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Royal Mail is stealing recorded delivery letters sent to banks - HELP!

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    Royal Mail is stealing recorded delivery letters sent to banks - HELP!

    OK, posting this here as a matter of public record, and requesting advice.

    I live in France and earn money by freelance writing, including American publications. I usually post cheques to Barclays in Leicester, and for a particularly large cheque in dollars I sent it Recommande via La Poste - basically French recorded. Because I wanted to guarantee it was delivered.

    The letter went missing on 5th May, according to tracking. I sent a second recorded letter a week later to Barclays, under the assumption the mistake was on their end. Second recorded letter went missing. So I send a third letter enquiring, without recorded delivery, just a PLAIN ENVELOPE, and within two or three days had a frantic phone call from Barclays explaining that they did not receive the earlier 2 letters. They have no record of such letters.

    At the same time I filed an insurance claim with La Poste. I immediately received a letter saying they will investigate, with a deadline. The deadline arrives and they write to me stating that Royal Mail is not responding.

    A couple of weeks later they write again, informing me that Royal Mail is claiming that the first letter was delivered the 8th May, and as far as they're concerned the matter is closed.

    I also decide to test things by sending a 4th letter to Barclays, again recorded delivery.

    I also phone Royal Mail, they state their records show the first letter reached the UK on the 5th May, but was never delivered. I demand this be escalated, because this conflicts with the statement Royal Mail gave La Poste. There must be theft at Royal Mail, so I demand to speak with a manager. They promise to phone back within an hour. Several hours later I get a phone call and they explain they're investigating with the signatures department, and will contact me on Monday (yesterday).

    Nothing yesterday. I also check the 4th letter, and it arrived on the 27th but then also went missing!

    So I phone today and ask why no one got back to me yesterday. The guy (Peter) calls up my case file and suddenly gets all defensive, stating this fact over and over again: "The records show it reached the UK on the 5th May, there's nothing we can do. You need to contact La Poste."

    I tried to explain to him that Royal Mail has officially told La Poste it was delivered on 8th May and are now dropping the matter, so why does his (Royal Mail's) records not match with what La Poste are saying? Either La Poste is lying about Royal Mail, or Royal Mail lied to La Poste. Then he says: "I refuse to say any more", and goes silent, while I hear other operators chatting in the background still. I told him at the start of the conversation that I was recording all phone calls with Royal Mail.


    No one wants to take responsibility for this or investigate. The first letter contained a several hundred pound cheque, which I had to have re-issued by my publisher, and no one is doing anything. I'm getting the run-around and being ignored.

    Four letters were sent to Barclays in Leicester.

    Three were recorded, all of which were stolen.

    One was non-recorded which made it through.



    How the hell am I supposed to send mail to my bank when someone on Royal Mail is a thief, and no one wants to do anything or investigate this matter?!

    Any advice?

    #2
    The postman probably thinks you're French, and you know how the English hate the French.

    Sommat like that anyway.
    Kept you waiting, huh?

    Comment


      #3
      I'm not sure your letters are being stolen. Would be an awfully big coincidence if your letters kept passing through the same person!

      Who is the signatory for these letters that have apparently reached the UK? Who is causing your letters to go missing?

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by J0e Musashi View Post
        The postman probably thinks you're French, and you know how the English hate the French.

        Sommat like that anyway.

        My belief is that someone on Royal Mail's staff saw the BARCLAYS BANK address, saw the recorded sticker, and assumed there was cash inside, so stole it. The fact 3 letters were stolen shows there is an enormous black hole at Royal Mail, where some scumbag thief habitually steals recorded letters to banks.


        Originally posted by Daragon View Post
        I'm not sure your letters are being stolen. Would be an awfully big coincidence if your letters kept passing through the same person!

