Lost in the mail since 3rd October

[Blueday]

My son is a student at Sheffield Hallam Uni. He and his mate bought tickets for a Greenday Concert at Wembly which is scheduled to take place on 1st November, i.e. this coming Friday night. They arrived in good time to our house in Durham, but my wife thought since it was around 5 weeks to the concert she would just pop them in the post to him using First Class recorded delivery. She thought she was doing the right thing here and since it was recorded delivery and since it could be tracked, she had no concerns for them getting lost in the post. We realise now that this was a BIG mistake.

With 2 weeks to go to the concert there was still no sign of the tickets. Even though my wife put the sender's address on the back of the envelope, we have not receieved them at our address either. Consequently, at great expense to my wife and I, we had to buy 2 new tickets over ebay to replace the ones that the Royal Mail lost.

Now Royal Mail's response is, "You shouln't have sent anything of value by recorded first class"...... and so,,, "you're not even eligible to collect the £39 compensation that would normally be payable for lost recorded first class mail." Well thanks a lot for that guys!!

The manager of my village post office wouldn't contribute towards compensation, saying that they always inform customers that valuables should not be sent by recorded first class. But, the simple fact is that nobody informed her of this. My wife thought that since my son didn't require to receive the tickets by "next day", it wasn't necessary to pay the extra couple of pounds for Special Nxt Day Delivery. If she had been asked the value of the contents and had been advised of the compensation levels she would definately have chosen Special Next Day Delivery.

It seems that we have been let down by our local post office and the Royal Mail system in general, because either our tickets are sitting in a bag in a sorting office, or perhaps they're in someone elses hands by now?? But not in the rightful owners hands.

I for one will look at using UPS, DHL, Fred Smith's deliveries next time... I am extremely disappointed with Royail Mail and have no sympathy for your arguments right now. Has anyone told you that we're in a deep, deep recession where thousands of households have lost their incomes and don't even have pay and conditions to argue over. I personally have lost around 25% of my salary and am currently working a 4 day week. I understand the need for this as the markets that my company serves are in deep decline, similar to those that Royal Mail serves. I honestly think you've chosen the wrong time to fight your battle and hurting your customers as you are does nothing to serve your cause.

You're providing the government with the perfect argument for privitization. Congratulations!

[mandelsons_toenail]

recorded delivery cannot be tracked, its a waste of time and merely proves its been received at the other end

You should have sent it via special delivery which is guaranteed next day by 1pm

[Blueday]

recorded delivery cannot be tracked, its a waste of time and merely proves its been received at the other end

You should have sent it via special delivery which is guaranteed next day by 1pm

My wife and I "know what we SHOULD have done", after the event! Everyone at the Post Office and at "Customer Services" were quick to point out the error of our ways AFTER the mail was lost.

[hairyjack]

"I for one will look at using UPS, DHL, Fred Smith's deliveries next time" I think you will be a little surprised at the price you will pay for these companys services. You should of asked your post office which service to use before you sent the item. Theres no need to take it out on us when it was your mistake.

[Blueday]

"I for one will look at using UPS, DHL, Fred Smith's deliveries next time" I think you will be a little surprised at the price you will pay for these companys services. You should of asked your post office which service to use before you sent the item. Theres no need to take it out on us when it was your mistake.

Firstly, when I told friends and coleagues what had happened, almost everyone told me that they thought that First Class Recorded delivery was the correct means of posting. I mean, you even get a tracking number! There were no signs in the Post Office to advise customers and the lady behind the counter didn't advise my wife of the the service options available to her.

But that aside, answer me this, if you can........ Why is it that 26 days have now passed by and the letter is neither delivered to my son's address or returned to sender's address? Blaming Royal Mail for that in itself is surely justified, is it not?!

Incidentally, you look on ebay and see how many peple use Recorded First Class as their delivery method. Blaming the customer is not a valid excuse. Royal Mail need to educate customers of their services and the pro's and con's of using each.

[mandelsons_toenail]

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/cont ... tId=500201" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Recorded Signed For™

4. Can I send valuable items (e.g. cash, jewellery, tickets & vouchers) by Recorded Signed For™?
No, valuable items should be sent using our Special Delivery™ 9.00am service or Special Delivery™ Next Day.

oh look tickets.

If you bothered to read up you would see

[Blueday]

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/cont ... tId=500201

4. Can I send valuable items (e.g. cash, jewellery, tickets & vouchers) by Recorded Signed For™?
No, valuable items should be sent using our Special Delivery™ 9.00am service or Special Delivery™ Next Day.

oh look tickets.

If you bothered to read up you would see

Read the part above where I mention good advice after the fact. A little good old fashioned customer service would have prevented this. Myself and my wife are comfortable with using the internet, but my 80 year old parent aren't. What if it had been them posting these tickets? Would you have told them they should have checked the web portal? Come on mate, get real.

