“Royal Mail Unfit for purpose!!
Despite these findings Royal Mail still can’t deliver anything on time. Their workers along with the Unions had them striking for more pay and better working conditions yet they are incapable of doing their most basic job requirements.
What happens, asks the fresh recruit. “Does that mean you have to leave the letters back here, and just take the parcels?”
“You’re not supposed to,” the postman explains. “It’s illegal.”
“So that doesn’t happen?”
“Oh that definitely does happen. More often than what it should do. But yeah, no, it is against the law, and they shouldn’t be doing it.”
What the postman does not know is that his colleague is an undercover reporter for The Sunday Times.
An investigation has found that postal workers are being forced to deliver parcels ahead of letters — leaving first-class letters, bills, government correspondence, fines and hospital appointments abandoned in the depot. Royal Mail has a legal obligation to offer to deliver letters every day — Monday to Saturday — to every street.
Journalists working as postal workers in sorting offices in London and Southampton were told by managers and postal workers that parcels were routinely being prioritised over less profitable letters. Senior bosses at Royal Mail have been insisting there is no central policy of prioritising parcels over letters.
December 16 2023, The Sunday Times
Date of experience: 04 December 2023”
“Shockingly awful liars. They have a parcel and say it will be delivered on a certain day so you take a day off work and they don’t bother delivering it. Happens more often than not. No wonder people avoid Royal Mail .”
“Missing mail . Relative paid for a next day delivery… not even arrived and it’s been more than a week. Useless customer service . Not even had any post for ages even though I’ve been waiting for my bank card to arrive for ages. When mail does arrive it is normally after 2pm and that’s the earliest”
“Bad company...lazy workers..unprofessional...lying that their job is hard...should go to the cleaning or the hotels..Will see what's hard..even not getting minimum wage and still on strike...doesn't care about nothing...ignoring calls and etc..just really nonsense people who work their..poor management...”
“Let delivery person through door entry,awaited a knock at my door for delivery,but nothing .
Despite poor mobility I went to look where it might be,was left in a communal area by the main door.
No attempt to deliver to me,just lazily left for me to collect.
What if every postie thinks,I can't be bothered I'll leave all the mail for the entire court for them to sort and collect themselves.
I paid for 48 HR delivery and expect just that,delivery .
Says a lot about the view of staff ,who are paid to deliver,not just throw it somewhere and hope it gets there.”
“In my experience Royal Mail are incompetent, and untrustworthy, they are an extremely unreliable courier, they consistently do not deliver by the deadlines they themselves set; I have experienced their drivers telling lies about items being delivered, stating the item has been delivered when it hasn't, only for it to be delivered the day after it should have been!
I don't usually order items that are being delivered by Royal Mail, as their service is really appalling, but as I recently wanted a difficult to find item a company was selling through Amazon marketplace I had no choice.
According to tracking the item was collected by Royal Mail on 01.12.23, it was due for delivery on 13.12.23 (why it takes two weeks between collecting the item and delivery who knows!). As the item is expensive I waited in all day, taking time off of work, all day the tracking information was stating the item would be with me by 8pm; lo and behold, at 8,05pm the tracking information changed, now stating the item will be delivered by 18.12.23! Utterly appalling and inept standard of service.”
“No mail for weeks NE6 3NA. First class used to guarantee next day delivery, now lucky if received within a month. Absolute disgrace you are allowed to get away with the service you are providing.”
“Sent my driving licence to DVLA by next day delivery service.
Took into the local post office at 10.40am on Tuesday and it was delivered at 6.30am on Wednesday.
Very impressed with the service”
“Absolute shambles no deliveries to RG12 8 FH for weeks. Has been an ongoing issue for a couple of years. According to staff the street is regarded now as an ‘add on’ with no dedicated postie so deliveries happen on an adhoc basis. Parcel van still manages to come regularly. Managers need to be sacked and the post office service boycotted its disgusting!”
