As of tomorrow I’ll have no internet access at home for two weeks (damn you British Telecom). I will check my email at college when I can but I’ll be mainly offline until the 19th. If I owe you an email I’ll try and send it from college as soon as I can.
Today the bomshell.
I had a moment when I wanted to run away from my new flat and just go. I sat down on the concrete floor of my lounge and sobbed. I hated everything passionately.
It wasn’t the sheer amount of work that the new place needed; it wasn’t the fact that the last owner has never repaired anything and every bit of pipework is badly bodged. It isn’t even the fact that we have mysterious holes in our walls or the front door needed fixing today so I could open it or close it securely (call out charge: £80)…
No, it is the fact that me, Miss eBayer and frequent buyer of online goods (dolly, camera and book related) has officially the worst sorting office and delivery office of Royal Mail in London, if not the whole country as her new local mail office. They are so dishonest they have even been investigated for wholesale stealing of parcels and major mail fraud by our local MP.
And, this state of affairs has been going on since 2001!
They are so notorius the poor fecking customers of said office (of which I am now one) have there own website forum with over 400 reports of mail fraud (some guy had a cheque book stolen from his mail and the person only found out when someone tried to write a cheque in his name for £80,000!!!!), abuse by sorting office staff, and most sadly, never ever successfully getting a birthday present at their home.
My heart sank and I sobbed some more. Who had just placed a £200 Amazon order for a years worth of textbooks: me. Who had dolly and camera stuff coming? Me.
Part of my book order arrived today by Parcelforce, a miracle now folks I am praising Parcelforce Greenwich (note not Parcelforce West London office) for being honest! Part of my order containing four books (worth £80) was sent via Royal Mail and was ’supposedly’ delivered by Royal Mail to my new address (which I actually went round to today for the first time) on Saturday 30 September. When I got there I found a red card from Royal Mail saying the item was too big for my letter box and taken to a sorting office for my collection…
When I went to the sorting office they did not have it… it was err ‘not found’… oh fucking great.
They informed me that when a parcel is not delivered in my area and the postman is too far from the sorting office to return it before his delivery round ends (the sorting office is in the middle of nowhere) he posts it ’somewhere’ (they couldn’t say where specifically), i.e. another post office or even a Royal Mail postbox!!! The parcel then gets sent back to the sorting office (in their own sweet time of course) where hapless innocent waiting people like myself have to go back each day (remember folks I have no car and it’s on a dodgy industrial estate off the Old Kent Road and miles from where I live) and plantively ask “where is my parcel?” Hell, it’s not as if I need this parcel is it? It’s only critical fucking textsbooks I have to read like NOW.
This explanation is frankly shit. Does this really happen to parcels in their ‘care’? Is this total bullshit ‘fake Royal Mail process’ to cover a massive stolen parcel scam? This certainly is not the case in genteel Barnes. If a parcel is stated to be at the sorting office on the red delivery card it is at the fecking sorting office. If a card says it’s at Parcelforce West London it may not be but that is a different kettle of prawns…
The member of staff I spoke to at the new sorting office said that even if my parcel had been ‘delivered unsuccessfully’ on Saturday 30th it should of been returned to that sorting office for my collection by TODAY at the latest, Tuesday 3rd October. If that is the case where is it… stolen most probably 
I rang Royal Mail main customer service who - after much going round in circles - told me that any refund/compensation would have to be paid from Royal Mail to the bookseller who would then refund me. This sounds like a very long and daunting process and frankly I have no faith in Royal Mail doing anything right where my local office is concerned.
It’s the last night tonight in my old flat and my last night with internet for a while. All our stuff gets moved over tomorrow by the removal men.
I’m sad and nervous. I miss Barnes already.
Adios amigos.
October 3rd, 2006 at 9:26 pm
Oh sweetheart, that sucks. I’d offer the use of my address for post purposes but Tooting postmen are pretty shit too and I’ve had various things go missing (it’s always the smelly parcel from lush rather than a bill, funnily enough).
Be strong and we will find a way to communicate! xxx
October 4th, 2006 at 9:03 am
Oh, no. How horrible. I really hope everything works out in the end or else I will personally come all the way from Sweden and talk some sense into the Royal Mail. Grrrr…
October 4th, 2006 at 9:51 am
So Hackney Royal Mail has a competitor for having the shittest, most criminal least literate workers then? I’ve lost count of the number of times things like tickets haven’t reached me. Boo. I always get my parcels delivered to the Breakdancer’s work address. Somehow they deliver things better to business addresses - maybe you could find an alternative address to get things sent to?
Hope things look better in the new flat soon. There’s always teething troubles, but it’s worth it in the end.
October 4th, 2006 at 10:23 am
Hey Bea, you could perhaps think about a PO box for your mail - I don’t think they cost an arm and a leg, and if you got one at a post office close to your college, the service may well be much more reliable. I know it’s a pain having to drag the stuff home from there, but at least you’d actually get it!!
Talk when you can, take care.
October 5th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
Thanks everyone for your support, it’s appreciated.
Spoke to the Chairman’s office at Royal Mail yesterday (after a very convoluted route to get that number). Yes, my parcel HAS been stolen. I have a case number and now begins a very long process between me, Amazon and Royal Mail to get my money.
All my post that is valuable (that is not already in transit) is being sent to Mark’s work address form now on: eBay stuff, dolly stuff, camera stuff, books etc etc. I should NOT have to do that. To know that all my mail for the next three years (we planned to sell this flat after three years) will be subject to this bollocks and possible theft is so fucking soul destroying.
But they will rue the day they ever crossed me. Here starts the letter writing campaign to everyone I can think off about this dishonest sorting office to get something done about these criminals. I had a similar problem with Apple UK not repairing my laptop while it was under warranty. A letter to Steve Jobs Apple CEO and a copy to my MP and every ombudman, cosumer association etc etc later and I won my case with profuse apology.
So Royal Mail you are fucking toast when I get finished with you.
The move went fairly well except for removal men breaking things and heating that does not work… and not being able to do any work online for Uni due to f’ing BT. But in about a years’ time you may get an invite round my house
October 18th, 2006 at 12:30 am
That’s our sorting office for work and I have encountered problems too. We get everything by courier now, or delivered to home
Sorry Bobs.