Royal Mail, royal disaster

Per chi si lamenta della posta in Italia - sono due anni che il mio postino non suona il campanello quando ha un pacchetto da consegnare, e invece lascia un biglietto "While you were out".

Il biglietto dice che non c'eri in casa e che puoi avere la posta reinviata o andare a prenderla al deposito. Peccato che io in casa c'ero - non una ma almeno 4 delle volte in cui ho ricevuto il benedetto biglietto.

Dato che sono estremamente pazienteirascibile, ho chiamato il customer care service per spiegare l'accaduto. La loro risposta e' stata che rispiegheranno al postino di suonare il campanello.

Non e' una soluzione; probabilmente il postino non si era neanche portato dietro il pacco perche' era pesante. Di seguito il messaggio che ho mandato per fare appello. Italiani in UK, se succede anche a voi, protestate.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I have lived for 2 years at my present address and soon after I moved in I realised that the level of honesty that I experienced in my previous addresses was not matched by the Royal Mail staff that is in charge of delivering my mail.

In at least 4 occasions since since I moved to my current address in 2010 the postperson left a “While you were out card” without ringing the bell.  As I have opportunities for flexible working hours, I work from home on the days in which I am expecting important mail, but I cannot spend time chasing my post because the postperson failed to perform an integral component of his/hers jobs – ringing the bell.

After moving in, I have soon resorted to having my mail delivered to my office rather than home, which is quite inconvenient in may ways.

Yesterday I placed an order on Amazon, with delivery scheduled for today. Part of the order was delivered by a private company and correctly arrived; part was supposed to be delivered by Royal Mail.

Due to my bad experiences in the past, thorough the morning I have been monitoring both the online tracker for the order and the physical mailbox. No music, tv, shower or anything that could have covered the sound of the bell.

It was to my complete disbelief when I found out, after checking the Amazon web site, that an attempted delivery was made and I was not at home.

I went to check the “While you were out” card and it said that the delivery was attempted at 12:02. This is also false, as I had checked my mailbox after 12:02 and there was nothing in.

I called the complaints helpline and the person at the other end of the line told me that the action that was going to be taken was to remind the personnel in the local branch of the correct procedure, which is to knock and ring the bell.

This is not an acceptable solution and it's not going to change anything – I have had to pick up mail from the local sorting office or had to have it re-delivered already for 2 years and this has to stop. 

I am sure that the postperson knows already what the correct procedure is. As a subscriber of the magazine Which, I had read in the past this article: http://conversation.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/problems-with-royal-mail-services-postal-service that reports how according to their survey about 16% of Royal Mail customers receive “While you were out” cards while they were actually in. While there are limitations in their study, it reflects my experience with the Leyonstone office.

While this has been happening since I moved to my current address, I do not have enough evidence to support my claim that there were 4 previous occasions, apart from my records of on-line shopping on ebay and my own recollection. When it comes to this very delivery, proof that I was at home can be provided in terms of server logs, email trails, phone calls that place me at my address from yesterday evening to this this moment.

As this has repeated through the years, I am asking for a written apology acknowledging that the card left in my mailbox today is false in the representation of the events that happened.

I am also asking for compensation, as there is nothing like compensation to ensure that this is not going to happen any more. I have reviewed Royal Mail's compensation grid; the value for today's items is 248.29 pounds and I am asking for a 50 pounds compensation.