Recorded delivery waste of time using

[verve10]

hi all

just a quick moan about the royal mails recorded delivery service,

in last 6 months i have sent 13 letters by this service that i required proof that they was delivered, and must add it was to the same company and address.

 

only 3 can be accounted for that was signed for and can prove was delivered

 

that is a very high percentage i have written to customer services with copies of all receipts about this am still waiting for them to reply.

 

in my opinion i think the postman had them in sack with rest and couldnt be bothered to obtain signature due to amount of mail that gets delivered to this national company.

 

will keep u informed if i do hear from customer services

[silverfox1961]

Don't hold your breath. All they will do is apologise and send a book of stamps to cover your "loss"

[Guest ParcelForceInsider]

hi all

just a quick moan about the royal mails recorded delivery service,

in last 6 months i have sent 13 letters by this service that i required proof that they was delivered, and must add it was to the same company and address.

 

only 3 can be accounted for that was signed for and can prove was delivered

 

that is a very high percentage i have written to customer services with copies of all receipts about this am still waiting for them to reply.

 

in my opinion i think the postman had them in sack with rest and couldnt be bothered to obtain signature due to amount of mail that gets delivered to this national company.

 

will keep u informed if i do hear from customer services

Its sad to hear that POD wasnt obtained, surely you can claim back on this. Have you sent in a P58 claim form in?

 

Royal Mail's internal track and trace is, i can tell you, appalling. Not because it is primitive, because of their delivery system. Recorded items dont get scanned as they pass through offices and depots, only on delivery.

 

Don't hold your breath. All they will do is apologise and send a book of stamps to cover your "loss"

Hold on, whats the loss here? For somebody who seems to send a lot of letters i think the jesture is quite appropriate dont you? The items are covered for actual loss, so i as a goodwill jesture that is appropriate.

[MARTIN3030]

I must be one of the lucky ones I have not had much problems.

I have had letters posted through letterbox without being asked to sign.

The reciever wont know that you have not been given proof of sig though will they ?

If it was for something like non compliance of a CCA request then your reciept for the RD would in many cases suffice to assist any challenge.

[Guest ParcelForceInsider]

@verve10 - off the RM FAQ for recorded delivery....a quick google =)

 

On the rare occasions that we don’t get a signature for any other reason, we'll refund your money.

 

Trust me, when claims are paid out it works its way down. The more they pay the more will get changed. Chase it, without being rude of course.

 

Are you also sure this did not happen to you?

 

3.17 If it is a requirement of the service, we will make reasonable efforts to get a signature from the person receiving the item when we deliver it to the relevant address. If we have to deliver a number of items to the same premises, we may get one signature for all the items.

Edited April 13, 2010 by ParcelForceInsider

[silverfox1961]

Hold on, whats the loss here? For somebody who seems to send a lot of letters i think the jesture is quite appropriate dont you? The items are covered for actual loss, so i as a goodwill jesture that is appropriate.

 

Due to RM not getting a signature for two letters sent, I then had to send the recipient a SAR to see if they had received tham as they weren't responding to my letters and those letters formed part of my complaint against the recipient so in that case a book of 6 stamps was not appropriate.

 

I understand they get a bulk signature but why can they not assign the signature to the whole delivery on the track and trace, not just the first name on the list

[MARTIN3030]

We have a couple of posties reg with the CAG and in previous discussions on this, blame was put on the sorting offices and the reconciling of the customers sig not being entered on the system after the postie returns to their office.

 

Personally for a CC agreement request or other docs I would use SD.

its a couple of quid dearer but it gives absolute peace of mind.

[macatac]

It took me several weeks and many complaints to finally get a answer as to why , as i thought, the package i sent by recorded delivery wasnt delivered. It had been delivered the very next day but the signature wasnt scanned and therefor couldnt be traced using royal mails online track and trace system, they sent me a email saying sorry. I used to work for royal mail, and sending anything at all by recorded delivery does not guarantee it will ever arrive as it is sorted with all the regular mail and can therefor go missing. If you want to be sure of your item getting to its destination i suggest you use special delivery although this costs considerably more.

