Redelivering the redelivery

I found a "Sorry, you were out card" in the mail box on Monday.  It says they tried to deliver on Saturday but were unable.  Let me just say that we were home all day Saturday so I don't know why they were unable.  Anyway, I go on line on Monday to schedule a redelivery of the two items that the red card says I missed.  One of them was a recorded signed for item, the other item wasn't.  You have to wait for 48 hours before they will redeliver so I ask for a Wednesday delivery.  Wednesday afternoon about 1:00, after the post was already delivered, I called to make sure my items were still coming.  I was informed at that time that I had only requested one item to be delivered and must request an additional delivery for each item (    )and I had to wait another 48 hours for that one.   So Friday was scheduled for the second one. Meanwhile, time passed and the first scheduled redelivery never showed up.  I called again.  She said I could reschedule and would have to wait...you guessed it...another 48 hours.  Now I have two of them coming on Friday.  This is a week after they were first delivered.  It really would have been OK if they had shown up then.  BUT, the redelivery of the redelivered items still never showed up.  This after calling on Friday to make sure they were coming and being told that they were "out for delivery"
At this point I have no idea where my items are.  After reading the card they left, it says that items left with them for a week can be returned to sender!  These are items that we purchased on line.  It really sucks when you pay for shipping and you just can';t get your items.  I know I could have avoided all of this by simply going to pick up the items in person.  But, it's really not simple for me.  First off, I don't have a car and secondly, I have a disabled husband that I just don't leave alone unless I have too.  That's why I asked for redelivery in the first place.
Sorry for the long rant.  I thought I would feel better afterwards, but I guess I'm still just really P O'd at Royal Mail right now! 

I know your pain, lisapower. You're not alone! My roommates and I are STILL awaiting a package with Royal Mail from Virgin. We signed on for internet with Virgin in September, but lo and behold, we STILL haven't received our modem! It is almost December!  We're supposed to get a credit from Virgin, but only after we pay the bill?!

And DHL! Toshiba arranged for them to pick up my laptop for repair last Wednesday, which I had to wait half a day for them to arrive. I get an email from Toshiba saying they are awaiting the shipment of parts so my laptop can be repaired and to contact them in a week if I don't receive any update. On Friday, I called Toshiba and apparently my laptop was already shipped out! Apparently I wasn't home...um DUH! I wasn't home! I wasn't expecting my laptop to arrive! I also supposed to receive a 'you were out' card from DHL, but there was no such card on my door! So if I hadn't called, how was I supposed to know that all this was happening with my laptop?! Telepathy?! Instinct?! I called DHL and was on hold for almost an hour, on PAYG by the way... I search online to book a redelivery, no such thing on their website! I'm calling first thing tomorrow and finding out why no one bothered to leave a card.

Well, after arranging two re-deliveries, I have still not received my mail.  Even after being told on Friday that they were out for delivery.  I called today to find out if they were at the post office so I could just go ahead and pick them up.  They can't tell me where they are and worse, they said they are probably going to be returned to sender because they were unable to deliver!!  I am sure glad these weren't Christmas presents.  Royal mail sucks!

People complain about the USPS, but I can't say the stories I've read about Royal Mail on here give me much confidence in them! I think I will be using FedEx to send my Christmas presents to the UK this year, even though it's exorbitantly expensive! Not worth things getting lost/returned to sender. Lisapower, I hope you can get to the post in time to pick up your items!

I did finally get my mail, nine days after the first botched attempt.  I had to go to the sorting office myself to collect it. After all this grief, one of the items was the wrong thing! 

I have had this happen to me more than once!  I have completely lost all faith in the Royal Mail.  Glad you finally received your mail.  So sorry you were the one who had to pick it up to receive it though.  Definitely can relate. 

Yet, Royal Mail deliver 1000s of other items of post to each of you every single year with no problems.


I guess those aren't worth mentioning, eh?

Yet, Royal Mail deliver 1000s of other items of post to each of you every single year with no problems.


I guess those aren't worth mentioning, eh?

Sure, if you are talking about the countless junk mail and bills.  Yes, I do receive them, but when it comes to birthday cards and presents, Christmas cards and presents, that is a whole other matter.  I have had so many not turn up...not just things I have sent to other people, but things other people have sent to me.  I have had packages that both my parents and sister sent me, be sent back to them....6 months later, mind you...only to have the reason put on it by the Royal Mail, that I never picked them up.  Well, it is hard to pick something up when you were never left a card....so yes, I have a "very bad taste in my mouth" when it comes to the Royal Mail.  I am not saying the US Postal service never makes mistakes, but I never experienced the troubles with mail delivery over there like I have here. 

To have regular problems with your mail smacks of a problem with your local sorting office and should be pursued as such.

