BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU POST!

[ade]

GRRRRR

Spent hundreds of hours making my model novas and posted them last week using special delivery only for Royal Mail to smash them!

:x :evil: :x

"Special delivery" obviously means "lets play football with the packages marked "fragile" or get the fat posty to belly flop them!"

:evil:

Each model was securely fastened in its box with tags and mounted onto its stand with heavy duty wood glue and allowed to set for 72 hours.

keith got his and it was mistreated with such force that the model had snapped clean off its mounting pegs - which are 3 inch 1/4 inch thick wooden dowels. It takes a fair amount of abuse to dislodge these.

I've written a "lengthy" letter of complaint and compensation to them - thats getting sent recorded delivery 1st thing tomorrow.

To say I'm gutted is an understatement. heres 2 pics -

Before
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/danga/91e0d58c.jpg

After
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/danga/925cda01.jpg

:cry:

I will fix them - obviously.

Lesson learned people - if you post something make sure you pack every crevice with foam and them pack the foam in foam. Failing that delivery it yourself if you can.

:evil:

[Dod]

What a **** mate, alhtouggh the models are A1 mate, well done.

Keith, its just not been your week mate.

[Kinky Monza]

can't trust royal mail at all mate i've had problems getting pacels delivered
you must be furious have you complained :?:

[ade]

heres my letter of complaint - (skip if you cant be anussed reading it)

I recently sent 4 hand crafted 1/18 scale model cars to people for Christmas presents via ?special delivery?. The cars are made from tough resin and were securely mounted on wooden stands and held in place in the box using securing tags to prevent the box crushing and to prevent the stands and cars moving about. The boxes were wrapped in foam packing and clearly marked FRAGILE on both the sides and on the top. I chose to send the items, by what I thought was ?special delivery? to ensure guaranteed delivery for Christmas and secure delivery to prevent damage.
The first 3 were sent on Thursday 3rd December 2005 from Balfron Post office at approximately 5.15pm ?special delivery? and I was assured by the Balfron Post office clerk that this method would guarantee signed delivery and would be there next day. The items would also be covered by insurance up to ?500. I duly paid 3 x ?8.50.

However it wasnt until I posted the 4th car at Glasgow?s Main Post office on St. Vincent Street on 4th December 2005 that I was advised that the "special delivery" method of postage was the method that guaranteed damage up to ?500 and the other method was only recorded! The St. Vincent Street post clerk stated that it didn?t surprise her that I'd been mislead and to quote her - "sub post offices in villages dont really get trained properly and are always mixing up special and recorded delivery". I thought it a little harsh at the time - now I see why! When I asked what I could do if the items were to get damaged she said ?fingers crossed? and advised that I could claim for compensation.

The items duly arrived on time at their destinations however the parcels had been so badly mishandled and with such force that 3 of the cars had become detached from their stands and had smashed about within the boxes. I'm still waiting to hear about the 4th car.

The stands were tested during production and previous models have been posted and arrived with the same packaging mounting method ? all intact. The previous items had ironically been sent standard post (no special or recorded, just weighed, paid for and sent 1st class).

The stands were designed to withstand vigorous handling and shaking therefore I can only surmise the abuse they must have received for them to become detached was considerable and unnecessary.

One was so badly damaged and had been treated with such contempt that the mounting pegs (of which there are 2 and made from 1/4 inch wide, 3 inch long wooden doweling rods) had been snapped clean in half! To snap one of these rods, you would need to use considerable force and either need to drop the item from a considerable height, thrown the item at something with great force or hit it repeatedly against something on its side - again with great force. In addition, excessive handling caused the now loose model to strip its paint (which is proper car paint and therefore very tough) and transfer it onto the cardboard of the box indicating serious mishandling.

It is my opinion and those of the recipients, that these parcels were clearly not handled with care and even though the packages were marked FRAGILE they must have been subjected to serious knocks.