[verve10]

i found it payed not to give up and kept on to them as far as i was concerned i payed for a service (recorded delivery) on so many occassions and they failed to provide that service.

 

sorry was just not good enough in my eyes so i kept on and on to them

 

I am pleased to say the matter has been resolved and i received a cheque from them eventually.

 

I learnt from that experience that if its important mail ie cca requests etc in future will be sent by special delivery although its dearer its a peace of mind to guarntee delivery

[justace]

Is there some hope then that an important recorded delivery letter sent 1st class, 16 days ago but still showing as "being progressed through our network for delivery" on track and trace, actually got there?

[macatac]

There is a possibility that royal mail just didn't scan the signature, if that's the case it could have been delivered but unless it is scanned you will keep getting the message Being processed through our network. It's more expensive but if sending urgent docs through the post it is better to send by Special delivery

[verve10]

even the more expensive special delivery dont seem to get a signature either again with shop direct.

 

2 recent letters to shop direct by special delivery at £5.05 a time and all you get with there track and trace and customer services we can confirm it was delivered but we dont have a signature for it

 

in future anything that needs a signature im ditching royal mail and use a courier service instead

as it seems anything sent to shop direct that needs a signature never happens regardless of what service i use weither its recorded or special delivery.

[justace]

Thankyou for your helpful responses.

 

It is worrying that there is no dependable service which can prove receipt, particularly when it involves legal, time-sensitive material as mine did.

Having never lost anything in the Royal Mail post before, I was quite confident in it, especially recorded delivery,

Now I have no way of knowing if it got there or not.

Maybe it's time to look at private couriers, sadly.

[understanding]

I've had post go 'missing' when using track and trace without anything showing the recorded delivery item was being processed. Luckily I did receive replies to those letters but surely the Royal Mail have a duty to ensure not only that the letters get to the correct individual/organisation in a reasonable time period but also to ensure whatever services were paid for in advance are provided to the letter otherwise they are taking money and not delivering the service paid for - that amounts to taking money under false pretences, doesn’t it?

 

I would also suggest these terms and conditions

 

3.17 If it is a requirement of the service, we will make reasonable efforts to get a signature from the person receiving the item when we deliver it to the relevant address. If we have to deliver a number of items to the same premises, we may get one signature for all the items.

 

are not legal as they override the terms of services paid for in the respect of getting a signature for a specific letter i.e. as required by the client; and bunching them altogether under one signatory would mean the service each client paid for individually was not met and therefore charged unlawfully. Even if it were only one client who paid to have a signature verifying the receipt of 30 or more letters, each letter should receive that signature or the post office should not sell the service as I would think it a misrepresentation of service at the very least.

[barracad]

 

I would also suggest these terms and conditions

 

 

 

are not legal as they override the terms of services paid for in the respect of getting a signature for a specific letter i.e. as required by the client; and bunching them altogether under one signatory would mean the service each client paid for individually was not met and therefore charged unlawfully. Even if it were only one client who paid to have a signature verifying the receipt of 30 or more letters, each letter should receive that signature or the post office should not sell the service as I would think it a misrepresentation of service at the very least.

 

So if you worked, for example, at the head office of XYZ Company, and you received 500 items which each needed signing for, you would be happy to stand around all day signing 500 pieces of paper? As long as there is a signature which states that they have received your item then I'm not sure what the issue is?

[1stlifeline]

in my opinion i think the postman had them in sack with rest and couldnt be bothered to obtain signature due to amount of mail that gets delivered to this national company

 

Thats a sweeping statement. I used to be a postie and can tell you that when delivering to these big firms most of them just sign once on a card.

How many firms do you think have the manpower to allow someone to stand there for 20 minutes signing for each letter individually. Its not that the postie cant be bothered as you put it.

Hoiwever, having said that, the card which is signed once for multiple deliveries is still returned to the office where 'all' the barcodes should be scanned onto track and trace.