In 23 years, I've never had a single item of post go missing and nor have the overwhelming majority of the population. The actual figures of failure for the Royal Mail are incredibly low (0.1% nationally, if you're interested) when you consider it costs 32p to send a letter to Scotland from Cornwall, and the chances are good it will get there overnight when a first class letter is deemed "on time" in 2 days.

By contrast, I've had letters addressed to "the last house behind the hedge" with a road name and town delivered successfully.

I'm sorry that you're having trouble, but Royal Mail bashing is a pet hate of mine, particularly when it encourages people with no experience of the system (such as another poster on here) to not use it solely based on complaints in here.

It's not "Royal Mail" that's the problem and if you're seriously having that much trouble then complain to your sorting office! And if that doesn't work then take it up the ladder.

Excuse me, but when I make a decision to order online rather that go out to buy something and then pay shipping to have it delivered to me, I expect to have it delivered to me.  It doesn't really matter if they've delivered a million other times or not.  If they had simply missed one re delivery instead of three, it would have been ok.  But the whole system failed me and I was forced to pay transport fees on top of postage fees and go out in bad weather to collect a package that should have been left at my home the first time around.  If this is considered "Royal Mail bashing" then so be it.  They screwed up and I have a right to tell anyone I want to. This forum is called Grievances, and this is indeed a grievance of mine. 

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Hi,

I've just happened across this thread, and working as a Manager for Royal Mail, it piqued my interest.
Lisa, it does sound like a problem with your local delivery office/ Postman.

A couple of questions.
Do you have a regular Postman, or is it someone different most of the time? (It makes a difference, as often the "non-regulars" don't know the area, and could make a mistake).
Do you live in a new house/ estate, or somewhere possibly difficult to find?
Is it possible the item was addressed wrongly at all and when the Postman tried to deliver to the wrong house he was turned away?
If you are getting regular missed deliveries (and I know this is going to sound a bit of a pain) you could try going to your local delivery office, and asking to speak to the "Delivery Office Manager" ("DOM" - they all have one) and talking to him/her to try and resolve the problem. Most of them are only too keen to help, as occasionally it is a new/ part-time Postman that is the issue.

I'm happy to try and help in anyway I can to resolve your problems, so ask away 

Thank you for your post.  Having a "missed" delivery was not the problem.  I have had only one other in the year+ that I've been here.  I do not live in a new house/flat/estate.  We have a regular postman most days.  I'm sure there are occasional days that we may have a new postman filling in.  The mail was not addressed incorrectly.

My issue with this whole thing was trying to get them to actually redeliver the item after scheduling it and being told that it was "out for delivery".  Having to reschedule a redelivery numerous times and then being told after a week of this cat and mouse game that the item was scheduled for return due to the inability to deliver was almost too much for me. 

I've ordered several things online since this incident and truthfully, I think twice before ordering something that will be sent via Royal Mail.  Maybe it was an isolated incident.  But it's not something I want to deal with again. I spent £10.00 in phone calls trying to locate my package on a premium service phone number that Royal Mail uses.  Then I had to spend bus fare  to go pick up a package that I had already paid to have delivered to my house.  £14 on top of the shipping charges was a little expensive for a £6 item.

Talking to a DOM will do nothing to change what has already happened.  It's not something that happens with regularity and so it's not a battle I want to take up.  Going back and forth to the post office is not something that is easy for me to do.  Hence the effort to redeliver rather than pickup in person. 

It's a over and done in my book, but it certainly has left a sour taste for Royal Mail.

I can't tell you how many times the Royal Mail postman has put letters or packages through our door that weren't addressed to us. I get really tired of coming home from work and then having to walk the neighborhood to deliver the post to the proper addresses. If I'd wanted to take on the duties of a postman I would have applied for a job with Royal Mail.

A lot of the addresses on these items are not even close to our address in wording. I understand that sometimes new people might get "XXXX Gardens" mixed up with "XXXX Close". But to put something through our box that is clearly addressed to a street that is 1/2 a mile away is something altogether different.

I know I could send it all back for redelivery but I feel a moral sense of obligation to make sure that the items actually get to the people they were intended for. I'm afraid if I sent them back to Royal Mail they would get misdelivered again and the next time it might not be to a person who felt the same.

Ever since we've moved, I've nothing but trouble with our post.  I'm actually SCARED to order stuff to our house (90% now goes to hubby's office) as I've had 3 packages lost in the past 3 months, plus who knows how many letters.  We're still getting post ridiculously late - won't get any deliveries for 2-3 days and then a big batch will come all at once.  Yesterday we got an envelope date-stamped 2 Dec.

Apparently, RM are aware our local sorting office has been the source of many, many complaints (they've admitted so over the phone)...so I do fully realise it's a local issue as we never had these problems at our last flat.  But the fact that we have to live with totally unacceptable postal delivery is extremely frustrating.