Royal Mail gave Agnes a present
RAW DEAL would like to wish Agnes Colquhoun, of Stoneyburn, West Lothian, a happy birthday – even though her big day was in January.
We hope she likes the present Royal Mail gave her.
She had already been sent a birthday gift by a friend, but wasn’t at home to take delivery on January 25 and the parcel was too big to fit through her letterbox.
As is standard practice, the postie took it back to the depot, leaving a note telling what he’d done and advising that Agnes could collect the parcel at her nearest post office.
So the next day that’s what Agnes did – or, at least, that’s what she attempted to do.
When she got to Stoneyburn Post Office it wasn’t there. They thought it had perhaps been returned to the sorting office. Agnes phoned, but it wasn’t there either.
Worse, they said that as the sender had lost their “proof of postage” receipt there was nothing further that could be done.
But what proof of postage could exist that is better than a delivery note saying the parcel had been in her local postie’s hands, at her house door, ready to deliver?
Agnes was advised to fill in a “lost, damaged or
delayed inland mail claim form”, which she duly did. But months passed with no news.
By the time July came around, six months on from her birthday, Agnes wrote to Raw Deal.
We got in touch with Royal Mail’s executive office. A spokesman told us: “I would like to reassure your reader that we do all we can to ensure the safety of mail in our network and are always concerned when an item goes missing.
“Despite our investigations we haven’t been able to establish what has gone wrong on this occasion.
“I know this is disappointing and I sincerely apologise.
“I have asked that the details of this complaint are passed to our Security and Investigations Team, who can use the information to drive improvements.
“As a goodwill gesture I have arranged for Mrs Colquhoun to receive a cheque for £50, which I hope she will accept with my apologies for the inconvenience she has endured.”