Royal Rip Off
I can't agree with Scotland's First Minister - Alex Salmond - that the future of the Royal Mail should be left until after next year's referendum on independence.
To my mind that would be completely daft - not to mention impossible - as it amounts to putting every every major issue on hold until Scotland decides whether or not to become an independent country.
More importantly, I would privatise the Royal Mail in a heartbeat - because it's a lousy, third-rate service when it comes to delivering letters (where it has a monopoly of course) and parcels - and in my personal experience compares very unfavourably on the parcels side to the likes of DHL and UPS.
And to those that say that even Margaret Thatcher baulked at taking on this giant state monopoly, just stop and reflect how much the world has moved on since the late 1980s - letters have effectively been replaced by emails and the use of social media - while the market for parcel delivery has changed out of sight.
After years of being a huge financial drain on the taxpayer, the Royal Mail has at long last returned a small profit.
So, to my mind the time has come for Royal Mail to stand on its own two feet - so that people like me, who have been very unhappy with its 'service' in the past, can take our business elsewhere - if we so choose.
So, to my mind the time has come for Royal Mail to stand on its own two feet - so that people like me, who have been very unhappy with its 'service' in the past, can take our business elsewhere - if we so choose.
Third Rate Service (29 March 2012)
No wonder people use e-mail these days - the cost of posting a letter is ridiculous and it goes hand in hand with a third rate service.
Just the other day it was announced that the cost of a first-class stamp will increase to 60p shortly - from its current level of 46p.
In other words a rise of over 30% - when inflation is around 3.5% and falling.
The best thing to do about this awful service is to stop using it altogether - in my view.
The amount of theft involved inside the Royal Mail is outrageous - letters are opened regularly before reaching their destination - and the contents removed.
My mother used to send my children a £10 note in their birthday cards - and took some persuading to stop the practice eventually - because she found it hard to accept that people would do such a terrible thing.
The same is true of the parcels service - if my personal experience of sending a birthday package to Japan -is anything to go by.
According to the Royal Mail, the carefully chosen contents of my parcel - gifts for a special birthday - never even got out of the country.
But they wouldn't tell me exactly what had happened or who had been held to account - if anyone.
Sure I got my money back - eventually - but the service was so very poor that the business is completely doomed - in its present form at least.
So I don't really wish the Royal Mail well - because it completely sucks in my opinion which is borne of personal experience.
The best thing to do is to buy a scanner - which are cheap these days.
Because if you send letters regularly through the post- by using a scanner and switching to e-mail - you'll make your money back in no time.
E-mail is also quicker, safer and more secure.
So, don't delay - ditch the Royal Mail today!
Royal Rip-Off (19 July 2011)
The Royal Mail released an incredible statistic the other day - apparently complaints over 'lost' letters have risen by more than a third in the past year.
Doesn't surprise me in the least - because the word 'lost' is a euphemisim for stolen at the Royal Mail - which I was unfortunate enough to experience last year.
According to the Royal Mail - to whom I complained vigorously at the time - the contents were 'lost' even before thy had reached Heathrow Airport.
But beyond that they wouldn't or couldn't tell me what had actually happened - apparently their policy is not to report back to customers about individual complaints or 'incidents'.
Oh no, that would be far too professional - all the Royal Mail wanted to do was to pay out on their insurance policy - and give me my money back.
By which time the special occcasion had of course come and gone - and all the effort involved had been completely spoiled - because of their negligence and/or incompetence.
Apparently, the national postal service received 120,884 complaints from angry customers in the first three months of 2011 – up 37 per cent on the same period in 2010.
The company was forced to pay out £5.1 million in compensation to customers for lost items in the last year – the equivalent of almost £100,000 every week.
What I wanted to know was: 'How could the items I had entrusted to the Royal Mail possibly go missing - how did it happen and who was responsible?'
The growing number of complaints comes after the Royal Mail posted losses of £258 million - and admitted the business is technically insolvent.
Well it's certainly useless and - in my experience - many long-suffering customers are victims of well organised 'thievery' on an industrial scale.
Doesn't surprise me in the least - because the word 'lost' is a euphemisim for stolen at the Royal Mail - which I was unfortunate enough to experience last year.
According to the Royal Mail - to whom I complained vigorously at the time - the contents were 'lost' even before thy had reached Heathrow Airport.
But beyond that they wouldn't or couldn't tell me what had actually happened - apparently their policy is not to report back to customers about individual complaints or 'incidents'.
Oh no, that would be far too professional - all the Royal Mail wanted to do was to pay out on their insurance policy - and give me my money back.
By which time the special occcasion had of course come and gone - and all the effort involved had been completely spoiled - because of their negligence and/or incompetence.
Apparently, the national postal service received 120,884 complaints from angry customers in the first three months of 2011 – up 37 per cent on the same period in 2010.
The company was forced to pay out £5.1 million in compensation to customers for lost items in the last year – the equivalent of almost £100,000 every week.
What I wanted to know was: 'How could the items I had entrusted to the Royal Mail possibly go missing - how did it happen and who was responsible?'
The growing number of complaints comes after the Royal Mail posted losses of £258 million - and admitted the business is technically insolvent.
Well it's certainly useless and - in my experience - many long-suffering customers are victims of well organised 'thievery' on an industrial scale.
Don't Make Me Laugh (4 January 2011)
According to newspaper reports today - the Royal Mail paid out £800,000 in compensation to more than 30,000 Scots in 2010 - for failing to deliver the post properly.
Yesterday Royal Mail apologised after it emerged that customers in Scotland made 84,169 complaints - over lost, mis-delivered and damaged mail - between January 2009 and January 2010.
In more than half the complaints (42,731) - the Royal Mail ended up paying compensation to more than 30,000 individual people.
Now I was one of those 30,000 people - and let me tell you, from my own personal experience - the Royal Mail complaints service absolutely stinks.
I asked what happened to the gifts I had bought and chosen so carefully - before wrapping them up and sending them abroad - as a special birthday present for my daughter.
What explanation did I get?
None - the Royal Mail was not remotely interested - and told me that they didn't even bother to investigate or report back on individual complaints.
Sure I got my money back - eventually, months later - but everything else involved was completely ruined: the planning, the shopping, the excitement and the anticipation of a parcel finally arriving in some far off land.
But according to the Royal Mail - the parcel post never made it out of Glasgow.
The Royal Mail - an efficient, modern, customer focused public service?
Don't make me laugh.
Yesterday Royal Mail apologised after it emerged that customers in Scotland made 84,169 complaints - over lost, mis-delivered and damaged mail - between January 2009 and January 2010.
In more than half the complaints (42,731) - the Royal Mail ended up paying compensation to more than 30,000 individual people.
Now I was one of those 30,000 people - and let me tell you, from my own personal experience - the Royal Mail complaints service absolutely stinks.
I asked what happened to the gifts I had bought and chosen so carefully - before wrapping them up and sending them abroad - as a special birthday present for my daughter.
What explanation did I get?
None - the Royal Mail was not remotely interested - and told me that they didn't even bother to investigate or report back on individual complaints.
Sure I got my money back - eventually, months later - but everything else involved was completely ruined: the planning, the shopping, the excitement and the anticipation of a parcel finally arriving in some far off land.
But according to the Royal Mail - the parcel post never made it out of Glasgow.
The Royal Mail - an efficient, modern, customer focused public service?
Don't make me laugh.
