Royal Mail did not process any mail for the last 2 weeks

#1

Hi all,

We are very frustrated as Royal Mail did not process any of our RM48 mail for the last 2 weeks. We receive daily about 50-70 emails and cases opened against us. Customers are very angry and they are asking for refunds or/and leave negative feedbacks. Our business is totally destroyed by RM’s incompetence and negligence. We spent every day hours of investigating and tracking orders, replying on emails but it’s overwhelming at this point. Sales are plummeting and to be honest after 13 years I can say for sure that this Christmas season is the worst we ever had. No idea what to do as RM are so disorganized, we called three different numbers and no one actually knows what they are doing. We are so stressed and depressed at this moment. I don’t know if we can sue them over this as our business is done now. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. :hearts:

#2

Has your post been flagged - red xd ?
If they find discrepancies, they hold it until you agree to release it with whichever fines etc accepted

Do you have an account manager

#3

I forgot to say, I am so sorry for you - you must be heartbroken…

Are you buying shipping through Amazon? I wouldn’t be doing any RM shipping without buying through Amazon for the added protection.

#4

Yes, we have an account manager but he is useless as a chocolate teapot. It took him 2 months to send an offer for Tracked 24 and 48, but it was the wrong offer for us. Still unresolved. He asked me to provide some tracking numbers, so he can check. After 5 min of pointless conversation he told me to call the local sorting office. Then I called and after I explained in details, I was told that they can’t help and I was given a wrong number. Then I had to call another number, but the manager there was on a tea break, so we are still waiting.
We buy shipping from C&D as it shows all the websites in one place and it’s much quicker to print the labels. Our mail is not flagged for sure, otherwise they will call within 1-2 days. We talk about nearly 2 weeks of mail buried somewhere under a huge pile. I wonder if we have an extremely bad luck this Christmas season or others are in the same boat.

#5

Did you dispatch on days before and following any of the strike day(s)?

Also, did you drop any of your orders into depots / sorting office on the actual strike days?

#6

which depot (local and main) do your sacks go into ?

#7

RM 48 mail will get put to the back of the queue from experience of the previous strikes.

We are just biting the bullet and sending EVERYTHING Tracked 24, it may cost us more, but our metrics are so precious that it is worth it.

Darling Amazon have pulled our buy box eligibility and we don’t know why. We have been on Amazon since 2014 and we are down 50% in November and 75% so far this month.

We feel your pain.

#8

Is it ALL your post OVER the last 2 weeks, or is it post from one specific day two weeks ago?

#9

Even we are tracked and we seen parcels on Tuesday 22nd Wednesday 23rd very very limited scans some
Not even into the system. Like a whole load have gone awol. Trying to hold customer off as much as possible

#10

I have just been to the postbox, it was dark and I couldn’t see very well but I tried to post my second class LL and a track 24 and track 48 came out. The post box was completely full. I put the tracked letters back in and went to look for another post box, even the one that have an evening collection (possibly an hour before I was there) was nearly full. Very worrying.

#11

We hear the trade union side of things on the news but we don’t hear the Royal mail side of things. An 8% pay increase sounds reasonable to me after all they are not responsible for the world wide inflation. I rely on a prompt delivery service so I am seriously considering switching from Royal Mail as I am sure thousands of other small businesses are thinking the same. As a result of Trade Union action I am sure thousands of Royal Mail workers will lose their jobs through the bull headed trade union stance.

#12

Many moons ago we use to use post boxes and we bumped into the postman one day and he shouted at us for putting large letter in it… and when he opened it up we saw why. This was what I call a standard UK post box that you see outside a post office or on the high street (not the larger double size ones or parcel ones). Anyway there’s basically a mesh inside to stop the mail falling out the front of the post box when they open the door on the front (makes sense) and the actual opening at the bottom is very very small… so much so it’s not really fit for purpose for large letters… other problem with them is if they get any drinks etc… put in them / set of fire, which has happened a few times near us.

#13

Where else can we post LL? They closed down our post office, the office at the delivery office is only open 3 hours in the morning. According to the map online that is the priority box where you are supposed to post your tracked 24 and 48 as well.

#14

Read the full Offer plus the strike is not just about pay it is the new work and conditions they want to bring in which means even with out the strikes they wanted to get rid of ten thousand workers so look beyond the 8 per cent before you post half the story

#15

I’m with you, turning everything off this week we are locked into royal mail as well because of the amount of LL we send. Been a disastrous holiday season which I rely on.
Just to those saying its not just about the money I get it but that doesnt help us small businesses at the moment and we can only look at it from our point of view as its our businesses that are at risk.
I have the upmost respect for our postmen and ours go out there way to help us but it doesnt change the fact that these strikes at this time of year have had more impact on businesses like ours. I dont think the bosses at the top of royal mail will be worrying to much about their bank balances.
Hope you all get through it, not sure we will.

#16

We also sell LEGO and are down similar numbers to you for the last few months. I think maybe the Covid boom from the last 2 years is over and we have returned back to a normal level of sales.

#17

the dreaded redX

after 13 years dealing with RM I’m sure the OP knows about the redX? @Mtone

:slight_smile:

#18

Number of customers that come to me 10 days after postage saying item not received they might be worrying about this years bonuses, 100+ claims, and only the truthfulness of the customer who end up receiving them to fall back on, they’ll be out of pocket quite a lot when I get round to putting these through

#19

Were majorly affected by the strikes as well but I’m with the workers on this one…
If it wasn’t causing a disruption, it wouldn’t have an impact.
Maybe the bosses need to pull their fingers out and so something about it. It’s not like they’ve suddenly started striking. It has been going on for months!

#20

As @mark_matthews rightly points out, you only post half the story.

This is why a resolution is required, which will require compromise from both sides, so that agreements can be put in place for the future. It’s not all about money. The nurses are striking too…and theirs IS all about money, ie 15% pay claim, cos in real terms, they are worse off than they were 10 years ago. Are you applying the same “bull headed trade union stance” towards the RCN?

Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention that these same RM staff were the ones that kept yours, mine and thousands of other businesses going during the pandemic. They worked, they delivered all the testing kits, they kept the mail going. Some folk have short memories.