“Royal Mail are going to see my business through I have a small online business that I have built up I depend on Christmas sales to boost my income I have had problems since mid November various male of different sizes posted business 48 hour post have arrived 5 days late one 15 days late and one first class 7 days late .. I have had to adjust my delivery time to customers who have now gone elsewhere as they can get it delivered quicker by Amazon who have their own system.. so thanks Royal Fail we have seen reports all over the news saying your concentrating on parcel deliveries and Amazon as they make more money .. you have let the people of the Uk down and small businesses like myself you should be made accountable.”
“Royal mail is no longer fit for purpose.l posted Christmas cards and a birthday card on Tuesday 28th November. Only one Christmas card was delivered to hull on 1st Dec, another card took nine days to Worthing. The birthday card is still not delivered to Somerset and the birthday was 9th December. I'm furious as when the card is delivered, it will be just rubbish. The effort into choosing an appropriate card, it's cost and the cost of the postage all a waste of time and money. This will probably be the last year I will use Royal Mail, unless I send the entire year's worth in January, and ask the recipient to store it until the date the card is for. It's a shame that Royal Mail will kill off traditions and ruin businesses that rely on their service. The increased charges would be not so bad if we had the service we paid for.”
“Timescales. Customer service. Can’t trust them. I sent a parcel on 3rd December to Ireland. So not far. It got to Heathrow on the 5th and hasn’t moved or updated since. Been told I can’t make a claim until 4th Jan. paid for track and trace and can’t see anything and the advisor can’t tell me anymore either. What’s the point. So now I have to send money via banking to cover the cost of a present I sent but can’t make a claim for until 4th Jan. try to make a complaint but the option for my problem isn’t selectable. Just a joke. I don’t usually use rm but thought I would give them a chance and out my faith in them. And this happens. How can they not know where your parcels are 🤷♀️”
“I won't describe issues having with royal mail,I'm sick of them....just an angry remark..HOW THIS SCAM royal mail IS STILL GOING WITHOUT ANY POLITICIANS OR GOVERNMENT TO SAY OR CHANGE SOMETHING ????!!!! IS NOT royal mail..is royal disgrace.....”
“Please ignore the one star I had to leave. Royal Mail you are now a disgrace not fit for purpose. Your greed and ineptitude has failed your hard working staff and the people of the UK.
Never know from one week to the next if or when that week any mail may be delivered.
The Government and your management have destroyed this once great service”
“In October, Royal Mail failed to deliver two important financial documents, (one posted to replace the original that was lost) causing me a lot of trouble and meaning I had to take the morning off work twice to sort replacements.
Not learning from my mistakes, three weeks ago I ordered five pairs of earrings as Christmas gifts from different retailers via the Etsy site, and only three arrived.
I have now sadly had to ask for a refund from two independent retailers, when I would much prefer to be able to support small businesses. One of these retailers posted my original item twice, having sent me (or attempted to send me) a replacement after the first failed to arrive, only for the second pair to not arrive either - giving Royal Mail an unimpressive delivery average of 50%. Less if you count my missing documents from the previous month.
I prefer to buy from independent retailers when I can but due to Royal Mail's incompetence, I will probably just go back to Amazon because at least I do receive the items I have paid for. Therefore Royal Mail's frankly disgraceful track record and casual approach to customer care is impacting other businesses who have no choice but to use their hit-and-miss "service".
Sending an item via Royal Mail these days is like putting a note in a bottle and throwing it out to sea - you hope it will arrive somewhere, one day, but have no real expectation of it happening. Yet another disaster resulting from privatisation. No wonder its share price is down.
I have no intention of sending Christmas cards this year either, given Royal Mail's extortionate price of £1.25 for a first-class stamp, when they admit to deprioritising letters in favour of parcels. Perhaps they should rebrand a service that is so poor and unreliable it makes the 'first class' label meaningless.
