Missing post since sorting office moved to peckham

[Renata Hamvas]

I've just spoken to a member of staff at Peckham Sorting Office. Unfortunately they are very short staffed due to a high level of sickness. Additionally. use of postal services are far higher than usual. They currently have a huge backlog of post. A fortnight delay to post can be expected for some items. (As well as delays in Peckham there are also delays at all points in the postal service chain) On-foot deliveries are typically only happening every 4 days on each round in SE22/SE15. Saturday deliveries have been suspended. They apologise for the delay and say that post should turn up eventually.

Renata

[rjw37]

UPDATE:

So, I contacted my eBay seller to let them know my item hadn't arrived. Turns out that the item was tracked but they had forgotten to upload the tracking number. Either way, Royal Mail tracking said the item had been delivered (a week late mind you)- but of course it hadn't. I phoned RM customer services and the gentleman on the phone said that he could see that it had been scanned at the wrong location and that someone would get back to me in 72 hours. After not hearing back for 5 days I phoned again. The lady on the phone said that they had received a response from the sorting office manager which, in her words, "doesn't make any sense"...

What we do know is that my item was received at the Peckham sorting office, because it was scanned there, but it was 'delivered' to a different postcode. The Peckham manager apparently stated that there is nothing more that they can do because the final postcode where it ended up is outside of their authority - even though it was definitely in their possession before it went missing. Just how an item can be correctly scanned at a sorting office in Peckham but be delivered somewhere that isn't even within their catchment area, I don't know, and RM customer services seemed equally as sceptical. Customer Services told me I will soon receive a letter to say that it's gone missing but that's the only resolution i'll get :(

My other package is now well over two weeks late and I have given up any hope of ever seeing it.

Though Peckham Sorting Office may claim that deliveries are late (or disappearing completely, apparently) due to a "high level of sickness", It must be noted that they seem to have suffered from a chronic shortage of staff since at least 2018, so "chronically mismanaged" is probably a more apt descriptor.

[KidKruger]

So basically organised mass theft of parcels.

Nice little earner for those involved.

What a joke they delivered a tracked parcel to the wrong address then claim they can?t deal with rectifying/investigating.

Would be good to get confirmation of address so you could try to recover the parcel.

I wonder if the original ebay seller was contacted by whoever ended up with your parcel?

[rjw37]

The lady I spoke to on the phone today was actually very helpful but said she wasn't allowed to give me the address (which I suppose is understandable taking in to account GDPR considerations etc).She did tell me it was a different post code completely, so the address must have been completely different.

She was also equally as surprised at the lacklustre shrug-of-the-shoulders response from the management at Peckham Sorting Office. The're argument was effectively "it's not my responsibility because it was delivered somewhere outside of my catchment area, even though one of my postmen must have, for some reason, taken it there in the first place".

[Sue]

There is apparently something very wrong with the management at Peckham sorting office, and it's about time something was done about it.

It seems no time at all since the shambles when the Dulwich deliveries moved there from Sylvester Road.

If it was me, my next step would be a complaint to the CEO of Royal Mail, copied in to Helen Hayes.

[KidKruger]

When parcels are 'going missing' consistently or being delivered to areas 'outside of our jurisdiction' with no recall because 'that area is outside of our jurisdiction' then we have a service not fit for purpose.

If this wasn't an ex-Govt operation it wouldn't have the profile it currently benefits from.

Somehow, from somewhere, we need professionals brought in to fix the simple task of ensuring letters and parcels follow a process where they end up at the addresses written on them.

That's right, the clue is on the front of the letter/envelope, it's written on there, just take it to that place and put it through the letterbox/knock on door and leave parcel with intended recipient.

[lindylou]

A worrying aspect for me is that I had a call from NHS last week asking if I had received my letter, sent out weeks ago, informing me that I should be shielding. Needless to say, that letter hasn't arrived! Thankfully I've been staying at home, but apparently I shouldn't even be going to get my weekly shopping! I wonder how many more have not received their letters.

[yummumbums]

I?ve got so many parcels missing. My previous complaints were met with unsatisfactory response. It basically said there was nothing they could do. It?s not always possibly to request people send parcels by courier instead. Plus don?t use parcelforce (part of Royal Mail) as they?ve just about broken every parcel! Getting stuff delivered in Se22 is a complete nightmare and I?m fed up. Also When I suggested there was theft going on to Royal Mail Peckham office they said they had had no other complaints of that nature. That is clearly untrue.

[Sue]

lindylou Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> A worrying aspect for me is that I had a call from

> NHS last week asking if I had received my letter,

> sent out weeks ago, informing me that I should be

> shielding. Needless to say, that letter hasn't

> arrived! Thankfully I've been staying at home, but

> apparently I shouldn't even be going to get my

> weekly shopping! I wonder how many more have not

> received their letters.

I haven't had mine either, but I've had a letter from the council saying I "should" have received it, plus two phone calls from the council asking if I'm OK or if I need help.

