BLOODY Royal Mail!

[PR19_Kit]

I've just had my THIRD altercation with the Royal Mail here in UK this year.  

I sent a fairly large parcel up to JayBee this week containing an Airfix VC10 tanker for one of his projects and the two BAE drone models given to me by my late friend Robin Hill, as mentioned on here before. They were all well packed with lots of collapsible paper around them and in a seriously sturdy box.

JayBee got back to me to say it had arrived but that it was damaged and been re-packed inside a Royal Mail plastic bag!

Here's the pics of the damaged parcel.



The BAe models were intended for TSRJoe as he was involved in the project, and one of them had its tip fin broken off, as below. It seems repairable as it broke on the joint line, but the point is, what the devil were they doing playing football with it en route to Scotland??  



I decided to take it up with the Royal Mail/Post Office, and that was half the problem. The two organisations try and have you believe that they are two totally separate companies, whereas one can't exist without the other in reality, and even though they are now private companies, they take cover under a false umbrella by trying to make the general public think they are 'official'.

I went down to the Post Office from which I sent the parcel armed with the photos of the damage and my proof of posting, but oh no, it wasn't THEIR responsibility, it was Royal Mail's  and I needed to go to the local Sorting Office some 2 miles away! WHAT a surprise! So I went off down there only to be told it wasn't anything to do with them either! I had to take it up with the nearest Main Sorting Office, which is in Bristol some 35 miles away!!!!

The alternative was to contact their Customer Services and he gave me a phone number which turned out to have been superseded by a new number. I called that one and no less than FIVE menus later I was told via a recorded message that I should make my claim for damages with a form which I could get from my local Post Office   or via their web site! Naturally I went back to the Post Office breathing fire and smoke to get the form, which took them some time to find.

Having gone through the form, 2 whole sides of A4 mind you (!) it seems they require me to supply them with the damaged item for examination before they'll consider any compensation!!!!!!

How am I supposed to do that, it's in SCOTLAND for crying out loud! Do they seriously suppose JayBee is going to post it back to me for their sake, using their own diabolical service? They must be mad! And all this lot, travelling around, phoning etc. is at MY cost and it's wholly THEIR fault!!!!

God help them on Monday morning because they are going to get one HELL of a phone call.  

And I don't apologise one bit for this rant, those prats deserve every bit of it.

[JayBee]

Oh dear, what have I started.

Here are the text contents of the two e-mails. Me to Kit and Kit to me.

Hi Kit,

The parcel has arrived and it looked like it had been in the wars. One side was bashed and the bottom ( I know it was the bottom as the other end had TOP written on it). It actually arrived inside a great big Post Office poly bag.
Slight damage, but nothing serious.
The model for Joe that has the winglets, one of them was broken off, but it looks like it had in fact just failed along the original glue seam, and the bit is there. I will leave it to joe to fix.


Thanks for that Jim, I've made a file of the photos and I'll be down at the Post Office in the morning, breathing fire and smoke! Considering the exorbitant prices they charge they really should take more care!


Fire and Smoke? I think it has been more like a pre-emptive nuclear strike! 

Jim

[The Rat]

Kit, if you need an alibi after 'speaking' with them, we were at a hockey game in Toronto. 

[zenrat]

A wise man (someone here's Father I believe) once said "If you can't drop kick it down a flight of stairs then you haven't wrapped it properly".
And having worked in the delivery centre where parcels are sorted I can agree with this.  Some of the "people" handling parcels are ignorant, mentally deficient thugs.  And this time of year they get in the casuals who are worse - students only interested in fast cash who've been up all night partying and take "FRAGILE" to mean "Kick me".
So wrap it well and then wrap it some more.  It's worth paying extra for the weight of the tape and foam if it arrives in the same number of pieces as it left.
Oh, and put it in a waterproof bag and use permanent ink - this time of year there is a lot of wine moving around the system and when they get dropped everything gets wet.

That's my Australia Post PoV and I think we can assume the same applies to Kiwi Post, The Royal Mail and the US Post Office.

Kit - it is an offence to issue threats so make sure you phrase everything as a request or suggestion.

[Army of One]

Bloody hell.......I'm lucky my aid package arrived intact from Kit the other day........and Kit, hopefully you got my envelope ok......

[Runway ? ...]

The company I work for moves a heck of a lot of stuff about and for some stamping on things to make them fit in a smaller space even works for glassware.
For that reason the punter that packs something is logged.
Someone made that box fit.
Some do it as payback for poor wages but there are an awful lot of chimps out there that really ought not to be allowed to breathe.
I hope it's all fixable.

Give them hell.

[Martin H]

having seen the state after arrival of some of the stuff we ship out at work, RM are no worse or better than most of the so called express delivery services running in the UK.

Before heading down to the local post office to vent your spleen, It might be worth seeking a little guidance from your local trading standards office as to what your rights are, and what bits of legislation you can quote at the usually smug idiot hiding behind the counter at the P/O.