In addition, the customer complaints process is laborious and can only be done by the sender, not the intended recipient, and Royal Mail's tracking system also isn't fit for purpose. Or perhaps it is if the purpose is to help my mail disappear without a trace. In that case, it has excelled itself. For the last week as I have attempted to find my two pairs of missing earrings, I have just received the message 'an update will be provided when we attempt to deliver your item'. Naively, I'd expect an 'attempt to deliver' might be the very least amount of activity to have occurred over the three weeks since I ordered - and my retailer posted - the item but maybe Royal Mail staff have better things to do such as watching Christmas television, eating biscuits or ignoring the customer complaints as they rack up.
Now that the Post Office can offer the option of alternative delivery couriers, I will not only never use Royal Mail again myself, but I will no longer be shopping with any retailers who state that it is their preferred means of delivery. Well done Royal Mail, you have lost another customer and taken trade away from a couple of independent businesses at the same time.”
“What a complete awful customer service once you managed to get through which took me 1 hour and 42 dam minutes. How can any company allow a customer to wait. I wouldn't have to call these people if they employ drivers who actually deliver your goods at the right home, nightmere. I am still awaiting for my parcel and they said it was delivered, no proof of where the so called invisible driver delivered it too, or no signature was made. Customer service are usless like a dried out 10 year old tea bag. All they came back with after waiting for almost two hours was, it has ben delivered, get out of here sherlock.
What is the country coming to. It takes to long to actually be able to speak to a human, as by the time you are given the run around by asking to pick an option, you have lost the will to live. Does anyone actually work on these phone lines? or is is just one person per shift royal mail? Get a grip as you are meant to be representing UK postal service, more like a total joke and an embarrassment.”
“Even 1 star is too much for you!
I am so disappointed- I have order something that needed to be deliver by u and there wouldn’t be Next time!
My order was ready to be delivered on Saturday but you mistake the address and re-routed… today is Thursday and the package still hasn’t come.
It is something really special for someone really special and it would be really bad if I don’t get my delivery till Friday.”
“YET AGAIN ANOTHER ROYAL MAIL "LIE / MISINFORMATION"
Yesterday I received a message stating my parcel will arrive today
The message clearly states that my parcel from Perfume Price will be delivered today
Thursday 30th November.
This is not the first time Royal Mail have sent me misinformation and I end up waiting in all day for an
item to arrive and it does not arrive.
I have had enough of this POOR service, all Royal Mail keep doing lately is increasing prices and delivering a
Worse service!
I have contacted my local MP Bob Seely on a few occasions and Mr Seely kindly contacted Royal Mail,
yet these problems STILL Exist!.
I am including BBC WATCHDOG and a few of the National newspapers, it's about time something is done
about naming and shaming Royal Mail.
If whoever sent the misinformation email to myself, and I had not waited in all day for nothing it would not have been
so bad.
Who actually sends MISINFORMATION Emails?
Message for Perfume Price unfortunately I will not order from your Company again
any Company using Royal Mail for me is a NO NO.
They cannot be trusted to deliver on time.
I am very frustrated and disappointed with their SNAIL LIKE SERVICE, BUT MAINLY THEIR LIES
Personally I do not expect anything to improve.
The Postal Review Service is a complete waste of space.
It is about time a Royal Mail executive or their CEO makes a surprise visit to the
Isle of Wight to see what exactly is happening with post!
I can only hope that BBC WATCHDOG or the National Newspapers can finally make this Company
listen to Customer Complaints.
I bet I will not even get a SORRY, just a feeble excuse about staffing issues, how much longer can we
keep listening to excuses.
Today 5th December Royal Mail delivered 3 weeks worth of post that they have been holding on to at the i
Isle of Wight sorting office.
I have been in contact with Simon Kelly Royal Mail CEO and The Postal review to see what is going on.”
“Royal Mail has been the worst possible company for some time now. My package was in their warehouse for 2 weeks. one day I received a message that I would receive the parcel, and the next day, my parcel was not on their website again. Now I'm waiting for parcel for weeks again”
