....................................

Pants isn't it! . . and they were wondering why they were losing so much money a year not too long back!!! with customer service like that it's not hard to see really. Git's!!.:rant:

Sounds crazy!

Have they never heard of 'Customer Service'? Obviously not!

Did they say how many parcels you are limited to (just in case I ever have to send any) not likely though:hihi:

If it were me, i'd go back tomorrow with them in my car, then take them in very... slowly..... one... at... a ...time..... and really p*ss them off :heyhey:

It's disgraceful but, like my water company rant, what can you do?

Using another parcel service is out of the question because of the price.

Complaining is a waste of time - sitting on the phone for an hour to speak to someone in Bangalore who is 'very sorry' but cannot tell you any more because that's all his screen says, or writing a letter of complaint and waiting two months until an 'investigation' is conducted with a book a four first class stamps sent as an apology.

Sadly, I'm not surprised. It is a top-down useless organisation. I had my say a while back here: http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?postid=316495#post316495 and here http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?postid=316759#post316759 so won't go off on one again. Although heaven knows they deserve it :rant:

so you turned up and gave them 30 minutes to deal with 15 parcels... giving them roughly 2mins per parcel, so thats weighing, asking how you want the parcel sending, printing the little sticker, putting recorded/special deliver stickers on, then repeating 15 times...

I'd have probably told you to sod off too... lol, they do do other things at sorting offices, not to mention other customers...

anyways we cant really whinge at our postal service when our first class post is only 10% of the price of the rest of europe :P

....................................

hmm, well I dunno then... first class is a doddle, no ******* around there...

my local post office used to get a bit cheesed off with me when I went up with like 4 or 5 parcels all recorded delivery :blush:

Same thing used to happen to me in Lincoln when I had to take post from the business I worked for down at the end of the day. I was told that they are a sorting office - their primary function isn't for selling stamps and accepting post - thats the post offices job. Apparently.

Originally posted by xafier
so you turned up and gave them 30 minutes to deal with 15 parcels... giving them roughly 2mins per parcel, so thats weighing, asking how you want the parcel sending, printing the little sticker, putting recorded/special deliver stickers on, then repeating 15 times...

I'd have probably told you to sod off too... lol, they do do other things at sorting offices, not to mention other customers...


It doesn't matter how many he had and how prepared they were - hours of opening are until as stated and they have a duty to serve you.

The jobs the two staff had to do would have come second to a customer. It's the first rule they're supposed to learn.

Originally posted by alchresearch
It doesn't matter how many he had and how prepared they were - hours of opening are until as stated and they have a duty to serve you.

The jobs the two staff had to do would have come second to a customer. It's the first rule they're supposed to learn.
maybe they need more staff then? I mean if you cant carry out basic services like actually deal with customers then you have serious problems...

we deal with them at work and they are a bunch of cowboys. They lose or waylay so much "insured" goods its untrue. They also often have the inability to eliver packages or leave cards :loopy:

Originally posted by xafier
hmm, well I dunno then... first class is a doddle, no ******* around there...

my local post office used to get a bit cheesed off with me when I went up with like 4 or 5 parcels all recorded delivery :blush:

Sometimes you have to send stuff recorded delivery though, cos you often can't trust that your stuff won't go "walkies" in the post...

I've bought stuff from Ebay in the past and twice I've had negative feedback left because I sent cheques off to pay for the stuff but they went "walkies" in the post :rant:

In the good old days, If a letter or card had insufficient stamps on it, the postman had to leave the money out of his OWN pocket at the sorting place and get it back off the customer or loose it. They don't alter a lot, do they? :|

Originally posted by Rich
Sometimes you have to send stuff recorded delivery though, cos you often can't trust that your stuff won't go "walkies" in the post..

I send all my stuff recorded delivery, unless its just a normal letter or its worth over about £30/40... the post does have a very good knack of loosing the right things it has to be said ;)

I once had a hard drive go missing in the post which I bought off ebay, the guy sent it first class, I still complained to royal mail, eventually got about £35 from them, which was £2 more than I'd paid for the item ;) but if he'd sent it recorded delivery the maximum claim is £28...

go figure that one then :? it's swings and roundabouts... how you can loose a parcel with a heavy metal object in it I really don't know!

