Re: How Do I contact The Royal Mail
 

As the office was closed and that particular part of NatWest moved from Leeds to Edinburgh after the item was mailed, it would have made no difference. By the way it was posted on Friday Nov 2 and Royal Mail attempted delivery on Monday Nov 5. UPS was $64 USPS Priorty Express mail was $38, and UPS would not have been any quicker. As not even UPS etc can deliver to an empty building your comment is somewhat worthless.

The fault lies with Natwest for not giving any advance notice of their impending move. At least using USPS I can see from their tracking site the attempts Royal Mail are making to have Natwest collect the item.

Re: How Do I contact The Royal Mail
 

Of course.

If you've not done so already you may wish to search at http://www.saynoto0870.com to find a "real" Royal Mail phone number.

Re: How Do I contact The Royal Mail
 

Thanks I already have the number for a sorting office in Leeds to call Monday. But I anticipate they will not take redirection instructions from an unknown person on the telephone. Neither would I expect them too.

Re: How Do I contact The Royal Mail
 

Which is where you would have had more luck with FedEx or UPS because in that case you would not have been an "unknown person" you would have been "the shipper" - a valued customer - and, having verified your identity they most certainly would have been both willing and able to alter the delivery address.

Re: How Do I contact The Royal Mail
 

i suspect the natwest has a mail redirect in place too. BUT your envelope is out of the loop - sitting in the dept that processes these types of things waiting for the end recipient to call in etc etc. if you could get them to put the mail back in the normal processing loop - i would imagine the redirect would pick it up.

Re: How Do I contact The Royal Mail
 

How would UPS know I was the shipper. I take stuff into the local franchised UPS store, how would UPS know at a later date they are talking to the same person. I shipped a box UPS the other day, and was never asked for my personal details.

I have the USPS tracking label. It has information written on it by the receiving office, which is also on the copy on the package, which I can provide. But how do they know they are speaking to the sender. Royal Mail will accept redirection from the addressee, which is what they have contacted Natwest to ask for. Natwest have not responded to date.

Re: How Do I contact The Royal Mail
 

I think you have hit the nail on the head. It is a tracked to be signed for package and for some reason it hasn't been redirected. Heck it could go to any Natwest branch and they could handle it.

Re: How Do I contact The Royal Mail
 

OK, perhaps it wouldn't have worked for that case - I don't know.

I have a personal FedEx account (which costs nothing to set up) so when I want to send a FedEx packages I just go to their web site, enter the details and print the shipping labels. FedEx has sufficient information about me in my account to be able to confirm my identity if I call them and, over the last ten years or so, I have successfully altered the delivery address on several FedEx packages by just calling them.

Of course your mileage may vary.

Re: How Do I contact The Royal Mail
 

Very true. I can tell you that USPS International mail is handled by FedEx but the difference is they track the bag not the individual contents unlike FedEx's own mail, at least that's how they do it when loading our planes.

I also fell foul of Royal Mail's delivery guarantee last month when I was over there. It was supposed to have been delivered by Monday 29th and ended up arriving on Wednesday 31st. It showed as being out for delivery that Monday morning then nothing! During those days, nobody could tell me what had happened. "I'm sure it's not lost we just don't know where it is?!" Even the local sort office didn't know. I ended up having to hand deliver the contents and shutdown a bank account that I'd opened up because I assumed they had lost it. That's the last time I use their "special delivery" service.

Then again in the past, I've had certified mail from UK that never arrived nor did the USPS know what happened to it!

Re: How Do I contact The Royal Mail
 

Well the plot thickens. Have spoken to Royal Mail. They do not handle international mail it is handled by ParcelForce Worldwide. Tried calling the number given to me it doesn't ring out. Looked up some numbers - no reply.

Guess will just have to wait until someone decides to return it.

Re: How Do I contact The Royal Mail
 

DOH slaps self on head. Never assume the USPS cant handle things, just because dumb and dumber in the local post office say they can't.

Just called customer service. If I call back tomorrow when the international office is open, they will send the redirection instructions to the UK.

Re: How Do I contact The Royal Mail
 

I recall sending something in the UK at the Post Office. I asked for tracking and signed-for international. She happily took my money and item, handed me the tracking receipt, and said, "You'll be able to track it as far as the airport. Then you'll be lucky to track it after that" (paraphrasing). The next item went by one of those consolidators that gets cheaper prices for Fedex etc - yes it cost more but it was important so it was worth it.

Re: How Do I contact The Royal Mail
 

I can track this online via either the USPS site or the Royal Mail, using the US tracking number. I can see it is held for an "incorrect" address and the addressee has been contacted.

The other problem I had was while it was a street address, it had a PO Box number in it. Neither UPS or Fedex accept items with a box number as part of the address. Fortunately the new address is a full street address, so if I can get it back UPS will be taking it to Edinburgh.

Re: How Do I contact The Royal Mail
 

For those consumed with curiosity as to what the outcome of this saga was, here is the concluding part. I sent an online complaint to NatWest who called me the next day (yesterday). The lady I spoke to tracked the envelope to the Parcel Force depot in Leeds, and sent someone to collect it this morning. She also arranged for NatWest to credit my account for £70 to cover lost interest, and cost of phone calls to the UK, which I thought was very generous of them.

Re: How Do I contact The Royal Mail
 

Glad to hear you got it resolved.

NatWest really aren't too bad overall. At least you don't bank with Santander. They truly are the pits. :frown: