Yet again, I have fallen victim to this scam, which will no doubt befall thousands of other people today.
It was a low value item (rear Mazda badge for a fiver) which I need sharpish, and as I have to take today off work anyway, I paid the £7.45 for "Guaranteed next day delivery" i.e. today.
It is a small parcel, so it would have fitted through the letter box, and just in case it doesn't, there's a big sign at the side of our front porch that is not visible from the pavement saying "Please leave parcels here", which other delivery services take literally.
Not the fucking Royal Mail, oh no, they wait until your back is turned for two seconds, sprint up to the front door and instead of knocking or ringing, shove a card through saying "Sorry we missed you, hope you don't mind taking another hour off tomorrow morning to drive to the sorting office and pick it up yourself!"
Apparently they wanted me to sign for it. So this is the Trade Misdescription from Hell. I didn't pay extra to be messed about like this, I paid extra for "next day delivery", which in the ordinary meaning of the words means, er, today.
If you compare the Royal Mail's shitty behaviour with the competing private delivery companies who apply common sense, you can only assume this arrogance is a hangover from the days when there was a state monopoly on parcel delivery and they could pretty much do what they wanted.
They did this to our neighbours recently. Even more bizarrely, their postcard said that the parcel was at house number 99. There is no house number 99 on our road.
Put On Your Big Boy Pants, Maybe?
3 hours ago
9 comments:
I had one just before Christmas where they left it with a neighbor, but didn't say which one. I asked at a few nearby houses with no luck.
It was a food hamper from my grandparents for Christmas.
I understood that the only guaranteed next day delivery is Special Delivery which does require a signature on delivery because people use it to send valuables because it offers extra insurance.
I don't know if the others are any better - http://viz.co.uk/2015/04/09/waiting-in-for-a-fucking-parcel/
TBH, that is beyond shitty. Sorry to hear that.
RT, well they could make it a bit clearer or give you the option of "just leave it next to the door" or somtehing. The alternative is outlined in the article that Matt links to. Which gets us nowhere.
M, yes, I was reminded of that.
Had something similar happen to me a couple of years back but I opened the front door to go have smoke just as the Postie was pushing the card through. I said that I knew for a fact he hadn't knocked and asked what was going on. I probably wasn't quite that polite and he had the good grace to apologise and look sheepish as he explained some colleagues were off sick and he had to cover 3 rounds so he was saving time by not knocking nor lugging around his usual ton of Amazons. He then offered to bring my packet after he finished that afternoon, which he did and for that I forgave him his trespass against me.
I ran, until the plebis-cide, what is euphemistically termed a 'micro' online business at the time and prided myself on sending out customers their purchases the same day, often the same hour as I received their order. Started off using RM "Signed For" but that led to exactly these sorts of situations where people who , quite unreasonably, had those J.O.B thingys and refused to take the day off, ended up having to get up early Saturday and drive to the sorting office. So I switched to 'normal' 1st Class and give them their due, 99% it arrived next day-even the Scottish Islands. Only exception to NextDay Delivery was, of course , if I sent something to someone who lived less than 20 miles from me. It once took longer for a parcel to get to the next village along than one posted at the same time to Germany.
But all in all, as much as I dislike Royal Mail, for 'small packets' they can't be beat for the price. Worst were 'Hernia-mes', followed by OOPS.
RM is the one I have most grief from too.
"RM Tracked 24" is the service that needs to be used if you don't want the recipient to have to sign. But it's only available to RM business account holders.
Good job RM is no longer public sector. Now we can get the benefits of real rentseeking expertise.
Jk, ta for examples.
JH, ta.
C, I'm not a business customer.
DBC, you have that 180 degrees arse about face. The competing ones give the best service.
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