talkmagic.co.uk

The Post Office really is in a right mess!

Be aware of the following Scenario which is 100% TRUE!

A good customer of mine sends me cash as payment for some props, he sends the cash by Special Delivery (GUARANTEED before 1pm) it's now 1.30 & my customer calls me to check that I have received the cash, to which I respond that I haven't. My customer says that he will sort it out & get back to me, which he does................

My customer calls me back & tells me that he phoned the number to check the status of the delivery, & the automated voice is telling him that it has been delivered!

I explain that it most definitely hasn't been delivered, & that I open my business at 8am, & have been here all the time.

I get the tracking number off him, & phone up myself to check the status (I get paranoid over these situations, because I hate to think that the customer may question my honesty) Anyway I actually managed to speak to a human being, a young lady down in Plymouth if I recall correctly. It is then confirmed that the Special Delivery, was delivered & signed for between 8am & 10am, I argue with the lady, that whatever her computer screen is telling her, it is WRONG, because I had been in from just before 8am straight through, (it is now 2.15pm incidentally) The lady keeps repeating that her system is telling her that I have received it & signed for it, I'm telling her to "Change the system then, because it's bloody wrong!" when suddenly the door opens & the Postman walks in with a special delivery envelope!!

I pass the phone over to the Postman, & tell him to talk to the girl, & tell her that he has only NOW turned up to deliver the Special Delivery, so her system was WRONG!!!!

I have since discovered, that the procedure (if my info is correct) is that when the delivery has been made, & the signature has been taken, when the post person goes back to the sorting office, he has to scan the card through which confirms the delivery (this should be done AFTER the delivery has been made) HOWEVER some postman scan the card when they SET OFF to save time when they finish their shift!!!! BEFORE they have attempted to make the delivery!

The problem with the world today is complete LAZINESS, people get paid, if they do the job properly or not, so they don't care.

I do care very much, & WOULDN'T get paid, if I didn't do my job properly, I get so mad at the incompetence of others.

So the Post Office Tracking System is not actually giving out accurate information, because of the incompetence of SOME of it's staff (sack em!)

I could go on & on about problems with the Post Office, but time prevents me from doing so.
If only all my customers could call in & pick up their purchases!!

(Cheaper for me too, as I pay all the postage!!)

Best Wishes

Mike Danata

I'm feeling quite positive today about the post service as I received two separate orders today which had only been dispatched yesterday. One of them wasn't even next day delivery. I've now got a lota pot to play with rather than working on the applications that I should get on with

Jobasha wrote:I'm feeling quite positive today about the post service as I received two separate orders today which had only been dispatched yesterday. One of them wasn't even next day delivery. I've now got a lota pot to play with rather than working on the applications that I should get on with

Pot? You can get it mail order? Do the Dibbles know?

It was well packaged with plenty of newspaper in a large box so the dogs wouldn't smell it.

After reading the preceding posts, North America's postal system doesn't seem all that bad.

After all, what's a few shootings and homicides mean, after all?

You know, I ordered some t-shirts last week and they were despatched last Friday. They've not arrived, but a review copy of Norton 360, also posted on Friday, has

I would like to add to this cathartic thread by sticking my boot in...

Why oh why (oh why oh why oh wy...) is there not some sort of system in place for the millions of packages that seem to disappear into some kind of ether for a fortnight? This whole business with the little red cards is just ridiculous.

How hard would it be for a postie to be given a sheet of double barcode stickers? If the person isn't in (which they probably are ), stick one on the red card, one on the parcel - done. Then when it reaches the depot - bleep - they know they've got your parcel, and they should know where it is. We've had barcode technology for, ooh, quite a while now. I know they use barcodes on their £5 special delivery, but really, come on - is it that expensive and high end? You don't get shops charging you extra to use their "speedy barcode scanner service" rather than add everything up on a scrap of bl**dy paper...

Instead, you get situations like this:
I get a red card on a thursday telling me I have an undelivered parcel, pick it up in 48 hours (yes, 48 hours. Two whole days. It'd actually be quicker for the postman to re-send the bugg3r first class... ). Go on saturday - nothing. That's my one morning off to have a long lie in, shafted for no reason.