Originally posted by Rich
Sometimes you have to send stuff recorded delivery though, cos you often can't trust that your stuff won't go "walkies" in the post...

I've bought stuff from Ebay in the past and twice I've had negative feedback left because I sent cheques off to pay for the stuff but they went "walkies" in the post :rant:

But why would postie want to steal the cheque? If he isn't the payee then he cannot pay it into his own bank - and besides, if (s)he altered it, then I would need to initial it to make it le-git.

Alex

Originally posted by xafier
I send all my stuff recorded delivery, unless its just a normal letter or its worth over about £30/40... the post does have a very good knack of loosing the right things it has to be said ;)

I once had a hard drive go missing in the post which I bought off ebay, the guy sent it first class, I still complained to royal mail, eventually got about £35 from them, which was £2 more than I'd paid for the item ;) but if he'd sent it recorded delivery the maximum claim is £28...

go figure that one then :? it's swings and roundabouts... how you can loose a parcel with a heavy metal object in it I really don't know!

I had an HDD that went walkies in the post - it was around three weeks and it arrived.

However, credit due where it's due - I sent a letter to Mr. Relative of 29 Bell-Hagg Road (I was quite a few numbers out), and the person residing at that address returned it (not sure where to) and then postie learned that realised Mr. Relative was at Psalter, and therefore worked out his correct numbered house - from the old Psalter address - I s'pose that is the computers that need the credit, and not the postie...

Alex

Originally posted by amhudson119
But why would postie want to steal the cheque? If he isn't the payee then he cannot pay it into his own bank - and besides, if (s)he altered it, then I would need to initial it to make it le-git.

Alex

Yes but with initials it is quite hard to tell the handwriting so I think someone could just put your initials on and it would look legit.

When I got a rebate from the water company I had to have the cheque sent 3 times because the first two times it mysteriously never arrived!

I sent 2 letters on monday by recorded delivery, one of them was delivered on tuesday morning to the address in Ipswich the other going to Doncaster still hasn't arrived

I was under the impression it could take up to 15 days for recorded delivery?

we had 3 ebay parcels (and the neighbours had 1) go missing in a 2 week period just before xmas.

Originally posted by nightrider
Yes but with initials it is quite hard to tell the handwriting so I think someone could just put your initials on and it would look legit.



Alterations on a cheque should be confirmed by the drawer signing the alteration in full. Initials should not be acceptable.

Originally posted by xafier
I once had a hard drive go missing in the post which I bought off ebay, the guy sent it first class, I still complained to royal mail, eventually got about £35 from them, which was £2 more than I'd paid for the item ;) but if he'd sent it recorded delivery the maximum claim is £28...

I think you can pay extra. The standard recorded delivery cost (65p?) covers you up to £27 or £28. If you pay an extra 50p it covers you to £100.

I sent a letter to an old friend in Sheffield last year from New Zealand.

He has lived at the same address for over thirty years.

Six months later the letter was returned with the message across the front-

NO POSTCODE ADDRESS UNKNOWN

The name and address were correct but I didn't have the postcode.

I think its about time the post office services had a good look at its whole operation because service has gone out of the window and the old chestnut of 'We are the cheapest service in Europe' does not wash if they cannot provide a service.

Anyone can undercharge and then not supply the goods or service.

Originally posted by alchresearch
I think you can pay extra. The standard recorded delivery cost (65p?) covers you up to £27 or £28. If you pay an extra 50p it covers you to £100.

Recorded delivery costs 65p plus the first or second class postage cost, takes the same amount of time as first or second class post (whichever you pay for) and covers you for up to £28 (the same as standard first or second class post). The service only 'guarantees' that a signature will be requested on delivery and you can phone RM to check if its been delivered.

Special delivery prices start at around £3.75, there are two levels of service, next day or next day before 9am. This is the service which provides a sliding scale of insurance according to the value of the package, the more its worth the more you pay.

its that time of year again when we get a temps who couldn't care less and we get the post from the house belo (and random other streets) but the house above doesn't get our post. I'm assuming that the house below got ours (who are students and have now left) great. what a wonderful service:loopy:

our normal postwoman is spot on but then you get people who don't care and it goes to pot.

Originally posted by spook
Have been to my local sorting office tonight with about 15 parcels to send.

The sorting office closes at 1830, I got there at 1755.

