How long does it take for post to come back?

[harrylad]

Hi there

I hope someone can help me. I sent my passport and a visa application form to a travel agents by recorded delivery on the 25th of August. I only just checked the status of the delivery yesterday and it states "We have tried to deliver your item from our ACTON Delivery Office before 13:34 on 27/08/11 and we have left a while you were out card."
I rang the travel agents today to see why they didn't pick up the letter they said they didn't receive a card. As it has been over a week I can't arrange re-delivery either. Is there anyway I can check with the ACTON delivery office if they still have it?

Foolishly I don't think I put a return address on it (never again!) so if it isn't at the office I assume it will get sent to the Belfast office. It has my name and address clearly inside the envelope so if they do open it how long would it take to get back to me, as if it will take very long then i need to apply for a new passport? Lastly would I be able to claim compensation for this?

Any help is appreciated

[SpacePhoenix]

According to the page on RM's site:

We make sure we get a signature from whoever receives the item, but bear in mind that this may not be the person named on the address label. If there's nobody available to sign for the item and the item is not collected or redelivery rearranged within seven calendar days, we return your mail free, with a note saying why we can't deliver it. On the rare occasions that we don’t get a signature for any other reason, we'll refund your money.

Chances are that it's now going through the system as a rts (return to sender) item, as there is no return address on it, like you're aware of (as from your post) it will go to the National Returns Centre in Belfast. I don't know what the turn around tiem is for items there.

As for compenstion, again according to the RM site:

You are entitled to a maximum of the value of 100 First Class stamps in compensation.

Passports, driving licences and travel visas are best sent via special delivery.

[harrylad]

Thanks for your help.

If anyone does know the average turn around time please let me know

[ebbzie]

Hate to be the bearer of bad news mate but i once sent some stuff to the local council which went missing. No idea why it wasnt posted to them (more than enough stamps on it) It ended up going to Belfast and i received it back about 6 months later with no explanation to why it wasnt delivered!
I have a feeling that on the Royal Mail website there is something about dead letters , look it up i think there is an inquiry number you can call (this may speed things up) as i didnt know in my case where it went.HTH

[clashcityrocker]

And to any other customer:
Don't post valuable documents by Recorded Delivery. Passports, Birth Certificates etc should all go Special Delivery.
And ensure that when the documents are being returned by travel agents or embassies that they too use Special Delivery.

Unfortunately the reality is, a passport has a commercial value.
They do get stolen.

[Burge]

Hi there

I hope someone can help me. I sent my passport and a visa application form to a travel agents by recorded delivery on the 25th of August. I only just checked the status of the delivery yesterday and it states "We have tried to deliver your item from our ACTON Delivery Office before 13:34 on 27/08/11 and we have left a while you were out card."
I rang the travel agents today to see why they didn't pick up the letter they said they didn't receive a card. As it has been over a week I can't arrange re-delivery either. Is there anyway I can check with the ACTON delivery office if they still have it?

Foolishly I don't think I put a return address on it (never again!) so if it isn't at the office I assume it will get sent to the Belfast office. It has my name and address clearly inside the envelope so if they do open it how long would it take to get back to me, as if it will take very long then i need to apply for a new passport? Lastly would I be able to claim compensation for this?

Any help is appreciated

Although the recorded delivery item should have been returned to sender (I know you didn't put a return address on, but the process is the same) if the customer hasn't collected after 7 days, you might be lucky in that the callers office at Acton will be behind in returning items to sender. It's definately worth getting in touch with Acton's callers office and asking if they can check and see if the item's still there. You never know your luck.

In future I can only endorse what others have said, if you're sending anything that important or valuable, special deliveries are brilliant, every step of the delivery process is recorded through the delivery chain and you have recourse to compensation if the worst happens. In my experience special delivery items are as secure a product as there is out there.

Recorded delivery items aren't worth the extra cost at all. The only time they are recorded on the system is after the customer's already recieved the item or after a delivery has been attempted. Even then recorded items are only held for 7 days, whereas Special delivery items (and standard postage items too) are held for 3 weeks.