talkmagic.co.uk

I thought the point was it offered some kind of tracking capability, so the royal mail would have some notion of a hint of a clue where the **** my parcel is, but apparently not. Apparently it is treated exactly the same as every other parcel, only you have to sign for it, and when it has been signed for it will say this when you use the ridiculously named "track and trace" feature of their website.

What precisely is being either traced or tracked? All they can do is tell me whether or not it's been delivered yet. Well, get ready for this bombshell Royal Mail: I already know whether my parcel has been delivered or not, by virtue of the fact that it hasn't arrived! What I need to know is WHY it hasn't been delivered, and WHERE IT IS NOW

The term is bandied around as if it adds security - "recorded delivery included" - but in fact, the ONLY extra feature it offers over first class is that the person who sent it can see whether or not someone is trying to cheat them out of a refund. But providing you're operating within the miserly low compensation figures (i.e. exactly the same as first class, £39), that wouldn't be a problem anyway. It has no benefit whatsoever as far as I can see for the recipient, only that if you're out you can't receive it, even if it'll fit through your letterbox.

Infuriatingly, this is one time I was "risking it", having bought Coinvexed 2 for a snip from someone on MagicWeek. I went for the "extra security" of Recorded Mail, and now realise that if it doesn't pitch up (it was posted last Monday), I can get just under £40 compensation for it (I paid £20 more than that) and have to rely on the good grace and favour of the seller to refund me the whole amount. So not only could I potentially lose £20 if this guy doesn't do the gentlemanly thing (which I have no reason to doubt at the moment, but still), but I will lose out on really really good deal.

Royal Mail: Get my ****ing parcel to me NOW please

And your claim will be processed by some between jobs temp who's only there to earn his beer money while hunting for a proper job who will hit the wrong button and only refund you 25% of what you're actually due. You'll then ring a call centre staffed by people only one rung above said temp in the career structure but several steps below in social standing who will not put the effort into resolving your query resulting in you getting angry giving up and cutting your losses. True story.

Oh no! recorded delivery is sh*t theres no difference to normal post...what u want is special delivery!

Haha I share your rage Farlsy old bean. When I have to do my syudent finance application, we're made to pay over the odds to have it sent recorded delivery or we won't get our cash.. cruel 'eh!

We had two Recorded Delivery items at home today, none were signed for, they were all shoved through the letterbox with the rest of the 'normal' mail. Never pay extra for Recorded because it doesn't get a delivery signature - the Postman can make a note that it was delivered and that's all there is to it.....

Actually I find recorded delivery useful. The fact that the delivery is recorded is extremely handy. If I issue a Notice and I give the respondent 7 days to respond, well I need to know when that period starts. Also, because the delivery of the item is recorded the respondent can't claim they did not receive the mail.

My experience is that they can confirm when they sent it from the depot but unless you rceive it they don't have a bloody clue where it might be!!!

I recently bought something that was sent via the Royal Mail's Tracked service. This is where Postie himself decides it's been delivered. It's a robbery in transit waiting to happen. The damned thing was down as delivered on the web site but it was not delivered here. I put it down to a thieving neighbour and ordered again. This time, the replacement was down as delivered SEVERAL HOURS before Postie started his round. It couldn't possibly have been delivered and yet there it was... delivered. BIG mistake. The phone conversation with Royal Mail's complaints department went something like:

"There's a thief operating out of the local sorting office, marking tracked parcels as delivered in the hope that after a few weeks they're his. Here's the evidence..." etc.

"Ah. Right. That does seem a bit, um, odd."

"It does indeed. None of this wait 15 days nonsense. You've got a thief to amongst you. What are you doing about it?"

"Well, the security guys at at your sorting office are automatically alerted when two parcels go missing and will begin an investigation today. You'll hear within 48 hours."

At about 3pm, a Postie turned up with BOTH (apparently already delivered) PARCELS! Turns out Mr Freetard had indeed been hoarding parcels until the heat was off to take as his own in the hope that the dismayed would-be recipients would put it down to experience. Not me. You try to rip me off, you just focus my extremely vicious and vindictive attention.

If you're sending something to someone as I sometimes have to return faulty items to amazon its worth asking for a proof of postage then apparently if it goes missing you can get compensation although I've never had anything I sent go missing but you hear all sorts of horror stories,
also I've had tickets I bought from ticketmaster and paid recorded delivery for through the letterbox without asking for a signature and also the postman can leave stuff on your doorstep which can be too tempting for someone walking past to pinch but home delivery network do that as well (don't get me started on them ) but that time I opened the door as he was getting into his van and he shouted back that he'd left it outside the front door

Welcome to the frustration magic dealers experience all the time.

The only comforting thing about this is that the seller in question is quite the gent and has promised to get me another one if this never turns up - I'll be paying for special delivery next time...

Farlsborough wrote:The only comforting thing about this is that the seller in question is quite the gent and has promised to get me another one if this never turns up - I'll be paying for special delivery next time...

It's a pain, but for high value purchases, it makes sense to take the hit and use a courier. When I order from Rapid Electronics, I always use a courier. It's the same guy each time and he arrives at 7:45am on the dot the next morning.