I've also received emails from several supermarkets saying that they have been told that I'm on a priority list for deliveries.

However most people needing to shield would probably already know that?

I have read that some GPs have patients who come into the same category of needing shielding (eg same medical conditions) but some have received the NHS letter and some haven't.

So if it is a postal problem rather than an NHS problem, it seems to be happening elsewhere, not just in this area :(

[lindylou]

Yes, I agree, a postal problem. But your comment that "people needing to shield would probably already know that" is untry. I had a severe organising pneumonia several years ago. I was under guys hospital chest clinic for a long time and then discharged. I have since had an inhaler. You do seem to assume quite a lot Sue.

[Sue]

lindylou Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Yes, I agree, a postal problem. But your comment

> that "people needing to shield would probably

> already know that" is untry. I had a severe

> organising pneumonia several years ago. I was

> under guys hospital chest clinic for a long time

> and then discharged. I have since had an inhaler.

> You do seem to assume quite a lot Sue.

I said "probably", with a question mark ....

I wasn't assuming anything ....

I had to Google when all this started to find out if I fell into the extremely vulnerable category (which I did).

I also phoned my GP to check whether I needed to shield, which if anybody was in any doubt I would have thought would be the thing to do?

In fact because I hadn't had a letter from the NHS I asked my GP to provide a letter in case I needed one to get a supermarket delivery, but in the event I didn't need the GP's letter.

ETA:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19#who-is-clinically-extremely-vulnerable

[KidKruger]

It?s unbelievable. If it was DPD, FedEx etc. running the sorting office they couldn?t just hold their hands up and say,?dunno !?.

Royal Mail can, and do.

Part of the legacy of once being a State service.

They have the monopoly on sorting offices and are not fit for purpose.

Gotta love the UK.

yummumbums Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I?ve got so many parcels missing. My previous

> complaints were met with unsatisfactory response.

> It basically said there was nothing they could do.

> It?s not always possibly to request people send

> parcels by courier instead. Plus don?t use

> parcelforce (part of Royal Mail) as they?ve just

> about broken every parcel! Getting stuff delivered

> in Se22 is a complete nightmare and I?m fed up.

> Also When I suggested there was theft going on to

> Royal Mail Peckham office they said they had had

> no other complaints of that nature. That is

> clearly untrue.

[Sue]

KidKruger Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> It?s unbelievable. If it was DPD, FedEx etc.

> running the sorting office they couldn?t just hold

> their hands up and say,?dunno !?.

> Royal Mail can, and do.

>

I'm not sure that it's Royal Mail per se who "can and do", is it?

In this case, it appears to be one particular delivery office manager.

Whose "canning and doing" needs to be brought to the attention of senior managers, I would say.

[KidKruger]

What I am saying is that Royal Mail in this instance still act with the entitlement of a state-owned operation, behaving in a way which would destroy another business, yet still get away with it, still have the contract for sorting offices and local mail delivery.

The other private companies could never hope to have anywhere near that level of entitlement.

[Sue]

KidKruger Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> What I am saying is that Royal Mail in this

> instance still act with the entitlement of a

> state-owned operation, behaving in a way which

> would destroy another business, yet still get away

> with it, still have the contract for sorting

> offices and local mail delivery.

> The other private companies could never hope to

> have anywhere near that level of entitlement.

I'm not sure that what appears to be one rogue office can be used to represent the whole of Royal Mail?

Not that I agree with their privatisation.

[goldilocks]

Are people still having issues with this? We have some magazine subscriptions that are over 2 weeks late

[KidKruger]

Many things still not arrived, but due 4th May.

Also, a parcel I did not collect in time (kept going to sorting office but queues too long) was 'sent back' to supplier and has, ....wait for it...., 'vanished' without trace.

dreadful state of affairs.

[Bic Basher]

Post is still erratic, had post today before that was last Wednesday.

Magazines have been between 1-5 days late.

[Renata Hamvas]

I managed to get hold of someone at Peckham sorting office today. They still have staff sickness, but the situation is slowly improving. They are dealing with unprecedented amounts of post. A manager who knows more details in relation to the backlog is currently in a meeting and will contact me later (however I have a meeting so we may not be able to speak today). They are holding post for 4 rather than the usual 2 if you need to pick any post up. I will update once I have spoken to the manager.

Renata

[Pugwash]

A friend in Croydon rang hubby yesterday to thank him for the voucher he received in post. Hubby confused as had not sent anything in the card. Transpired that this was a voucher sent in 2019 for friend's birthday which had failed to arrive. Envelope was intact and correctly addressed - must have been in the sorting office (Peckham or Croydon) all this time.

[Bic Basher]

Post has been slightly better this week. I've had deliveries on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday instead of a week's worth one day per week.

[katanita]

loads of missing parcels for me. Two items that I've been waiting for since late March, others more recently. In the meantime, other things have arrived, especially tracked items. Seems very erratic.