Royal Mail Delivery Farce
I am having an ongoing argument with Royal Mail because they are not delivering my 24 hour tracked mail on time as per their agreement with Amazon to do so for Prime Orders. I am paying them expensive delivery costs for 24 hour tracked.
This is affecting my metrics and to say I am annoyed with them is the understatement of the year. However I have just received a reply from them, one of many but this particular one tells me as do all the others that the 24 hour tracked is only an aim to deliver in 24 hours. However the latest one goes over and above to explain to me that I don’t understand how long 24 hours actually is.
This is the exact wording from their reply copied and pasted below>
I understand you were promised a 24 hour delivery service. Like I have advised earlier in my response that this service is not guaranteed delivery 24 hours. We do meet our terms and conditions if the Tracked 24 items are delivered in 9 calendar days.
Really they are a joke, do you think they told Amazon this when they entered a contract with them to deliver their Prime orders in 24 hours? Do you think they told Amazon that 24 hours in Royal Mail is actually 9 days?
It is not me that insists this is the service that must be used for SFP it is Amazon because they have agreed this 24 hour delivery with RM. Or 9 days as the case may be.
Seller_mBENc0rmDmw5W
That surely contravenes the Trades Descriptions Act?
Seller_CXiDpm7SIS3OI
As I remember it RM 24 is not a guaranteed next day service its 1-2 days delivery. With most arriving next day. If you are having problems maybe you should use Royal Mail Special Delivery which is a guaranteed next day service.
The 9 day part is probably before you can claim for lost item.
Seller_prNRYzgZJre6A
From experience RM 24 tracked is normally 1 to 2 working days. It is not a guaranteed next day service I am afraid, as previously said here you would need to use the special delivery service.
Seller_8pclACDlgBDcI
A pound to a pinch that Amazon’s solution is that they relieve you of this problem by holding your stock and dispatching for you.
Someone at Royal Mail was having a laugh when they named their services 24 and 48.
It’s possibly the most blatantly misleading advertising I’ve ever seen.
Like Sony selling you a 50 inch TV, sending you a 32 inch TV and being astonished when you complain because they genuinely aimed to send you a 50 inch TV
Seller_sFEUMUfeW5484
Here’s the issue. Royal Mail say that RM24 is an aim to deliver in 24 hours but is 1-2 days, ok fair enough you say…BUT then they go and have another service called RM48, which clearly alludes to being a 48 hours (2 day) delivery…Thus reinforcing the assumption that the RM24 is in fact a 1 day service.
That’s how I and I suspect most people would assume it to be. How they can say that 24 and 48 mean anything other than 1 day and 2 day is beyond me.
Again it may say in their T’s & C’s that it’s an aim etc etc but terms have to be fair and reasonable, to suggest a service called RM24 could take up to 9 days is a complete joke.
Seller_mMqSSTqMy4X7U
Hello Isla
Just being curious, how much Amazon shipping charging you for this non-sense?
Can you get your money back as it was far off their target?
Seller_xUKHc5xSYJmI4
It says the following on their website
https://www.royalmail.com/corporate/sending-receiving/uk/royal-mail-24-48
**For Royal Mail 24 we aim to deliver the next working day, and for Royal Mail 48 we aim to deliver the majority of items within two working days, with a small minority within three working days.
Agree why call it Royal Mail 24 when its not delivered within 24 hours.
Seller_EHYOwAkoZV3Hb
Go to pretty much any courier and their next day service is not guaranteed. Buried deep within their T&Cs and brought out every time you question a “late” delivery.
Only Special Delivery is guaranteed next day AFAIK.
But in the end, what does “guarantee” mean? Usually a refund of the fee paid if late.
Seller_Rds42gzScDQFa
Are you using a 24 hour guaranteed service?
Seller_Ce8pCzhbVPubz
I agree with Rugsy on this one, if it’s genuinely getting to you the only answer is to stop SFP, we all know that both Amazon and RM are pretty unhelpful when it comes to issues like this.
My advice would be, if possible… drop prime, choose a slower shipping option like 2nd Class and knock the price difference off of your item price, hopefully you’ll still pick up a decent few sales with the cheaper price.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
