Parcel Force

Hmmmm! not Parcel Force but the usual Postman with me.

Not so much non delivered but I a get weekly letter from my employer sent "1st Class Signed For" since they started doing that some many weeks ago I only had three delivered correctly i.e. actually me signed for it, SWMBO signed for it, a neighbour signed for it.

All the others have had 'signed by neighbour' written on the envelope and Track n Trace show a signed name that is supposedly mine and the given name on the 'who signed' proof on the Track n Trace is my name not the supposed neighbour!!!

This is not a new postie, he has been the regular one for many years so why can he not follow correct protocol and if not in take to the local PO that is just about 1 mile away???

I am getting the point when I think I should report the matter?
 
Orangecroc said:
I had a coffee machine that was signed for and marked as delivered, I contacted Amazon and they despatched a replacement within the hour.
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Amazon are good for stuff like this, had some stuff on order before and the delivery driver left his van running and it got stolen. First I knew about it was an email from Amazon explaining why my parcel wasn't delivered and a replacement had been issued.
 
The bottom line is postmen and couriers are pushed to the edge, so I guess it comes down to "cut corners" or lose the job. This is the result of the customers wanting cheaper and cheaper and cheaper. We can't have service at the same time. Grin and bear it.
 
TLR-330 said:
The bottom line is postmen and couriers are pushed to the edge, so I guess it comes down to "cut corners" or lose the job. This is the result of the customers wanting cheaper and cheaper and cheaper. We can't have service at the same time. Grin and bear it.
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In this case its potentially theft, nothing to do with pressure, just good old dishonesty.

I do agree though services are suffering because of the desire for cheaper and cheaper
 
tijuana taxi said:
In this case its potentially theft, nothing to do with pressure, just good old dishonesty.

I do agree though services are suffering because of the desire for cheaper and cheaper
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I'm sorry, there's a hundred different explanations of what happened here; you can't say 'potentially theft' and then ignore all other possible outcomes, many of which are due to pressure put on employees.

I do wonder if there's an arbitrary target put on the number of items 'expected' to be left at the local PO; from the above it's clear that both Parcelforce and RM seem reluctant to hand over to the PO, which doesn't make much sense, as a customer my favoured fallback would be picking items up from my local PO, I'd like to know why I'm more keen than they are.
 
Phil V said:
I'm sorry, there's a hundred different explanations of what happened here; you can't say 'potentially theft' and then ignore all other possible outcomes, many of which are due to pressure put on employees.

I do wonder if there's an arbitrary target put on the number of items 'expected' to be left at the local PO; from the above it's clear that both Parcelforce and RM seem reluctant to hand over to the PO, which doesn't make much sense, as a customer my favoured fallback would be picking items up from my local PO, I'd like to know why I'm more keen than they are.
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Given this statement by the OP
"Monday I was at a hospital appointment with my youngest when apparently my parcel was delivered and signed by myself"

Yes I can say potentially theft, parcel missing and somebody else signed using the recipients name
 
TLR-330 said:
The bottom line is postmen and couriers are pushed to the edge, so I guess it comes down to "cut corners" or lose the job. This is the result of the customers wanting cheaper and cheaper and cheaper. We can't have service at the same time. Grin and bear it.
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Yup and the consumer is really to blame. It's a race to the bottom to provide the cheapest fastest delivery. Something has to give.

tijuana taxi said:
Given this statement by the OP
"Monday I was at a hospital appointment with my youngest when apparently my parcel was delivered and signed by myself"

Yes I can say potentially theft, parcel missing and somebody else signed using the recipients name
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In my example earlier, turns out the driver wanted to hit his target for the day and ran out of time. He delivered it on the way to the depot the next morning.

While I'm not condoning it, that could be a possible explanation.
 
neil_g said:
In my example earlier, turns out the driver wanted to hit his target for the day and ran out of time. He delivered it on the way to the depot the next morning.

While I'm not condoning it, that could be a possible explanation.
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But he/she didn't otherwise the OP wouldn't be seeking a replacement for her missing goods.
Your theory is less credible than mine given the evidence presented thus far.
 
Box Brownie said:
This is not a new postie, he has been the regular one for many years so why can he not follow correct protocol and if not in take to the local PO that is just about 1 mile away???

I am getting the point when I think I should report the matter?
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Have a word with the postie and tell him you would prefer if he didn't sign for you, he probably thinks he is being helpful by saving
you making arrangements or driving somewhere to collect it.

As far as collecting from a local post office is concerned, this can often be arranged at the same time as an item is ordered,
otherwise anything that can't be delivered is returned to the delivery office, but yes you can phone them and ask for it to be forwarded to a local post office,
although there may be a charge for that. it something you would have to ask the relevant Post Office.

You have to remember that many deliveries, my own included don't go anywhere near Post offices so it would require a time consuming detour
and the P739 form doesn't have an option for it because it is not protocol to do this.

Let's get one thing straight, Royal Mail, Parcel Force and The Post Office are three separate business, many post offices are franchised
so anything extra they do will be charged for
 
Phil V said:
I do wonder if there's an arbitrary target put on the number of items 'expected' to be left at the local PO; from the above it's clear that both Parcelforce and RM seem reluctant to hand over to the PO, which doesn't make much sense, as a customer my favoured fallback would be picking items up from my local PO, I'd like to know why I'm more keen than they are.
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I’ve no idea so just take my comments at face value. But given that Parcelforce couriers are part (iirc) of the “gig economy” they are perhaps penalised for parcels left at the local post office vs “delivered”.

In addition, as most post offices are no longer owned by Royal Mail but are independent businesses, there is probably a charge to Parcel Force and maybe for Royal Mail too for items held at the post office.