As you can imagine, the people I sent them to are very unhappy and will have to return the cars to be fixed - incurring postage costs similar to those above! It?s unlikely the cars can be fully repaired and I will probably have to make new ones. If however they can be fixed, I will have to return the items with the same costs. Thankfully the people who bought them are known to me and understand the situation.

I have enclosed pictures of one of the damaged cars (Keith Robinsons). You can clearly see how the peg has snapped and the abuse the box has received (paint transfer). The securing tabs had been removed from the boxes to take the photos. I strongly believe that additional ?padding? would have been no defence as once detached from the stands, no amount of padding would have prevented damage. In addition, the cars themselves are difficult to pad due to delicate parts (aerials, mirrors etc)

Each person paid ?80 for each car. As 3 separate cars were damaged I?ve supplied the postage addresses and reference no's details for each ?

These cars took 2 months to make and hundreds of hours. They were made by hand and were made as presents for people for Christmas. They were packaged and secured in their boxes using tried and tested methods used in the past for other cars posted using ?standard mail?. For them to receive so much damage suggests they were not treated as fragile items, were not given the service offered by the method of posting and it would have been cheaper and ?safer? for them to go standard post!
As much as I?d like to think otherwise I believe because the boxes were marked ?fragile? they were mistreated deliberately such is the damage.
I therefore would like an explanation and resolution to the following points ?

?Why I was mislead over the "type" of postage, insurance and cover for the first 3 packages when I wanted special delivery. As a customer I was not made aware of the full service offered by the method given to me.

?Why parcels clearly marked ?FRAGILE? are handled with such violence and neglect as to cause properly secured items to be broken from mountings - especially as one of the items was sent special delivery.

?Compensation for ALL 3 items (due to being mislead over the type of insurance) including postage costs to cover delivery, return and redelivery to the value of the postage receipts enclosed
Total ?311.85

Please understand I am so angry over the damage caused to these cars due to the amount of attention that was given into making them only for them to be so badly treated, I will take this further if I do not get a satisfactory resolution.

I know that it?s the run up to Christmas and the Post Office is busy and lots of parcels get sent however I would expect a higher level of service for items sent special delivery and where more money is paid to ensure safe delivery. It looked like someone had been playing football with them!

:evil:

[Dod]

Yeah a lot of banter there but you're well within your rights. Just a pity they'll not do anything about it.

[ade]

one of them was sent special delivery so I'll get compensation for that, the others were recorded delivery after I was "mislead" about the best option of posting (was told that it would be sent next day, signed for and be covered by insurance).

I will get compensation - otherwise action will be taken.

[Jack]

I used to work for a mail order company, as post master for a while as well, so I know about the different levels of postage. You're definately right about smaller post offices not knowing which service is which - I've had to correct my local office a few times when sending ebay items :evil:

RM also "lost" one of my parcels, only to have it turn up after I filed a claim for compensation. Luckily it was undamaged, I make a point of padding every crevice in the stuff I send and wrapping the stuff 3x over in tape lol

None of their workers seem to have a single care about the parcels they're delivering. Been to my local distribution centre to pick up stuff and seen them behind the counter kicking, dropping, throwing etc parcels around :evil:

Good luck with the claim... imagine if you didn't know the people you were sending the models to, wouldn't really reflect well on your business! Are you sending the fixed/replacement items out via RM or someone else?

[scott.parker]

Thats a bitch that is Ade mate,dont know if you recall but mine had come loose from one of the pegs when i got it,but i dont think it was due to pore treatment while on route,i think mine was lack of glue :wink:

But i feel for keith,he's going through a bit of bad luck of late.

Hope it all gets sorted mate,and the next lot dont get so badly treated,oh and dont give up on them just on this small set back mate,there too good to stop now :wink: :D

Scott

[ade]

cheers

I will be fixing all damaged models - no worries there.

[Adam]

Many things i have received with Royal Mail have had boot shaped marks in the sides of boxes etc, luckily the contents weren't fragile enough to be damaged.
Tis a shame ade, the models are a work of art,look ace.

