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More than half of customers hit by the postman's 'sorry you were out' ruseBy Sean Poulter
Last updated at 12:32 PM on 14th December 2009
Deception: Postal workers have been ordered to stop leaving 'Sorry You Were Out' cards instead of delivering packages
Postmen across the country are deliberately failing to deliver parcels, a study reveals today.
Householders expecting a package are routinely left 'Sorry you were out' cards without so much as a knock on the door.
More than half of customers - 55 per cent - claim to have received one of the cards despite being at home when the postman called.
Nearly a quarter - 23 per cent - say that this has happened at least three times in the past year, according to the study by customer watchdog Consumer Focus.
There are suspicions postmen are leaving parcels in the office to lighten their load for the day - and a leaked Royal Mail internal memo acknowledges staff are discarding parcels 'without any attempt to deliver the packet'.
The practice means postmen are shifting the inconvenience of collecting packages to residents.
Customers who get a card are forced to travel to delivery offices, often miles away and operating restricted opening hours, and stand in line to collect their goods.
Publicly, Royal Mail chiefs have played down the problem suggesting there are only a few isolated incidents.
But a postal expert at Consumer Focus, Robert Hammond, said: 'There's a growing body of evidence that the "Sorry You Were Out" card issue is far from a series of isolated incidents as Royal Mail has claimed.
'This issue has to be thoroughly investigated and the problem stamped out.
'The high regard many of us have for Royal Mail will fade rapidly if they can't find a way of delivering parcels conveniently.'
The Daily Mail highlighted the problem in October when we talked to a number of people who had the cards posted through their letter-boxes despite the fact they were in.
These included student Heena Kankali, 22, who had to slog across Birmingham to the city's Newtown depot to pick up a crucial textbook after it wasn't delivered to her home.
The final-year marketing student at Aston University said: 'The postmen don't even have the parcels with them. They just come to our halls and post the "Sorry" slips through our letter-boxes.'
Also forced to travel to a sorting office was 19-year-old Natalie Garner from Southampton.
Despite three family members being at home, the postman put a 'Sorry' card through their letter-box which said she would have to wait two days to collect the parcel from the depot.
Because the package contained clothes that child carer Natalie wanted to wear that night, she took a chance and went to the Royal Mail office.
'I was surprised to find the parcel was there already,' she says. 'It was all very suspicious.'
The stories of some of the customerslet down by the system will feature on BBC Panorama tonight.
Research scientist, Dr Andrew Curtis, from Bristol, tells the programme: 'I heard the letters drop through the postbox. I went to check immediately and there was a card there saying ‘we tried to deliver a parcel to you but unfortunately you weren’t in’.
'Obviously, I had been in - I’d been sat next to the front door. I hadn’t heard the door bell ring, hadn’t heard a knock so I followed the postman down the street.'
Panorama has seen an internal Royal Mail memo acknowledging that parcels are being left in the office 'without any attempt to deliver the packet'. It warns staff the practice must stop.
Royal Mail Operations Director Paul Tolhurst admitted there are problems.
He said: 'It shouldn't be happening…if customers tell us that it's happening, we will discuss that in the local office with the local postmen, and we will try and put that right.
'That is not what they should be doing, but of course it does happen, and I'm not saying that it doesn't.'
Consumer Focus said Royal Mail should make it easier for people to get their mail. This could include extending the opening hours of delivery offices, or leaving mail to be collected from local Post Offices.
Extra evening deliveries could be provided. Alternatively a successful system in Germany involves setting up banks of secure lockers.
Customers are contacted by mobile phone or email when their mail has been delivered to a secure locker and they can then use their own key to collect at a time that suits them.
The watchdog's research also found a great deal of support for the Royal Mail despite concerns that the service is being dismantled by stealth.
Three-quarters felt they had received a good service from Royal Mail in the past year, despite the survey taking place during the national postal strike.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1235560/More-half-customers-hit-postmans-sorry-ruse.html
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This was in the paper about a month ago. Luckily our postman has the parcels/packets with him when he puts a card through the door because twice OH has chased after him and retrieved them when we have come in from shopping and seen he is still on the estate (we know his car!)
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This has happened to me twice!
Also, when I was expecting a parcel the postman never left a card.
I phoned up (only took about 3 hours to get through - not a busy line - they just don't pick up!). I couldn't say I hadn't received a card, so lied & said the dog had eaten it.
I was then asked what the parcel looked like! (?) (though temped, I didn't say I wasn't bl**dy psychic!), so gave an idea of what I thought this parcel may look like!
She found it - and said it wasn't like my description (how surprising! LOL)
But - IT WAS THERE!! If I hadn't been expecting it (had used the supplier before and knew their delivery times) I may never have seen the parcel!!
I don't drive, and the sorting office is either a 3 mile walk away- the shortest route, that involves up half the journey up a dirt track, or a two-bus trip that costs a fortune, so picking up my parcels is difficult - and when they don't answer the phone - makes you wonder why they exist!
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We had a weird incident last Christmas Eve - about 7a.m.! We're at the top of a cul-de-sac so the van had to drive right up to the top to us, the doorbell rang and only I heard it so I looked out of the window, shot out of bed and by the time I had got to the door, they'd gone!
And then the "sorry you were out" card says you have to wait four hours before collecting - so I was hanging around till 11 waiting to go out to the sorting office. If the driver had just waited another minute, they could have delivered it - and it was a really big box so it was awkward to carry home, even though it was only fifteen minutes' normal walking time.
I think we should bring back the way they had it in Jane Austen's time - where the sender didn't put stamps on but the recipient paid a few pence directly to the man on the horse delivering the post - I bet the post deliverers would wait for those extra few seconds then!
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