I am then told that (a) there is a limit to how many items of mail one person can take to post, and
(b) they were too busy to take my mail!

After picking my jaw up off of the floor I asked if they were serious only to be told that there were only two members of staff and they had two jobs to do so couldn't take the mail. Instead I would have to go the Post Office tomorrow...


:rant:

I phoned up the sorting office the other day to arrange delivery of a missed parcel to my local post office. They picked up the phone and then proceeded to place the phone on the table and I could hear them all laughing and joking for 5 minutes before I got over the shock and hung up the phone. These people are unbelievable!!

Originally posted by PopT
I sent a letter to an old friend in Sheffield last year from New Zealand.

He has lived at the same address for over thirty years.

Six months later the letter was returned with the message across the front-

NO POSTCODE ADDRESS UNKNOWN

The name and address were correct but I didn't have the postcode.

I think its about time the post office services had a good look at its whole operation because service has gone out of the window and the old chestnut of 'We are the cheapest service in Europe' does not wash if they cannot provide a service.

Anyone can undercharge and then not supply the goods or service.

or about time for you to learn how to use www.royalmail.com which has an address finder from postcode or postcode finder from address.

Originally posted by spook
Have been to my local sorting office tonight with about 15 parcels to send.

The sorting office closes at 1830, I got there at 1755.

I am then told that (a) there is a limit to how many items of mail one person can take to post, and
(b) they were too busy to take my mail!


:rant:

They can close the doors at 18:30 but they should have dealt with you and your parcels without complaint - even if it took them a bit beyond 18:30. Sounds like they are jobsworths who would stop in mid sentence if the ................

Add to this the fact that some areas do not receive their post until 5 p.m., the royal mail has really gone downhill

Originally posted by nightrider
maybe they need more staff then? I mean if you cant carry out basic services like actually deal with customers then you have serious problems...

They recently tried to deliver a parcel to me but I was out so they left one of those little cards. The sorting office it was taken to was only open from 7am - 1230pm, which is no use to me as I work full time, so I tried to ring to re-arrange delivery to my work address. Well I rang and rang and rang and rang, and nobody ever answered. So I ended up ringing their main customer service line, only to be told they didn't have any other number for them and that I just needed to keep trying. She then told me that if they were too busy then they wouldn't answer the phone, so when I said they needed more staff, she agreed but said that because they had just made 29,000 people redundant they couldn't recruit anyone new!

Some weeks ago Geoff e-mailed me to say that my SF T-shirt had been returned because I had not collected it from the sorting office after a failed delivery.
The parcel had been marked "No Access".
This was out of order as I have a postbox fitted to my gate on the roadside. As can be expected with "No Access" they had not left any "Failed Delivery" card and as such I was completely unaware of this.

Geoff arranged redelivery last week (or so).

I returned to my house on Sunday after a weekend away and found a "Failed Delivery" card in my letterbox from the Saturday ("Parcel Too Large").
I was expecting so spare parts.

When I went to the sorting office the chap gave me a large parcel of spare parts and then said "Hang on" and disappeared.
He came back with "I thought I had seen something" and also gave me a large envelope with my SF T-shirt.

It had, again, been marked "No Access" and was waiting to be sent back to Geoff.
Had I not, by chance, gone to pick up another parcel, my T-shirt would have gone round in circles again.

It has happened before and it just annoys me that idleness/incompetence allows this to happen.
It also concerns me a great deal that there may be other mail that has been returned to sender that I know nothing about!

I did make a complaint and have recieved the following reply which does not exactly fill me with confidence. (I would like to hear that the individual responsible has been identified and disciplined)

Thank you for your e-mail from which I am sorry to hear that correctly addressed mail has been returned to sender.

Our priority is to provide a good-quality service. We aim to handle every item very carefully to make sure it is delivered safely and on time. Every item of mail is important to us. Unfortunately, isolated problems do happen.

I have reported this matter to the manager of the delivery office involved.
Instructions are now in place to remind delivery officers to take greater care and to check all mail thoroughly before any items are returned to sender.

Reminds me of a friend in Brighton who regularly had DVDs go missing that he ordered from Play (I guess he carried on buying them because they are good at re-sending stuff you tell them never arrived). He managed to work out his postie's rough movie taste, because from time to time they would be opened and then still put through the letterbox - that's a sad indictment of your taste! :)