Royal Mail customers are complaining about two-week delays and gifts that haven't arrived as shoppers face Christmas delivery chaos.
Shoppers have been left fearing their deliveries won't arrive on time for December 25 as retailers face a backlash from customers over delays caused by a surge in online shopping amid the coronavirus pandemic.
John Lewis, Boots and HMV have blamed the firm for delivery delays, and small business owners say their reputations are being damaged.
Royal Mail warned that strict Covid-19 restrictions and self-isolating staff have left it struggling to handle "exceptionally high volumes" during the online shopping boom.
Furious and frustrated customers have bombarded the firm with complaints and queries on Twitter, with one writing: "I’ve ordered some gifts for my dad and they haven’t arrived in two weeks.
Have your Christmas gift deliveries been severely delayed or not arrived? Email your story to webnews@mirror.co.uk.
"Also, I sent something to a friend and they still haven’t received their item. Please can I speak to a human being and not a computer to try and resolve this?"
Royal Mail has told customers on Twitter: "Due to the volume of enquiries we're receiving it may take us some time to get back to you, but we'll reply as soon as we can. Thanks for your patience."
Another customer tweeted: "What’s going on?? I haven’t received my parcel for over 16 days and it says item had the left the UK???"
A third added: "5 days my parcel has been sitting in Bellshill with a message saying it would immediately be re-routed.
"It hasn’t been scanned since Monday. I was told 2-3 days to sort it but nothing.
"This is essential items for my son, not gifts. Sort it out."
People have also complained their post was arriving less frequently.
Mariusz Luczakowski, who runs a small chocolate company in Worcestershire, said his customers have complained after having to wait a week or more for their deliveries to arrive.
He told the BBC: "I am feeling frustration, but at least it's not only me.
"It is a really scary and uncertain time for a small business owner and so easy to destroy the reputation of your own company by not delivering on time as promised."
Neil Watts, 58, from Edinburgh, told the BBC that a Christmas gift he ordered for his wife on November 27 still had not arrived despite paying for next day special delivery.
He aded: "It's the frustration of trying to resolve it. (Friday) is two weeks before Christmas. Do I cancel the order or wait?"
A postman from Manchester claimed their delivery office was short-staffed after losing "around 20 staff" over the last two years, and they were struggling to deal with far more parcels and letters than usual at this time of year.
They were told to prioritise tracked parcels and letters over everything else, the postman said.
"Everyone I speak to in the office feels awful that people aren't getting their Christmas cards and presents and many of us are working several hours overtime every day to try and prevent things backing up too much."
Royal Mail has blamed longer delivery times on social distancing rules at local mail centres and delivery offices.
It said a number of its staff are self-isolating.
The firm has told customers they may face "slightly longer delivery timescales" and disrupted services.
It said there had been a "greatly increased uptake of online Christmas shopping" driven by the lockdown.
Royal Mail has taken on 33,000 seasonal workers to cope with demand.
The company said: "Despite our best efforts, exhaustive planning and significant investment in extra resource, some customers may experience slightly longer delivery timescales than our usual service standards.
"This is due to the exceptionally high volumes we are seeing, exacerbated by the coronavirus-related measures we have put in place in local mail centres and delivery offices."
It is estimated there are 200million more parcels in the postal and courier system this year due to an online shopping boom caused by the pandemic.
Online orders are expected to be up by more than 50% as internet shopping overtakes the high street for the first time during a festive season.
