Recorded Parcels and Failed Delivery

[lazdyde]

I send a lot of packets. If I ask for proof of postage (a receipt) the girl just scribbles the house number and post code onto the receipt and chucks the packet into a sack. As far as I can remember, it's just the same for recordeds. Never seen one scanned.

Ah, we've been all computerised at the local counters. The address isn't scanned just typed in and the barcode label is scanned so we get a printout with all the details, it usually only takes about 30 seconds a packet.

[lazdyde]

Do you send a lot of parcels lazdyde...you seem well informed.
What has been your overall experience of using Royal Mail?...this one parcel aside.

My wife sends more than I do (she's a bit of an eBay junkie ;) ) but we've ended up finding out a lot over the last week trying to understand the the response from customer services.

In general we're ambivalent about Royal Mail, we've had some fantastic service but we've also had problems with misdirected mail, both being delivered here and our mail ending up at the wrong house. Added to that it took years (literally) of complaints and problems to get the local depot to open at a time when the average worker could collect parcels. 7am till 2pm weekdays really causes problems for shift workers.

That said things have improved and new opening hours have made it much easier to get to the depot when it's open.

Unfortnately this latest problem is a serious one and we've already moved to DHL for one higher value package and I believe we'll be using them more in the future as the price is competitive, the tracking is better and the level of accountability, at least on the surface, is much better.

Thanks for your interest,

Larry

[0151Tom]

All recorded items are scanned, and there tracking number is on every receipt... the post office cannot process a recorded parcel without scanning the barcode (if it goes recorded!!)

[NewPostieUK]

Yes, the barcode is scanned, not the address. Which gets us back to the lady (or gent) reading the address and recognising if it's a dud or not. At my Post office the lady would just type "21 Credibility Steet, Nowhereville, ABC 123" if thats what it said, and it wouldn't register with her that it's not a correct address.

[lazdyde]

Yes, the barcode is scanned, not the address. Which gets us back to the lady (or gent) reading the address and recognising if it's a dud or not. At my Post office the lady would just type "21 Credibility Steet, Nowhereville, ABC 123" if thats what it said, and it wouldn't register with her that it's not a correct address.

According to the person behind the counter if the postcode isn't valid the system won't take it. As I mentioned before it only ensures the street exists but it should prevent someone putting in a completely incorect address.

In this case I assume the building or unit number aren't real but at least it filters out the more blatant mistakes without the poor operator having to be an expert on valid UK addresses. Surprisingly for this day and age it's a case of technology actually making a job easier :)

[Stormproof]

I've not read all this thread but why is it RM's fault if someone has supplied you with the incorrect address? I think your parcel will be returned to you, its probably got caught up in an office revision somewhere

[bag69]

Hope yoy have better luck with DHL. Although there is a good chance that they will actually give it to RM to deliver!

[lazdyde]

I've not read all this thread but why is it RM's fault if someone has supplied you with the incorrect address? I think your parcel will be returned to you, its probably got caught up in an office revision somewhere

Hi,

Thanks for your comment. I actually agree that the bad address is nothing to do with RM, I'm sorry if i gave the impression that I blamed them in the original message, as you might imagine I'm a little distressed about the whole situation and as a result I'm not being clear.

My problem is that we did provide a valid return address and the parcel hasn't been returned despite being in the system for about a month and RM won't take responsibility for it being missing. If they had delivered it to the wrong address or returned it then we would not be having this conversation

Hopefully you're right and it will turn up but customer services have been exceptionally unhelpful, just falling back to the T&Cs which are legally unenforceable since there is no reasonable way we could have known the address was invalid and even if there was there is still no justifiable reason why they could not return it if the address was wrong.

Thanks,

Larry

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

okay been reading this thread and it seems the fact it had wrong address on it is actually a non issue,

what should have happened when the packet got to the delivery office is that it should have been scanned on the rgmmt guns as a failed delivery with reason being no such address, then it should have been allocated to return to sender or return to rlb (where stuff goes if no address) neither of these three scans have taken place so it has not been handled correctly by the delivery office

as for timescales at most the item should have sat in the delivery office for 7 days incase someone popped by to claim it(it would have at ours) and then been returened to sender

but what you should point out to customer services is that it has not been scanned as a failed delivery therefore it is "lost" for all intents and purposes, even if it was delivered to the wrong address it should be scanned as such and a signature availible if that was the case then you would have no come back, but it hasnt

[mazza111]

Sorry to state the obvious. Have you tried contacting the delivery office where the item has been scanned to see if they still have it there?

[not me]

Yes, the barcode is scanned, not the address. Which gets us back to the lady (or gent) reading the address and recognising if it's a dud or not. At my Post office the lady would just type "21 Credibility Steet, Nowhereville, ABC 123" if thats what it said, and it wouldn't register with her that it's not a correct address.

According to the person behind the counter if the postcode isn't valid the system won't take it. As I mentioned before it only ensures the street exists but it should prevent someone putting in a completely incorect address.

In this case I assume the building or unit number aren't real but at least it filters out the more blatant mistakes without the poor operator having to be an expert on valid UK addresses. Surprisingly for this day and age it's a case of technology actually making a job easier :)

I seem to recall they cut back on address checking in the PO's as it was taking too long
think they only do it for SD's now (could be wrong though)

[Pat Ostman]

NewPostieUK/custard

I have had recorded delivery packages scanned and on the receipt it tells you the exact postcode you sent the item to. Although it's area dependent I guess, lazdyde is correct.