Any effective way of making late postal delivery complaints?

[Jacqui5254]

I've tolerated a lot of late post  in ED but a recent MRI scan appt 6 days too late and having to pay a PCN at double the rate because I didn't receive the first letter is just too much.

I will complain via the Royal Mail website but is there a more effective way to address this that ED people know about?

I know we were affected by the Sorting Office closing down but this has gone on FAR too long.

Thanks.

[alice]

I know the feeling I got a court letter four weeks after I was meant to legally respond and today I’ve got an urgent Kings letter a month after it was posted. 

[Spartacus]

Complain to your specific MP as well as to royal mail and copy the newly appointed chief exec of royal mail .

Our MPs are or were building evidence on the issue. 

Martin Seidenberg new chief executive 

Email format could be 

customerservices@royalmail.com so try adding Martin that way. 

[Froglander]

I’ve had similar problems re medical letters and have now asked for appointment letters to be sent by text and/or email. 

[mrwb]

That is what they want essentially is it not? The post loses money I think, so they make the service abysmal and that encourages us to not use it?

[Jacqui5254]

18 hours ago, Spartacus said:

Complain to your specific MP as well as to royal mail and copy the newly appointed chief exec of royal mail .

Our MPs are or were building evidence on the issue. 

Martin Seidenberg new chief executive 

Email format could be 

customerservices@royalmail.com so try adding Martin that way. 

 

 Thanks so much Spartacus.

[Moovart]

Where you've incurred specific expenses as a result of delayed post I wonder about taking the post office to the small claims court.  The first step in the process is to write out your claim with evidence of losses including your time spent in dealing with the post office and your claim and send it to royal mail.  Perhaps sending it to the CEOs office might focus the minds.  This part is free. If they don't settle your claim you pay a fee to submit to the court if you want to.  You can look up the process online.

If they started receiving lots of court claims maybe they'd pay attention or maybe I'm just fooling myself!!

 

It worked for me in a complaint against M&S in the past.

[cactus]

Royal Mail have zero interest in delivering letters on time, parcels have become the priority. I would say that my post arrives once a week if I'm lucky, daily delivery is a thing of the past.

Ring the Customer Service number and complain, email too.

Write to your local councillors, Goose Green Ward ones have been very good when I have contacted them, but depends on whereabouts you live in East Dulwich.

Write to local MP, mine is Harriet Harman, but over the boundary Helen Hayes has been taking up the issue and she's brilliant at supporting her constituents over their concerns.

 

[malumbu]

Heavens we are in a grump today and the sun is 🌟.  I complained over a relatively small issue and was compensated with some stamps almost immediately.  It wasn't a significant matter, but go through the complaints procedure first before the courts.  And I've been through the courts a few time in my life

[Sue]

1 hour ago, malumbu said:

Heavens we are in a grump today and the sun is 🌟.  I complained over a relatively small issue and was compensated with some stamps almost immediately.  It wasn't a significant matter, but go through the complaints procedure first before the courts.  And I've been through the courts a few time in my life

There are issues where a few stamps are just not enough.

And Royal Mail needs to get its act together to prevent needing to compensate people in the first place.

The number of people who actually complain is just the tip of a very large iceberg of people in this area who have been getting appalling service ever since the delivery office was moved from Sylvester Road to Peckham.

That's on top of the more general problems with delivery delays all over the country.

 

Edited August 22, 2023 by Sue
Adding info

[malumbu]

Mine was a relatively trivial complaint, not worth their time looking into and easier to send me stamps as compensation.

Royal Mail is a regulated former public utility.  They have to have complaint procedures and if this fails you can go to dispute resolution.  It takes as much time to find this out as to post a new thread on the forum.

