Lordship Lane area postal service

[madger]

Hi, we had severe problems with our postal service last year, relating to one particular postman (so we were told by Royal Mail central) and we were then contacted by a royal mail investigator saying that there had been widespread, serious complaints in this area concerning missing post. They then ran a test and apparently suspended the member of staff, though I don't know what happened after that. Anyway - 2 things have gone missing in the last 2 weeks - a disc and an important doc. Had anyone else had anything similar happen recently, especially around the Lordship Lane area?

[EMR]

I'm in Amott Road and have had a birthday card with money not arrive, a book not arrive, and at least three letters and parcel opened since November. Been meaning to take it up with RM.

How did you go about complaining? Did you just call the sorting office?

[Gidget]

EMR

You probably come under Highshore Rd. Sorting Office.

[EMR]

Yeah I know, but maybe the way you report things is the same across all the sorting offices? Maybe they share staff if they're busy? Who knows..

[bob]

There are many threads on this it's on going past 6 years for me.

Bob S

[madger]

I think the best thing to do is go online at royal mail's website... there's a customer service number,which is the best way to make a complaint. The more info they get, the more they can do about it I suppose!

[annabel42]

You have to go through all the motions as laid down in their complaints procedure. I sent two special delivery next day guaranteed insured envelopes containing cash to two people - the envelopes duly arrived, but, in one, some of the cash had been removed, and in the other, all the cash had gone. The envelopes had been resealed. A third envelope never reached its destination although the sorting office at the other end admitted that they had received it. After many months of going through the proper complaints procedures with no success I eventually emailed Royal Mail's chief executive [email protected] who referred the matters to some other high up executives. After that all my cash was refunded very quickly indeed. Even at that stage, though, I still had to stand my ground and have a long interrogation by another of Royal Mail's senior executives. And to think this special delivery postage/insurance is now close to a tenner a time!

With all complaints to Royal Mail you have to keep chasing all the time. It is really hard time-consuming work, particularly as you are never put through to the person dealing with your complaint - only to some-one reading from a computer screen.

[byngo]

We're on Friern Rd. We had lots of internet shopping go missing over the Xmas period. This week we've received two letters, including a birthday card for my daughter, that have been slit along the bottom, someone has clearly been fishing around for anything worth stealing. It's completely unacceptable. I just reported it to the Post Office complaints line (08457 740 740).

[Sue]

I was in Crystal Palace Road the other day on my way to DMC, and I saw somebody on the other side of the road, not in a postie uniform but in jeans, rummaging through a red bag of post and parcels. He was there in the same place for some time.

He took what appeared to be an envelope from a set of items held together with a rubber band and held it up as if to see what was in it, though it's possible he was checking the address.

When he saw I had stopped and was looking at what he was doing, he turned back, crossed Whateley Road and continued up Crystal Palace Road in the direction of Sylvester Road.

I was so concerned I actually went up to the sorting office and asked whether all their posties had uniforms. They said "not if they are new" and then "was this person just round the corner" and when I said yes, they said he was from an agency.

It seemed odd to me that he should be fishing around in the bag and apparently inspecting items when he was in a part of the road where he wasn't actually delivering them.

His actions might of course be completely innocent, but in the light of what people have said above, I'm beginning to wonder.

I know there are viewing galleries in many sorting offices where investigation officers can watch the actual sorting if they suspect there is theft going on, but if the theft is happening once the post has left the office, that would be harder to identify.

I can't understand, however, why someone would slit open an envelope but then still deliver it - that would suggest that the slitting had happened at an earlier stage in the system, surely, otherwise you're just providing the recipient with proof of your crime.

[annabel42]

Make sure you keep the envelopes - with special delivery, they will not do a thing without being given them, don't know about ordinary delivery, but, if you're claiming compensation, presumably the same applies. Keep a photograph of the envelopes - preferably taken by a postmaster.

[Bic Basher]

The postman seems to change every couple of months on the Lordship Lane Estate. We had an excellent service up to the end of Christmas and now get mid-afternoon deliveries (when post eventually arrives!) from a newbie who's still learning the round by the look of it.

[annabel42]

Sue

The reason they do it is because the receiver signs for the envelope and then only discovers afterwards that there is nothing in it, Also the contents could have been taken long before the envelope got to thepostman, as you correctly say.

[Lowlander]

I lived in Battersea some time ago where the postal service was atrocious - loads of "whilst you were out" cards and disappearing post.

One special delivery item containing ?150 worth train tickets disappeared so well that they couldn't even find the barcode on the receipt.

In the end I filed a claim via the small claims court and they paid out (after a few phonecalls to chase).

Delivery is a bit variable here in ED but it's a lot better than other areas!

[annabel42]

Forgot to say the envelopes are slashed and resealed with such expert precision that it is only on close examination after finding that the contents have gone that one can see the interference.

Postmasters and sorting office staff are aware of the problem, but there seems little they can do as the theft can happen anywhere in the chain.

One large Company in EC1 had so many thefts that they now have a dedicated RM person watching over their special deliveries but, even so, still have thefts, albeit a tiny fraction of the original losses.

[shhh]

scary.

[Sue]

shhh Wrote:

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

> Reading this thread has me more panicked than I

> was previously. I sent a Special Delivery to the

> Home Office on 18/1 -- it never arrived. It has my

> time-sensitive visa application, my passport, my

> husband's passport, bank statements and other

> identity documents. Is it possible it's been

> stolen by the local Post Office?

xxxxxxxx

If you pay for special delivery (RMSD), unless the system has drastically changed, it is supposed to be kept separate from the "normal" post at every stage of its journey (unlike recorded delivery, which goes in with the rest of the post and is just signed for on delivery so that you have proof of delivery if you require that for some reason).

Therefore, you should be able to track what has happened to your RMSD item. Have you put the ID number into Royal Mail's tracking website? That will tell you whether it was actually delivered to the Home Office (could they have lost it internally somehow?) If not, have you reported it to Royal Mail?

If it was RMSD, they should be able to narrow down who handled the item at each stage of its journey.

[Dee Woffaz]

I had 2 'while you were out' cards pushed through my letter box last week, i was in fact in but they didnt ring the bell, i would have heard it. I went to the sorting office collected one of my parcels but the other has vanished. I do discourage people from sending me things via royal mail as i rarely get it. Anything hand written and vaguely card like is bound not to turn up & small parcels that dont require a signature never do. i got so outraged last year i posted 5 fake small packaged to myself just to see if they did. Out of 5 1 turned up. A vary poor service royal mail(no capitals you dont deserve them)

[conrad.j.mustard]

I have had 2 quite important documents vanish whilst in the care of Her Majesties red helpers.

[Sue]

Dee Woffaz Wrote:

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

> i got so

> outraged last year i posted 5 fake small packaged

> to myself just to see if they did. Out of 5 1

> turned up. A vary poor service royal mail(no

> capitals you dont deserve them)

xxxxxxxx

But did you report these missing packages to Royal Mail?

Obviously if they don't know about things going missing, how can they try to identify a pattern, narrow the field of possible suspects and then do something about it?

Clearly - they can't.