[Stuart]

PITA!

mind you tis kind of "expected" from RM these days. Try Parcel to go...


also when you fix keiths car... its a 1.4 ;) lmao

[F188CHG]

Thats pish after all the work that had gone in to them :x

[bump]

sorry to hear that ade,
you'd put so much into them. RM are hopeless, they've lost so many prints that i've sent out i've stopped using them. i used either UPS or APC if it's a bit larger. both i've found to be pretty good.

Also APC have me on buisness rates so i can send up to 20KG anywhere on the mainland for ?7.50 next day.

hope to hear that you get it sorted.

bump

[Nick]

PITA!

mind you tis kind of "expected" from RM these days. Try Parcel to go...


also when you fix keiths car... its a 1.4 ;) lmao

i thought it was a 1300 ?

[novamadman]

It is a 1300 and it is very very fast

[Philsutton]

best one ive sent was a cam an throttle bodies in the post, dont ask how put they managed to snap the fucking cam in half, now they dont snap easy.

It is sad, especially after all the work youve put into them just for some tosser whos having a bad day to through them about.

[Stuart]

PITA!

mind you tis kind of "expected" from RM these days. Try Parcel to go...


also when you fix keiths car... its a 1.4 ;) lmao

i thought it was a 1300 ?


well a 1300 block ;) rebore tastic

[Riggy]

:o fuckin hell ade thats really bad news

like you said , there were no damage to mine last year , so wouldnt have expected any with the special delivery option :o


tossers :evil:

[Matt2107]

I used to work for Parcel Force (owned by royal mail.. or is that owes a shit load of money to royal mail.)

Royal mail generally suck and you'd probably be better of posting them by courier in the future. It's easier to get your money back from the bloody couriers.

Truely gutted for you though mate, especially seeing as they are hand crafted, makes it a whole lot worse.

[wisewood]

I've had similar experience recently, although not with a valuable item, and nothing that had taken several hours to create. Royal mail is a joke.

Recorded delivery is exactly the same as normal post, but the recipient is asked to sign for it when it arrives. You are covered up to ?30 on standard post, so you should get at least ?30 compensation for each damaged item... I think Recorded Delivery MIGHT have a higher insurance value, but i can't say for sure. www.royalmail.co.uk would tell you exactly what insurance is given for each postage method.

"If you can't take it personally, we will!"
MY ARSE!!!!!

[ade]

TBH I dont know the difference - the 1st lot I sent a year or so ago were just send standard postage - paid for the weight and sent and they arrived okay.

I initially asked for special delievery thats you sign for and has incurance (which I now know is special delivery) - covers up to ?500. the 1st three were sent recorded delivery because I didnt know the difference, it wasnt until the main p/o in glasgow explained the difference that I sent 4th one special delivery.

Made no difference to outcome though - they were treated just as badly regardless!

Mel got hers (sent recorded delivery) and she didnt even have to sign for it - someone had removed all the labels! Took 6 days to get there too!

Just Novas & Corsas sent me a set of poly bushes recently and they were sent recorded delivery. When they werent delivered I called JN&C who gave tracking number - apparantly theyd been signed for and delivered! Post office up the road didnt have them (usually they leave a card but didnt) - their customer services couldnt trace them when I called and wanted ?2.50 for a copy of the signature!!!

I know I didnt sign for it because I wasnt even in!

Turns out theyd left them round the back of my house under a flower pot!

How the HELL am I supposed to know that!

:o :evil:

Do I have "mind reader" on my forehead!

[wisewood]

but if they were round the back of your house because you weren't in... who signed for it?? The postman? or some random stranger he met outside your house?

[ade]

dunno - probably posty.

[Timmy]

RM are nobs i just read all the people they have let down what a mess, i think ups and people like that have got it sorted rm jsut can't cut it any more. models look the mutts by the way.