Details on complaints: www.ofcom.org.uk/complaints/complain-about-postal-services/royal-mail

And if this can't be resolved dispute resolution www.cedr.com/consumer/postrs/

Royal  Mail and Parcel Force have a difficult future ahead due to declining mail, and for parcels competition from other companies - they are (or at least weren't) allowed to offer things such as home pick up and the like, so government in privitising them tied one hand behind their back,

Now if you think all of this was wrong, that ownership should be taken back into pubic hands and a first rate services subsidised by the tax payer then please do write to your MP.  Otherwise I expect it will be just managed decline.

 

[kiera]

Plus they've made it more difficult to pick up post from the delivery office. Opening hours reduced to 8am-10am weekdays - only open longer on Saturdays & then only until midday. You can't go the next day after a notification of a non-delivery as they now attempt to redeliver the next day. It may be possible to arrange a redelivery online. The card they left told me to do so, but on both occasions this happened to me I was unable to book a delivery online because the next day redelivery didn't happen, so I was obliged to go to the office. The staff there were very upset about the reduced opening hours, saying it wasn't long enough & that they were losing jobs over it. Customer services were unhelpful - just invented excuses and were very reluctant to actually record a complaint.

[OutOfFocus]

I feel for you. I once had a slightly less extreme case. A letter from King's telling me if I didn't reply in next day I would be discharged. Rang up and they said "can you come this afternoon"  - presume a cancellation.  Ok, put phone down an thought - perhaps I had better warn my boss.

 

[Penguin68]

This week, in Underhill, I have had deliveries on 3 consecutive days, and in those days, 3 weeks of weekly journals were delivered, bringing me for the first time this year up to date and on time. It may even be I have no post outstanding. I cannot quite believe it. And unprompted by complaints to my MP, which is what has got deliveries before. 

[Han92-ED]

We called customer services to find out if we could collect our post as we hadn’t received post for 6 weeks - then they told us they had 72hrs to deliver all of our post they had if we then raised a complaint. We received stacks full from the postie within 24hrs of doing this - worth a shot for anyone else waiting on post!

[Nigello]

I get a lot of window-envelope and postcards delivered at once which makes me think the individual postie or individual manager or the general management have decided on such a system to avoid a daily delivery. I will investigate. (I can’t believe I get seven postcards and two magazines one day as a normal occurrence.) 

[jimr]

Thanks for the advice everyone - wife's birthday tomorrow and no cards yet, which I know cannot be the case! I've just tried the customer service email route - lets see what happens. I think it's important that those of us who can, do complain and keep raising it with MPs, etc, cos this feels like another example of something that disproportionately affects the most vulnerable. Untimely receipt of medical letters, court letters, bills, demands, etc, could increasingly affect those who's capacity or ability to use alternative methods may be reduced for whatever reason. Not especially well phrased but I hope you get what I mean.

 

[Guest]

i got a PCN and i challenged that with TFL   and once i received the Rejection letter from TFL i saw yes the PCN was issued correctly and  i tried to pay the £80 the same day i got the Letter from TFL  and saw the pcn has gone up to £160. and when i looked at the date the letter was posted i got the letter 3 weeks Late..i tried to tell this to TFL and the answer was it Not TFL fault that Royal Mail delivered your letter late.  i got in touch with the London Tribunals and was told sorry its too Late for you to Appeal. i got on to Royal Mail and after lots of calls and Emails the Royal Mail confirmed in writing that yes there is a Problem in Delivering post Late in East Dulwich. with that proof  Appealed again to London Tribunals and this time with the evidence from Royal Mail i had a Hearing with the Adjudicator i put all my evidence to them and they said they will let me know in writing . the Adjudicator excepts that yes Royal Mail delivers post Late in east Dulwich  But still held me Responsible and Punished me for it . so i paid £160 . this is the Decision of the Adjudicator at the end Please if there are Lawyers who can advise us in east Dulwich  what we can do and how we can hold royal Mail responsible for this mess  even today i got about 10 letters some 3-4 weeks Late. i am here and will do what ever i can to work together with you all so please lets do it.