be, it's definitely gone downhill. Hard to say if it would be any better if it had remained in public hands.

I've always advocated the price of a first class stamp, that can get a letter from one end of the country to another is good value. However, the latest price hike is starting to push it.

I used to take part in postal surveys, where you post test items all over the country of varying sizes with an RFID tag inside so they can see where the item went and where the bottle necks were. That's where the performance stats come from. The majority of the time, stuff does turn up when it's supposed to. However, there are pockets around the country where the local delivery office is struggling.

RM is unique in that it HAS to deliver a letter service to every premises in the UK. Other courier/delivery firms can pick and choose where they want to operate.

[eek]

Lordy! Thanks for this. I was about to send out an expensive item via signed-for RM, but I’m not sure who to use now.

Despite their terrible reputation, Evri have been ok but the things I sent out were cheap.

Anything expensive is at your own risk unless it's RM Special Delivery.

I was surprised to discover a while back that the cost of Special Delivery for heavy items is way less than it used to be.

[SueEllen]

Lordy! Thanks for this. I was about to send out an expensive item via signed-for RM, but I’m not sure who to use now.

Despite their terrible reputation, Evri have been ok but the things I sent out were cheap.

Ask the recipients who the best couriers in their area are.

For example Evri are tulip where I am but Yodel and the rest are fine.

[cojak]

Lordy! Thanks for this. I was about to send out an expensive item via signed-for RM, but I’m not sure who to use now.

Despite their terrible reputation, Evri have been ok but the things I sent out were cheap.

[SueEllen]

Oddly after myself and neighbours complained in the late 00s the mail has been fine. Things turn up when expected.

I do remember the postie "mistakenly" delivering a blank envelope containing a complaint response an unnamed neighbour had made. (I was hardly ever in and they knew that.)

The response asked for the neighbour to reply within 14 days. So I responded saying this may not be for me but the postal delivery in the street is poor and listed some issues with examples.

I later found out the intended recipient was one my next door neighbours who was happy that I did respond.

[d000hg]

Loads of couriers don't expect next day to mean next day though

[dsc]

I'm sending quite a bit of post out at the moment and I've switched to first class signed for and the tracking is an eye opener. I might get two, maybe three in ten arrive next day or the day after. The rest can be upwards of five days and the number where the tracking fails/get lost is eye opening. It's an absolute disgrace. The get out is they 'aim for next day' but can't call it late until 4 days after. 4 days!

If my experiences are anything to go by calling it First Class is bordering on breaching the trade descriptions act.

I was told the 48hr service (trademarked btw) now means it should arrive in 2-4 days. Nice of them to relax the delivery deadline yet keep the name. Absolute feckers (I'm talking upper mgmt not posties and all the on-the-ground staff).

Clearly RM needs to sit down and think hard how to resolve this, they must be loosing loads due to businesses either switching or having switched already. I bet dividends are getting paid on time though, so who cares, right?

[d000hg]

RM is actually our most reliable delivery service. It's the same guy every day so he knows us and where he can safely leave parcels instead of just throwing them on the floor and not even bothering to ring the doorbell, or appearing at a random door/window. I expect that with Hermes but now even DPD are as bad.

The new collection service is pretty handy too, though we mostly use it for Amazon returns!

[Paddy]

Had problems for years with missing mail and mail wrongly delivered. It worked perfect for a year when we had a nice lady postie. These days it's just temps working who don't speak much English. I caught the postman delivering wrong mail and I pointed it out to him. His reply was "it sometimes happens". One postie was convicted of theft and his flat in a nearby town contained loads of stolen mail.

[vetran]

I'm sending quite a bit of post out at the moment and I've switched to first class signed for and the tracking is an eye opener. I might get two, maybe three in ten arrive next day or the day after. The rest can be upwards of five days and the number where the tracking fails/get lost is eye opening. It's an absolute disgrace. The get out is they 'aim for next day' but can't call it late until 4 days after. 4 days!

If my experiences are anything to go by calling it First Class is bordering on breaching the trade descriptions act.

Its the Agatha Christie style first class where you need Hercule Poirot to work out what happened