In March I used ipostparcels, a subsidiary of UK Mail, to send a guitar to Brussels. Delivery was twice attempted by its Belgian delivery partner, postNL, while the consignee was out.
When he called postNL it denied having the parcel, stating it did not recognise the consignment number, even though it was handwritten on two cards left by its delivery person.
Numerous phone calls by myself and the consignee have failed to elicit any help. In the meantime, postNL emailed UK Mail and stated it was returning the undeliverable parcel – the one they were saying they never had – to the UK.
UK Mail has told me various things, and I have failed to obtain compensation forms from ipostparcels because it only allow claims to be sent via an online form which requires a UK destination postcode!
Next, UK Mail said that the parcel is at its international department in Birmingham, but customer services tells me that department is uncontactable. Now they have emailed stating the case was closed. CP, Halstead, Essex
UK Mail, whose staff were filmed throwing and kicking parcels by a Channel 4 Dispatches team two years ago, claims that postNL attempted delivery four times and returned the parcel to the UK after the recipient failed to make contact, whereupon it was lost. “Unfortunately we have not been made aware of any communication between our delivery partner and the consignor/consignee,” a spokesperson says. As for the website, which only allows complaints about UK deliveries, UK Mail says it is pondering the brainwave of allowing the rest of its customers to report problems.
It gets worse. The email advising you that the case was closed was sent by an automated process aligned to the delivery systems. “Occasionally, a case is automatically closed if our system is in receipt of inaccurate information that it has been successfully resolved,” the spokesperson says.
The story doesn’t end there. Finally, UK Mail announces that it has found the guitar, but on the day it was due back you waited in in vain. The tracking page told you to call, but no phone number was given. A second date was made and again you waited … but the driver “didn’t have your address”.
Third time lucky – it arrived. You’ve been refunded the original postage and the website has introduced online chat.
