Parcel Force and Royal mail recent delivery issues

[phunkydesign]

Hi everyone

I just wondered if anyone, either seller or buyer, who has sent/bought an item recently that was shipped via parcel force? 

I recently sold a large item, so it had to go parcel force. It was due to be delivered monday 11th, but my buyer still hasnt received it.

Tracking on parcel force/royal mail site wasnt even working for the tracking number until today. And it now says it was delivered on monday. As it was tracked, it has a signature picture and a name, but neither are the buyers! and the last info on the tracking history is Delivered "RML DEFAULT DEPOT". The delivered has a red exclamation mark next to it, but clicking it does nothing, so not sure what that signifies.

I have googled this, and found a few reddit posts about issues due to Royal Mail and Parcel force merging systems over the past few weeks, and also people saying theyve been on hold to parcel force for over 45minutes before being able to speak to a real person, and still not getting answers to where their parcels are.

My buyer has been very patient and ive kept them upto date, so at the moment we're both just waiting, hoping PF deliver it.

I logged a complaint directly with PF 2 days ago but as yet not heard back. presume they have alot to go through.

Really just wondered has anyone else had issues this past week or two?

and also, what is the next option for me as a seller and the buyer? who has now put in a note to ebay that the item still hasnt arrived.

theres nothing i can do, the tracking says delivered when it hasnt. I actually think the signature and name is the RM or PF delivery drivers and hes still got it on a van somewhere, so they hit the delivery target of the service I paid for.

Any advice would be appreciated. At some point very soon i guess i will also have to riase it with ebay myself?

thanks.

[88bluebox88]

2 absolute *bleep* postal services joining was always going to cause problems, a buyer yesterday opened a case saying they havent had an item they ordered last friday and thats tracked 48,not been delivered, and another buying an item wednesday and they paid 24 and still not had it, ebay as become a problem for me now

[phunkydesign]

what does the tracking info say on both of those?

what i dont undertsand is how PF can mark my parcel as delivered on Monday, but not to the address stated on the parcel and signed by an unknown person, probably a RM/PF driver!?!?

[88bluebox88]

3 days in a row it said item recieved, normally when says that, it gets delivered next day or same day

Before that, it said item collected and was stuck on that for 4 days

Absolute useless and slow

[happyshoppertrading]

Did you ever reach a satisfactory outcome?

I came here to rant as YES I am currently experiencing EXTREME FRUSTRATION with Parcelforce. It all began when an alleged attempt was made to deliver to my home address last Thursday when I was in. A card was left despite no effort seemingly being made to alert me. By default a second attempt was then made the next day but I was out and another card was left and the items returned to Shrewsbury which is a 2hr round trip/2 counties/£10 in fuel costs away.

Because of the transitioning systems it would appear although I can track the item (which is supposedly still in Shrewsbury - 7 days later). I can't book a re-delivery as Parcelforce re-directs to RM which doesn't recognise the reference. So after initially placing a couple of re-direct requests online (which the form permits without a reference), on Wednesday just gone, I bit the bullet and called them (1hr 20 on hold for a 7 minute conversation). At this point I provided information to the best of my knowledge about the package including the contents (specialist cleaning cloths/sprays) - which I thought was a bizarre question, and was given assurances it would be delivered today, which has left me housebound on my day off - surprise surprise it hasn't.

So I bit the bullet yet again and called them (goodbye 1hr 30 of my life). On this occasion the operator advised initially advised that the package had been lost, but when checking more details said it had been disposed of owing to a leak! FWIW I find this extremely hard to believe as there's a handful of 300ml new in box cleaning sprays that account for about 10% of the package, most of which contained polishing cloths. IF there was a leak, which I think unlikely I can't imagine it would be enough to explode/leak outside the box, Particularly as the package seemed in good enough condition to attempt to deliver a week prior.

Unfortunately it's now the weekend so I'm not expecting to hear anything until Monday. The whole situation is very suspicious and frustrating. I get the impression they initially asked what was in the box to help identify it from the outside, and now they're using it as a convenient excuse for one of their staff to steal or dispose of it through their sheer ineptness.

Fortunately there is a slight glimmer of hope as it isn't a restricted item and I believe if disposing owing to a leak, Parcelforce are obliged to provide evidence. I mean yes, they can fake it by deliberately destroying some of the contents but they need to at least provide something. I ended the conversation by saying IF the package is supposedly undeliverable I'll just drive down to collect it as my faith in them delivering this package is none existent. The contents is all BNIB and cost about £200 with a retail value of £1000+ and it would only take a quick tap tap on a smartphone for sticky fingers in the depot to see they had a nice little car boot/ebay score in front of them. As for insurance/making a claim hopefully I don't have to go down that route but I believe it would be with JerseyPost not ParcelForce in this instance.

Will update in due course...

[stewart4747]

I recently tried unsuccessfully to reclaim a £149 shipping fee to Japan from Parcelforce. This was paid for but was cancelled before the parcel was collected as the buyer changed his mind, so you would think that a refund would be simple, albeit after a lapse of 5 days or so when the label would no longer be valid.

Not so! After numerous attempts over 30 days to reclaim my money through their system I gave up and instead got a refund through a drawback on my credit card for services paid for but not delivered.

Then unbelievably Parcelforce did respond to my request for a refund saying that they had reviewed my claim and that it had been successful!!! -  however I did not receive any compensation from them, so assume that my credit card  drawback was being "owned" by Parcelforce and used to settle my claim for a refund!

Absolutely unbelievable shenanigans for a so-called front line logistics company.