Special Delivery - Not Happy!

[blakey06]

All,

Back in September I had a special delivery item sent to me which arrived while I was at work and the postman had thoughtfully decided to sign for it himself/herself and put it through my letterbox whilst writing "Signed for you" on the envelope.

 

I wasn't pleased and complained about it and never got a response back.

 

An identical thing happened with a recorded delivery item just before Christmas and again, I phoned in and complained and received back an apology along with a book of 6 stamps.

 

Back in September, with the first incident, the signature of whoever signed for the special delivery item was mysteriously never available until now. (I kept the envelope and therefore still have the item code)

 

When I checked it, Mr. Postperson has signed it with my own name - well more sort of printed it. Its not my signature and anyway I can prove I was at work at the time it was signed for!!!

 

I wouldn't have minded so much had they signed Fred Bloggs or even their own name but I think its completely out of order that they should pretend to be me!

 

Can I take this matter further with the Royal Mail or as I'd already complained about it (before the signature appeared) is there nothing I can do?

 

Blakey06

[barracad]

If you've had no response to your original complaint then I would certainly chase it up and see what the outcome is.

[ellie1997]

I imagine your postie thought he was doing you a favour in saving you a trip down to the sorting office. Personally I think complaining about him is more than a little unfair as he was trying to save you time.

 

If you feel that strongly about it speak to the postman himself.

[lexis200]

My postie does this for me sometimes and I have to say I appreciate it as it's a pain in the jacksie having to go to the sorting office.

 

That said, my postie just puts something along the lines of 'signed by postman' not my name. I agree it's not right to use your name, but as ellie suggested perhaps a word with your postie saying thanks for saving me the trouble but would you mind signing something else next time would be a good plan?

[Stillborn Crisps]

I had this exact problem too last year - postman forging my sig:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-consumer-issues/178512-royal-mail-forged-my.html

 

I know people think it's 'helpful' but isn't the signature also to accept that the parcel isn't damaged on receipt? How can a claim be made in this case if the postie signs it?

 

Also, as I mentioned in my thread above, we have to pay a premium to use this service, it's not on that they don't fulfill their obligation.

[lexis200]

True, but in my case the postie does make it clear it's signed for by him, and he also writes signed-for-by-postman or similar on the card he drops through the door to let me know where he's put it, so I don't think I'd have an issue if there was a problem with the package. I do have an extremely nice postie though (thank goodness - my friend's is dreadful and she has tons of issues with her post!) so I think that also helps as he's willing to actually help out if there are problems. He actually knew us from our old address and for a while when our re-direct wasn't working he used to deliver our old post to us (and I believe that's a big no-no for them, but it was extremely helpful to us).

 

I suppose it depends on a lot of factors, but the bottom line is if you're not happy with it then they shouldn't do it. I've thanked ours in the past for signing when we're not in so he knows I'm ok with it (I get miffed when he's off and I miss a package as I have to go out for it:rolleyes:)

 

I do agree using your signature is not right though as you'd have no comeback there unless you can find the specific postie who signed and get them to admit to forging your sig!

 

The one that does annoy me far more is when I'm sending Recorded letters to banks etc and they don't actually get any sort of signature - even the one that shows it's signed for multiple deliveries.

 

I've had a lot of letters that have never got past the 'your item is in transit' page on Royal Mail, but that I've had replies to so I know full well they've been delivered. When I've paid so that I can prove it's arrived them not bothering to get any sig is a pain in the bum.

Edited February 2, 2010 by lexis200

[odd-fellow]

This happened to me twice in six months.

 

In September, Royal Mail delivered an expensice smart phone to my business. It was handed to a member of staff who asked if they needed to sign for it. "no" was the answer.

 

We checked the tracking number the next day to find a squiggle had already been issued as a signature. Remember, this was not signed for by the person that was handed the package.

 

Last week, it happened at home. A4 envelope containing important business documents. Special Delivery used. No body at home. Envelope pushed through the door with a Squiggle scrawled on the PDA thingy.

 

Now, I hear that some people think it's poor show to complain about this where the postie may be doing us a favour. But, this is Fraud. The name entered on the PDA was my name, the scrawl nothing like my sig.Yes, I got the item, but what if the postie had pocketed it?

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I rang to complain and was incredulous at the response. Initially, I was a liar and that there's a sig so I must have signed for it. I pressed home the point I wansn't at home and that it was empty. Then, he checked the GPS position of the point of signature and said (you'll love this), "That's a huge house" in the kind of tone that suggested that my servants must have answered the door (I'd given them the century off).

 

Eventually, he gave me a reference number for the complaint.

 

The point is that it seems very easy for Royal Mail to check lots of things that prove nothing in reality but help shift blame from them. What if this were a £300 bit of kit and the postie pocketed it pretending that it had been delivered. How easy would it have been for this to happen? He'll simply say that someone answered the door and took it. Then it's down to prooving signatures and so on and a real nighmare.

 

Surely tampering with the mail is still a criminal offense and this is tampering. It may not be malicious and might be considered helpful, but it's so open to abuse it's ridiculous.