So I phone the depot early on monday morning (answerphone, obviously) asking them about the parcel and get phone call later that morning (from a real person!) telling me yes, they have my parcel. "Great" I say, "I'll pick it up tomorrow." "That's fine" they say.

Tuesday morning, I get up early, queue up, hand in my card... "no, it's not here." Are you sure? Could you check again? "No, it's not here." Well, I got a phonecall yesterday morning from a lady who answered my message, telling me it was here and I should pick it up today.

The guy goes away for 5 minutes and instead of looking for my parcel, finds someone to corroborate with him. He returns and tells me that the woman who answers the messages is saying she doesn't remember getting my message or phoning me back! He is actually either calling me a liar, or suggesting that some female criminal is breaking into their premises and answering their messages for them! I point these two options out to him and what I think of them.

Finally, I give it one more shot, and by this time the little room is packed out with disgruntled customers: "could you check again please. I really think it's here."

He goes away, a few minutes later returning with the parcel. My look says it all.

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My question is, if every other public service - the buses, the police, the NHS... be they totally public, privatised, comissioned - any combination of publically or privately funded - they have some kind of targets and discipline system in place. The Royal Mail just seems to put up posters everywhere saying "we love our staff, don't you dare shout at them" - well, if everyone was doing their bl**dy job properly and providing a decent service, I wouldn't want to in the first place...

I'm pretty sure it's not usually the actual postie's fault (except the stealth ninja "red card"-ing they do, and the cutting corners as revealed by Mike), but the same staff have been at my local depot for years, and I bet not one of my complaints have filtered down to them or given them any reason to feel in the least bit worried.

There's a recession on. Plenty of people are unemployed. All other services and employers are operating on a "if you can't pull your socks up, we'll find someone who can" basis, and yet if you complain to the Royal Mail you get "sorry about that... we'll be doing, er, absolutely ****-all about it."

Farlsborough writes, in part, ' . . . if you can't pull your socks up, we'll find someone who can. . .'

I agree 100 per cent -- but what about the lead-swinging unions and their abominable contracts!

Peter, I can't believe it... you've just turned me into a neo-conservative



...

Farlsborough wrote:Peter, I can't believe it... you've just turned me into a neo-conservative

Tee hee. I can just see you as in a couple of decades as a rheumy GP in a pinstriped suit, half moon glasses and bow tie telling, fat poor people to get out there and walk off misdiagnosed DVTs so you can get on and make some real money injecting fat rich people in the face with fish poison.

Postman Pat wrote:Is someone talking about me?

Couldn't resist this one...



...I do apologise, but at least you know what post-modernism is now!

Reminds me of Itchy and Scratchy.

There are many reasons why the service is rubbish these days. In my opinion, much of it is to do with the EU and the government.

Those wacky bureaucrats want every service to be up for grabs, because competition benefits consumers, right? The problem is that a nation's postal service (well, ours, anyway) can provide door-to-door deliveries anywhere in the country. Poor little competitors cannot offer this coverage.

Royal Mail has to deliver their rivals' mail for a pittance; they can't even charge a fair fee.

Now, in the real world, if you were to try and compete with Coca Cola and Pepsi, would they have to share their recipes with you, and offer to let you supply at bars and restaurants where they have contracts, at cost (or below) because you're not able to compete with their infrastructure?

Also, Royal Mail has its hands tied over raising prices. This is good in the short term, but as I see it, the service gets eroded, then we're told that it isn't making enough money (because it's effectively subsidising competitors), so it has to be sold off.

Oh, and I believe that the government could have opted out of the privatisation of the R.M. by declaring it vital to the nation, but they didn't.

So, we get a rubbish service, because they have to deliver business mail first, with a demoralised and/or cheap workforce, solely so a few courier companies can make more money (oh, and so the government can flog off what's left).

But I might be wrong.

There are management mistakes too, of course, but a lot of this nonsense is coming from the very top.

Hrumph. I ordered a nice shiny new DVD player (all the formats, none of the price) from Amazon yesterday morning (7th) on the proviso that if I ordered it within the hour, it'd be here by now (8th). However, checking the bloody confirmation email this morning reveals: "Delivery estimate: 9 April 2009 - 14 April 2009"!!!!

I genuinely feel like I've been conned.