But go on,,,, answer my question if you can (and obviously you can't).... Why is it that after 26 days, the letter has neither been delivered to my son or returned to sender??? I can't believe that we won't even get the postage fee back, never mind compensation!

26 days late, and you don't even mention that bit in your reply. Your attitude is of someone that just couln't care less and I guess that is one of Royal Mail's problems.

[concerned]

But go on,,,, answer my question if you can (and obviously you can't).... Why is it that after 26 days, the letter has neither been delivered to my son or returned to sender??? I can't believe that we won't even get the postage fee back, never mind compensation!

26 days late, and you don't even mention that bit in your reply. Your attitude is of someone that just couln't care less and I guess that is one of Royal Mail's problems.[/quote]

Without wanting to sound harsh or rude, Recorded Delivery does not mean it is treated any differently than any other letter apart from the fact it is tracked. So therefore, because in a sense it is 'normal' mail it is probably held up in the backlog somewhere. Which according to top management has nearly been cleared....but obviously that is a lie.

[Blueday]

But go on,,,, answer my question if you can (and obviously you can't).... Why is it that after 26 days, the letter has neither been delivered to my son or returned to sender??? I can't believe that we won't even get the postage fee back, never mind compensation!

26 days late, and you don't even mention that bit in your reply. Your attitude is of someone that just couln't care less and I guess that is one of Royal Mail's problems.

Without wanting to sound harsh or rude, Recorded Delivery does not mean it is treated any differently than any other letter apart from the fact it is tracked. So therefore, because in a sense it is 'normal' mail it is probably held up in the backlog somewhere. Which according to top management has nearly been cleared....but obviously that is a lie.[/quote]

Hi. Thanks for your helpful response. I think you are probably right, it probably will eventually arrive either at my son's place or back home. Trouble is, the concert is this coming Friday night, and after that the tickets, which he paid £175 for, will be worthless. I've sugested that he frames them as a momento.

Thanks again for the friendly reply. You could teach some of your colleagues on this forum a lesson or two, eh scabby toenail, or however it is you think of yourself

[rmdriver]

"Why is it that after 26 days, the letter has neither been delivered to my son or returned to sender???"


Unfortunately coming onto a postal workers chat forum and asking where one of millions of letters is and asking us to give you an honest answer is unrealistic. You should vent your anger towards Royal Mail.

[concerned]

Hi. Thanks for your helpful response. I think you are probably right, it probably will eventually arrive either at my son's place or back home. Trouble is, the concert is this coming Friday night, and after that the tickets, which he paid £175 for, will be worthless. I've sugested that he frames them as a momento.

Thanks again for the friendly reply. You could teach some of your colleagues on this forum a lesson or two, eh scabby toenail, or however it is you think of yourself

I was actually on the committee to try and stop tickets being posted as it harms the music industry and gives opportuniy for over inflated tout prices and fakes. This is another example of fans losing out. They should do it so cardholders have to be present at the gig or id brought or something. If you brought it from ticketmaster, seetickets etc it really is worth giving them a ring. They must be aware of the situation and see if its possible for your son to bring id or something. If you bought them online it may be better as you should have a receipt number? In fact you should have a receipt or confirmation number anyway. Ring them

[hairyjack]

[neilf]

I don't know about Wembley, but I had a problem with non-delivery of tickets for a concert at the O2 last year.

I phoned them up and just had duplicates reprinted at the box office for me to collect, free of charge.

Whilst this isn't strictly relevant to your problems with delayed post, it surely would be a much cheaper solution.

You mention the fact that a "bit of customer service could have prevented this" - I would not expect to be asked every time I wanted to send a letter or packet, what the contents were. In fact, I have never been asked.

With the greatest respect, I don't think it's a case of anyone not caring, I think it's a case of you not bothering to spend two minutes checking how to send such valuable items so they arrive in good time, notwithstanding the strike action.

Just my tuppence worth as a fellow customer and Royal Mail user :)

[giveemenoughrope]

Interesting question though. Just exactly what does happen to all those "lost" items. If a letter or packet is securely packaged and correctly addressed and they are never delivered where do they go?

Anyone want to highlight some general scenarios? Do the machines tear them to pieces, do the posties drop them down the drain, do they get run over by a van. Seriously why are so many items permanently "lost".

[clashcityrocker]

Interesting question though. Just exactly what does happen to all those "lost" items. If a letter or packet is securely packaged and correctly addressed and they are never delivered where do they go?

Anyone want to highlight some general scenarios? Do the machines tear them to pieces, do the posties drop them down the drain, do they get run over by a van. Seriously why are so many items permanently "lost".

Some get stolen.The world is a less than perfect place.
Did you lose any Clash tickets?