        Who is the signatory for these letters that have apparently reached the UK? Who is causing your letters to go missing?
        Royal Mail won't say. They said they would contact the signatures department and get back to me, but they haven't. Right now, according to their records and what they said on the phone, the letters have not been delivered. They're simply arrived in the UK, one mentioned Heathrow I think, and then according their screen they don't have further records.

        It arrived in the UK and was in Royal Mail's possession when it went missing.

        If you think it's a coincidence it went through the same person, I think it's even MORE of a coincidence that THREE recorded letters to Barclays all went missing.
        Last edited by Sketcz; 03-07-2012, 11:38.

        Comment


          #5
          Envelope full of icing sugar and a note saying it's anthrax, but a big warning outside the envelope saying not to open it.
          Wait for the news to report it and BAM.

          ...jail time for you probably but at least you may figure out who nicked the other ones.

          Comment


            #6
            In future use a courier instead ?

            At least the thief won't get the money as presumably your employer has got there bank to keep an eye out to see if someone does try to cash the checks.

            Have you not thought of getting paid by bank transfer etc ?

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Kryss View Post
              Envelope full of icing sugar and a note saying it's anthrax, but a big warning outside the envelope saying not to open it.
              Wait for the news to report it and BAM.

              ...jail time for you probably but at least you may figure out who nicked the other ones.
              "Money inside: Please do not open"

              Comment


                #8
                Just send to the building number/road. Don't put the company name?

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by wod View Post
                  In future use a courier instead ?

                  Have you not thought of getting paid by bank transfer etc ?
                  Checked courier, but Chronopost here is 50 Euro for a letter. I tried to look into Fedex/DHL/TNT, but they all require an account to arrange private pick-up, or me driving an hour to one of their local pick-up stations. I suppose I could send it Chronopost, but that's a big chunk of my pay, on top of bank charges and conversion fees.

                  The infuriating thing here is, recorded mail is meant to give you peace of mind, and yet it seems more risky than not using it.

                  Direct bank transfer isn't really feasible for freelancing, especially with US magazines which deal in cheques. I had enough trouble filling in US tax declaration forms seeing as I live outside the country.


                  Originally posted by charlesr View Post
                  Just send to the building number/road. Don't put the company name?
                  A good idea, except the address for cheques is Customer Service Dept, Barclays, Leicester, PO code. That's pretty much it. I've confirmed with the bank and they've stated that's all I need put, and they accept recorded delivery, courier, pretty much anything that delivers letters bar carrier pigeon.



                  Frankly I'm tempted to digitise my phone conversations with Royal Mail and put them on Youtube. These ***** blatantly don't give a ****.


                  Is there some kind of consumer watchdog for Royal Mail? Who do you go to in such a case? THREE recorded letters have gone missing!!!

                  Comment


                    #10
                    I've been tyring to think up some humerous quip about realistic reloading and the number of letters you have sent so far.

                    I'll keep thinking.
                    Kept you waiting, huh?

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Oh, silly Sketcz...

                      Somebody's not stealing your mail.

                      They are reading all your mail...

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Sketcz, could you not just open a bank account in France and deposit it there? I always send stuff to my mum to bank for me, anyone back home who could do that?

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by QualityChimp View Post
                          Oh, silly Sketcz...

                          Somebody's not stealing your mail.

                          They are reading all your mail...
                          We all do.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Aww, come on guys, I've been a victim of theft here, THREE TIMES.

                            Originally posted by Kryss View Post
                            Sketcz, could you not just open a bank account in France and deposit it there? I always send stuff to my mum to bank for me, anyone back home who could do that?
                            I suppose I could post it to a relative, but now I don't trust Royal Mail for anything. And besides, I want to get to the bottom of this. I want the jammy fingered toerag to be found and stopped!

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Do the french postal system have something like special delivery? Over here if you use royal mail special delivery your post goes in a separate stream to the regular post plus they are insured if they go missing. They are a lot harder to steal as they are more secure.

                              Regular recorded offers no protection at all.

                              Comment

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