8/13/2019 Courier Nightmares

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8/13/2019 Courier Nightmares

2/2www.pcpro.co.ukPC PROJULY2013042

A ROYAL MAIL INSIDER ON SORRY WE MISSED YOU CARDS

Courier firms assume we all live in Coronation Street, whereeveryone knows your name and will safely look after your

parcel until you get home.

I had a brand-new mobile phone sent by T-Mobile via Royal Mail.They left a you were out card in the communal area of my block offlats. My neighbour got the card, went to the Royal Mail sorting officeand got the parcel, although the name on the parcel and their proofof ID werent the same. I had to threaten my neighbours with policeand legal action until someone left it in front of my door. Yiannis

I had an Amazon Prime package delivered by DPD last week.Had a confirmation text the night before and selected deliver toneighbour since I knew Id be out and someone would likely bearound. Returned home the following evening to find a large Amazon

box stood on the doorstep, with no attempt made to hide or obscureit at all. I checked the online tracking and found it had been signedfor by A Driver. Neil Harper

Some personalised mugs and calendars I ordered for Christmas wereleft opened under the communal stairs of a block of flats half a milefrom my house. Ryan Thomas

Ive had the Post Office leave both a Kindle (complete with big cluewords such as Amazon Kindle emblazoned on the box) and an iPodon the doorstep. Weve also had some DVDs lef t in this way. Not thatwe found them on our doorstep, but when a neighbour found theripped-open package on a nearby field. Fortunately, the little thugswhod stolen them didnt share our taste in films. Dave Faulkner

Package is with a stranger

LastOctober,OfcomgrantedtheRoya

lMailpermission

toleavepackageswithaneighbourifth

erecipientwasnt

in,allowingittoadoptapracticethat

wasalready

widespreadacrosstherestofthecour

ierindustry.Ifyou

dontwishyourpackagestobeleftwith

aneighbour,the

RoyalMailinsistsyouplaceastickero

nornearyour

letterbox,whichcanbeorderedfromw

ww.pcpro.co.uk/

links/225courier2.Unfortunately,youca

ntstipulate

whichneighbourpackagesshouldbe

leftwith,andthe

postmanisgiventhediscretiontodecid

ewhatconstitutes

aneighbouritisntrestrictedtothe

peopleimmediately

nextdoor.

Whathappensifyourneighbourdama

gesthepackage,

ordecidestofeignignoranceandkeepitforth

emselves?

Ifanyitemsaredeliveredtoaneighbourandare

subsequentlylostordamaged,consum

erswillstillbe

abletomakeacompensationclaimint

henormalway,

theRoyalMail states.Allclaimswill be

investigatedand

assessedunderthenormalprocessesa

ndinlinewiththe

termsandconditionsoftheserviceused

.

Which?arguesthattheretaileristechn

icallyinbreach

ofcontractshouldanypackagecomet

oharmorgomissing

afterbeingleftwithaneighbour,since

itwasntdeliveredto

thestatedaddressunlessyouspecifi

callyagreedtoallow

thecourierfirmtodropthepackageat

anearbyaddress.

CheckyourdeliveryTs&Cscarefully.

At Royal Mail, the sorry we missed youcards are known internally as P739cards. Its fair to say that complaintssurrounding these P739s make up thebiggest proportion of complaints thatthe company receives every year. Thisis only increasing as the postmanspouch changes towards a progressively

parcel-heavy ratio. More parcels equalsmore times that customers will not bein, and a P739 has to be left.

There has been incredible focus bythe company on making sure that theprocess is followed properly. Thisinvolves knocking on the door of thecustomer, waiting and then knockingagain before the P739 is posted. Itscommon to knock first, then startwriting out the card while waitingfor the door to be answered, and thenonly post it once the second knockhas happened and nobody has cometo the door.

As you can imagine, there are plentyof ways to cut corners if the postmanwere so inclined. Parcels could be left atthe delivery office and cards pre-written

with no attempt at deliverybeing made; items that needsigning for could be signed by thepostman and then posted. Theseare big no-nos and are sackableoffences, coming under fraudulentbehaviour and bringing thecompany into disrepute.

The company has never issueda directive to do any of the practicesmentioned in this feature. It wouldbe a disaster if they did we allwork in a unionised environmentand there would be leaks to thepress within hours of such adirective. Not to mention thepostal regulator getting ratherannoyed and deciding to fineup to 10% of turnover.

The absolute best way toput an end to this practice is tocomplain to customer services complaints are followed up,although the customer doesntget to know this.

Our Royal Mail insidersidentity has been withheld.

FEATURE Couriers