To expect royal mail to be efficient?

jeni I arrived home last week to find that my delivery had been thrown over the back garden gate and had spent the day in a large puddle, I really wish they had left a card. Like you unable to access the website to complain and have had to return very wet cookery book. Grrrr. Can you get someone to collect your parcel for you?

Have to. My driver on thurs?

Not only has Royal Mail become inefficient but they have made it almost impossible to complain.

I can understand why you're angry, jeni. I could cheerfully throttle our post lady. We have two Jack Russells who are friendly but bark when they hear her van. We have assured her they are not allowed out into the garden until she has delivered the mail as she is (probably understandably) nervous of dogs. What gets me though is she is quite happy to get out of her van to walk to the front door and put letters through the box but she refuses to come to the door with a parcel - in case the dogs get her when I open it. .
If we have a parcel, she puts the 'unable to deliver' card through the letterbox, climbs back into her van and toots the horn. I then have twenty seconds to sprint out to her van or she drives off and I have to collect the parcel from the sorting office, six miles away. The card is filled in in advance. I'm often already outside in the summer at 8am - even in this weather but not in the middle of winter when the paths are icy and slippery. I've complained but because we have dogs it's a health and safety issue and there's nothing we can do about it.

Quite!very!

We have no problems with Royal Mail but the ParcelForce man often posts an unable to deliver card at the nearest post-box which gets to us a few days later. He has never been near the house when this happens — can't be bothered to walk up the hill and isn't a good enough driver to get his van up it. Everyone else manages. He's just lazy.

There was some improvement lately when DH complained to the firm he was buying from that their choice of delivery service was crap.

jeni you can leave permanent delivery instructions at your local delivery office so they don't do that to you again, and nominate a neighbour who will accept your parcels. Also, lots of companies like John Lewis and Dorothy Perkins are starting 'Click and Collect' so you can have items delivered to a nearby shop that stays open for longer hours, and you can get them at your leisure. I picked up a small parcel last week from a nearby Spar shop that has joined this arrangement. No busy retail park or multi-story car parks, just parked outside. The post office will find they lose more business with this to compete with.

What a difference to the various couriers who deliver here - they appear to work all hours of the day and night, they are cheerful and courteous and will usually follow instructions to leave parcels in a lidded box I keep near the front door but out of sight from the road.

Remember my neighbour is the old prat next door. He has refused to do so!
The other neighbour is deaf , disabled and decrepit.
The third is never there!

I'm the youngest around at 67?

Comparatively, I'm an infant!

HELP. HELP. CAN ANY BODY PLEEEEEEASE HELP ME?

We have a very helpful sorting/delivery office manager, who gave me his office number after I complained about a card being posted when I was home. He said the post office wants to keep business and be helpful to their customers, so why don't you phone yours and explain you need them to deliver it to you again when you are there, jeni?

My postie knows that I am likely to be at the back of the house when he comes round and suddenly appears at the back door if he has something he can't get through the letter box. If I'm not there and if no signature is needed, he leaves them on the back window sill. Couriers delivering mail orders are generally very efficient and observe instructions to leave items in big green box at back door.

I've tried! I've told them I'm always home on Fridays. BUT!,

The best one, which I've said before, was when a card was put through the door saying ' too big to go through letterbox' we were both in. The doorbell hadn't been rung!
It was a 15kg modified fishermans anchor fot the yacht

jeni
Your post had me in stitches. You seem to be surrounded by people who belong in Midsomer Murders.

Must agree with Merlot that these "unable to deliver cards " are filled in in advance. Very jealous of her two J.R.' s by the way.

Anyhow, unless you can agree with whoever you are buying from that a signature won't be guaranteed on arrival, in which case it can just be left by the front door or whateverI don't know what you can do.

Which reminds me, did you receive your lace scarf?

Yes. It's gorgeous! I'll get a picture when I'm on my cruise with a back dress and post itt!

I agree! This close is like midsommer.
We're all elderley and perhaps (mildly) eccentric!
Gary (Gardner) now does garden for 80+ year old. Also occasionally for angel when git is away cycling!
I think he's also doing a bit for the lady across the road in her 80s who still does building work!
She also holds coffee mornings for Liam Fox. She puts the union flag up outside when he's coming!

We have a lovely postie here - he knows everyone as he too lives in the village. He uses his imagination when we are not in and puts small things in the shed or goes to one of the neighbours. He knows that we all get on with each other.

As to couriers - they all do their best, but their satnavs take them to the worng place - a nearby holiday cottage - so we don't even get the "I tried to deliver" card. Mostly we make a point of explaining the problem when we order things.

I get p****d off with Royal Mail bringing advertising stuff that has to go straight into the recycling! I understand that they need to do this for financial reasons - but we could do without it.

Jeni - is there any way of having a chat with the local RM office and explaining the problems? As someone has said, they need to keep their customers happy now that they are in a competitive market.

If they gave a phone no as they used to, fine!

By the way, as johanna seems to be amused. Would you like a " the strange life of my close " occasional article?

Hope you can get it sorted, jeni.

The cards that annoy me, especially at work, are the ones which say there wasn't enough postage put on the item of mail. The postie used to come into the office and we'd give him the money out of petty cash, but now the only options are to go to collect the letter from the sorting office and pay up, or stick the appropriate amount in stamps on their card and return it, then they'll deliver the item. Twice when I have done that the card has come straight back to the office, with all the stamps franked!

[hmph]

What!????

Yes please jeni - waiting for the first installment

Probably at the w/e

Yes jeni, that would be good.

OK! Watch out for a thread.

Called!

THE CLOSE!

Tonight's exciting episode!

There's a deathly hush in the close tonight!

(every bodies gone to bed)

Well?

What did you expect?