[zenrat]

It can work both ways mind.
I've delivered to a customer a drinking glass he bought on e-bay which was "packed" by the simple expedient of wrapping brown paper around it.

And i'm sure we've all received models where the sender just taped the box up, wrote the address on the back and attached stamps.

[Gondor]

Having gone through the form, 2 whole sides of A4 mind you (!) it seems they require me to supply them with the damaged item for examination before they'll consider any compensation!!!!!!

How am I supposed to do that, it's in SCOTLAND for crying out loud! Do they seriously suppose JayBee is going to post it back to me for their sake, using their own diabolical service? They must be mad! And all this lot, travelling around, phoning etc. is at MY cost and it's wholly THEIR fault!!!!

God help them on Monday morning because they are going to get one HELL of a phone call. 

And I don't apologise one bit for this rant, those prats deserve every bit of it.

The purpose of the form is, I hope, for the receiver to complain about the state the parcel has been received in, not the sender which is why they want to see the condition the parcel is in.
I would think that it would be far easier for Jim to complain rather than yourself Kit, even if you get more enjoyment out of it that Jim would, not that I am saying you should not get rather "upset" over the condition it was delivered in.

Gondor

[Captain Canada]

That's a good call Gondor. Shame that it got beat up the way it did, and hope it works out without too much stress !

[PR19_Kit]

Having gone through the form, 2 whole sides of A4 mind you (!) it seems they require me to supply them with the damaged item for examination before they'll consider any compensation!!!!!!

How am I supposed to do that, it's in SCOTLAND for crying out loud! Do they seriously suppose JayBee is going to post it back to me for their sake, using their own diabolical service? They must be mad! And all this lot, travelling around, phoning etc. is at MY cost and it's wholly THEIR fault!!!!

God help them on Monday morning because they are going to get one HELL of a phone call. 

And I don't apologise one bit for this rant, those prats deserve every bit of it.

The purpose of the form is, I hope, for the receiver to complain about the state the parcel has been received in, not the sender which is why they want to see the condition the parcel is in.
I would think that it would be far easier for Jim to complain rather than yourself Kit, even if you get more enjoyment out of it that Jim would, not that I am saying you should not get rather "upset" over the condition it was delivered in.

Gondor

I suspect that real purpose of the form is to be so damn complex that the potential complainant gives up. Like their 'Customer Support' phone line, the 'Make a Complaint' menu item is the very last item on the last possible menu.

A country's postal service should NOT be a commercial organisation, it's far too tempting for 'businessmen' to run it like a normal business, which it isn't.

[rickshaw]

Hear! Hear!  Make that man the Post-Master General!   

[PR19_Kit]

So far not a peep out of RM/PO in response to my email.............

[scooter]

A country's postal service should NOT be a commercial organisation, it's far too tempting for 'businessmen' to run it like a normal business, which it isn't.

Agreed, which is why the US Postal Service's existence is actually codified in the Constitution, but a certain political party wants to destroy it and created a self-fulfilling prophecy with legislation to do so.

[Weaver]

Great arn't they? 

I just sent a sheet of photo-etch (unopened factory package) that I sold on Ebay in an envelope at letter post rates, only to get a message back saying that the envelope, packing list and stiffener card arrived, but not the actual photo-etch. Seems like somebody carefully re-sealed the envelope with only half the contents.

It's not even worth complaining since I know from other ebay sellers that Royal Mail's policy is that where Ebay auctions are concerned, they will only refund what the seller paid for the item, not what they sold it for, and then only if they can produce an individual receipt. So:

a) if you bought a job lot of 100 kits from somebody's stash sale for £200 the lot, sold one on ebay last week and RM lost it, forget it: no receipt, no refund.

b) if you bought a now-collectable kit 20 years ago for £5, sold it on ebay last week for £30, and RM lost it, then even if by some miracle you still have the receipt, all you get back from RM is £5.

Having gone through the form, 2 whole sides of A4 mind you (!) it seems they require me to supply them with the damaged item for examination before they'll consider any compensation!!!!!!

How am I supposed to do that, it's in SCOTLAND for crying out loud! Do they seriously suppose JayBee is going to post it back to me for their sake, using their own diabolical service? They must be mad! And all this lot, travelling around, phoning etc. is at MY cost and it's wholly THEIR fault!!!!

God help them on Monday morning because they are going to get one HELL of a phone call. 

And I don't apologise one bit for this rant, those prats deserve every bit of it.

The purpose of the form is, I hope, for the receiver to complain about the state the parcel has been received in, not the sender which is why they want to see the condition the parcel is in.
I would think that it would be far easier for Jim to complain rather than yourself Kit, even if you get more enjoyment out of it that Jim would, not that I am saying you should not get rather "upset" over the condition it was delivered in.

Gondor

Nope: Kit paid for the postage so he's RM's customer, so only he can make the complaint. That's the way it works for all RM problems.