Royal Mail slammed for losing wedding guest Richard Smith's expensive parcel
By Gareth Davies
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UNIMPRESSED: Richard Smith with the "sorry we missed you card" that was dropped through his letterbox
A WEDDING guest has slammed the Royal Mail for giving a pair of expensive cufflinks to the wrong person.
A friend had sent Richard Smith the decorative fasteners – worth £170 – by special delivery to use at a friend's wedding over the bank holiday weekend.
Mr Smith was out when the items were delivered, but when he went to the Royal Mail office in East Croydon to collect them the next day, he was told they had already been given to someone else.
Yet anyone collecting his parcel should have had to provide identification and the original "sorry we missed you card" to be given the cufflinks.
Mr Smith, 44, said: "I'd expect this kind of thing from a two-bit delivery company, not a national postal service which carries the royal stamp."
The Royal Mail tried to deliver the cufflinks to his home in Waddon on May 18.
A 'sorry we missed you' card was posted through his letterbox, advising him the parcel was at the collection office in Addiscombe Road.
The next morning he went to the depot, taking the card and some identification with him, only to be told a Mr T King had collected the cufflinks at 9.15am.
"It's very suspicious," said Mr Smith, from Waddon Road.
Mr Smith has yet to tell the friend who lent him the cufflinks that they have been taken.
"Will they be angry?" he said. "They're a £170 pair of cufflinks. The price says it all."
Mr Smith is now considering taking his grievance to a small claims court.
A Royal Mail spokesman said: "We are sorry about the problems Richard Smith has had.
"We will be contacting him directly in order to resolve the matter."
16 Comments
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by sid & trish, croydon
Thursday, June 10 2010, 7:53PM
“we've never had a problem with our post ,always got everything that was sent to us ,best postal service in the world we reckon”
by ANNE, SELSDON
Thursday, June 10 2010, 12:29PM
“One of my students, who has no cheque book, sent me the same amount of money twice, hidden inside a card and each time it was stolen.”
by Mr.Angry, The Estate
Thursday, June 10 2010, 11:31AM
“Never had probs with deliveries to me..people have suggested some posties doing a dirty but if caught I have heard there is a clause that mentions some theft or dumping of items is treason.”
by Wotan, Valhalla
Wednesday, June 09 2010, 12:59PM
“My postie always leaves a red card when I'm out. I collect the items from the sorting office or use the online redelvery service. My items are invariably kept, redirected or redelivered as requested.
Royal Mail handles many millions of items each day. It is annoying (and sometimes very serious) for individuals when an item goes astray. However do an FOI request; you'll be impressed how few do so.
Mistakes happen. There will be rare rotten apples in the barrel but that need not taint the entire service.”
by pink, croydon
Tuesday, June 08 2010, 8:49AM
“I ordered 3 items only 2 of which arrived. when I enquired I was told the parcels had been delivered to me 3 weeks earlier at lunchtime at my house. strange as I was at work so i was not there to take in any parcels! I hacve also had mail delivered to my neighbours house and not mine, and like other customers had a card pushed through to say sorry we missed you but I was in and the postman couldn't be bothered to knock.
I find that my normal postman is excellent, but the trouble always starts when I have a relief.”
by Mrs P, Thornton Heath
Tuesday, June 08 2010, 1:34AM
“What my postmen now do is sign for me when I receive a Special Delivery item! It happened to me today with two letters. I once confronted a postman about this, and he said it was ok as he had signed! Are they not taught it's the customer that signs, not the postman?”
by Nicky, Croydon
Monday, June 07 2010, 11:23PM
“I know exactly how he feels, in the last year i have had to refund 6 customers for missing goods, which have mysteriously disappeared, even though i added a return address on the reverse in case of non delivery. Sort it out Royal mail, look after your loyal staff and stop laying them off and employing cheap agency staff.......We pay for a service and expect one”
by Rob, away
Monday, June 07 2010, 9:17PM
“a couple of times we had birthday/christmas cards where they were open and the money inside strangely dissapeared, very strange.”
by jeanette, New Addington
Monday, June 07 2010, 8:13PM
“i once paid for a parcel to be redelivered & it still never arrived. It went missing & Royal Mail denied all knowledge of it. That says it all in my opinion. If you are not there when it is delivered the first time, you may never get it, because after that these parcels seem to dissapear into thin air!!!!! Perhaps the Aliens take them eh!!!”
by Lou, West Sussex
Monday, June 07 2010, 7:47PM
“I have an ongoing battle with Royal Mail for over six months about a redelivery to my work address that didn't arrive. Eventually within the time limit I was told by a Parcel Force driver that there were 3 parcels for me to collect at the local Post Office. At no time did I request the parcels to redirected to the local Post Office and despite the fact I had proof of the redelivery details, the Royal Mail point blank refused to refund me the £4.50 I had to pay. They do not know the meaning of customer service. Emails sent to me have been addressed to people other than myself and are not relevant to to my complaint.”