Just my (perhaps ill informed) thoughts.
 
Gremlin said:
Let's get one thing straight, Royal Mail, Parcel Force and The Post Office are three separate business, many post offices are franchised
so anything extra they do will be charged for
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Parcelforce is part of the Royal Mail Group so separate in name only.
 
Lot of talk about post offices here but when my RM mail can't be delivered it is returned to the "Delivery Office" for my collection. Maybe I'm lucky that is only a mile down the road.
 
sphexx said:
Lot of talk about post offices here but when my RM mail can't be delivered it is returned to the "Delivery Office" for my collection. Maybe I'm lucky that is only a mile down the road.
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That’s true here too (moderately large town)... but in smaller places where they don’t have a delivery office it IS the post office.
 
Eloise said:
That’s true here too (moderately large town)... but in smaller places where they don’t have a delivery office it IS the post office.
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Not sure about large town, mine has a population of 11000, is that large?
 
sphexx said:
Lot of talk about post offices here but when my RM mail can't be delivered it is returned to the "Delivery Office" for my collection. Maybe I'm lucky that is only a mile down the road.
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But Parcelforce use the PO never the delivery office.

I don't know what to the distinction is for RM but, sometimes they leave things at the PO, but it's usually at the delivery office.
 
Phil V said:
But Parcelforce use the PO never the delivery office.

I don't know what to the distinction is for RM but, sometimes they leave things at the PO, but it's usually at the delivery office.
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Interesting. However I have had very few failed deliveries over the years regardless of the mail/courier service so my sample is probably unrepresentative.
 
Gremlin said:
Have a word with the postie and tell him you would prefer if he didn't sign for you, he probably thinks he is being helpful by saving
you making arrangements or driving somewhere to collect it.
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Fair comment..............but that requires me to see him sometime soon and have a chat. On the very rare occasions I have seen him he is friendly enough so do not see such a chat as an issue, I just have to catch him sometime?

PS It is the fact that he writes on the envelope "Neighbour signed for" when it was not that raises my hackles a tad!
 
Orangecroc said:
That's what the bell is for, just like at a front door at a private residence, ring the bell and someone comes.
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In my experience some people don't know how to ring a doorbell - they resort to tapping on the glass door which doesn't carry very far! Also 2 new houses near me have been built (different sites) without any doorbell or knocker!
 
The only problems I have ever had have been with Amazon's Prime service - wait in all day for a parcel which never arrives (on several occasions) - tracking said it was delivered but never was - had enough of that so simply canceled it.

No problems now with Amazon's deliveries using PO or Parcel Force - and you have to pay for Prime's inferior deliveries!
 
Phil V said:
But Parcelforce use the PO never the delivery office.

I don't know what to the distinction is for RM but, sometimes they leave things at the PO, but it's usually at the delivery office.
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Parcel Force can charge for collection/delivery to an address other then yours
http://www.parcelforce.com/receiving/parcel-delivery

They have central hubs which could be miles away from the delivery address, where as Royal Mail have delivery/sorting offices
in most towns and even some small villages
 
Box Brownie said:
Fair comment..............but that requires me to see him sometime soon and have a chat. On the very rare occasions I have seen him he is friendly enough so do not see such a chat as an issue, I just have to catch him sometime?

PS It is the fact that he writes on the envelope "Neighbour signed for" when it was not that raises my hackles a tad!
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One thing to mention about neighbour. It can mean any house in near vicinity. Across the road, round the corner, a couple doors down etc etc. Also if there is another street with similar name ie Market Street, Market Road, Market Crescent, Market Avenue, it would be worthwhile checking with people there too.
 
For high value parcels, there should only be deliverability to the recipients address. WEX have chosen Parcel Force however DPD for example have a much more robust delivery system which inform recipient of delivery window and is alot more transparent.
 
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Gil Bev said:
For high value parcels, there should only be deliverability to the recipients address. WEX have chosen Parcel Force however DPD for example have a much more robust delivery system which inform recipient of delivery window and is alot more transparent.
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And with DPD you can track the van on its way to you -- sometimes a bit frustrating when you can see he has stopped for lunch just down the road - however I've always found their timing spot on.
 
I was speaking to DPD driver recently he said he regularly has 110 parcels to deliver daily. No excuse for stuff going missing but that's a lot pressure on the drivers
 
sphexx said:
And with DPD you can track the van on its way to you -- sometimes a bit frustrating when you can see he has stopped for lunch just down the road - however I've always found their timing spot on.
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It may be a stop for lunch but sometimes they actually wait to hand over the parcel as they must not get it signed before the due time for delivery ... so they meet the slot for the delivery exactly as expected. I have seen the driver waiting for some 10-15 minutes to hand over a parcel.
 
I've had this before with parcelfarce. When showed the signature it was almost a tick and nothing like a signature.
 
TLR-330 said:
It may be a stop for lunch but sometimes they actually wait to hand over the parcel as they must not get it signed before the due time for delivery ... so they meet the slot for the delivery exactly as expected. I have seen the driver waiting for some 10-15 minutes to hand over a parcel.
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Yes, but in my case the van is shown just up the road in a lay-by with a sandwich van, it's an A road with no houses nearby ;-)
 
sphexx said:
Yes, but in my case the van is shown just up the road in a lay-by with a sandwich van, it's an A road with no houses nearby ;-)
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They get paid too much if they can afford to buy food and not make their sandwich the night before :D
 
TLR-330 said:
They get paid too much if they can afford to buy food and not make their sandwich the night before :D
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Well, I don't actually drive up to check on him, he might just be eating his own sandwiches in the lay-by, it's the only nearby spot to do that.
 
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