Postal Deliveries and Model Shops

[hayfield]

2 minutes ago, Ouroborus said:

 

It's a banner across the top of the page when you go to buy postage.  Click on the more info link and it tells you exactly about special delivery.  However it doesn't change the point - you didn't buy the postage.  You have no claim against the royal mail.  Take it up with the seller

 

Not if you use the quick route "Get A Price" 

 

The postage was paid from the money I sent. I accept contract rules state differently. However reputable companies look after ALL their customers.  

 

As it happens several years ago I received an item from an eBay seller in the post which suffered damage. The seller asked me to claim directly and posted me the receipt, the Royal Mail accepted my claim and paid me, they can be flexible 

[Colin_McLeod]

9 hours ago, GWR-fan said:

A few days ago I selected DHL as the courier to ship a package from a well known British store enroute to Sydney.  A sign of the times,  tracking shows the item was shipped across the Atlantic to "CINCINNATI HUB - USA" and has now been cleared out of Cincinnati enroute across the USA to Australia.   I am now wondering if my overdue Royal Mail packages may have had a similar detour on their way to me.

 

That seems a reasonable route to use rather than a detour; unless you are a flat earther lol

[GWR-fan]

4 minutes ago, Colin_McLeod said:

 

That seems a reasonable route to use rather than a detour; unless you are a flat earther lol

 

Typically,  a package from the UK would travel via the Eurasian route,  not cross the Atlantic,  the American continent and then the Pacific Ocean,  but then these are not typical times. 

[Guest Half-full]

4 hours ago, hayfield said:

 

Not if you use the quick route "Get A Price" 

 

The postage was paid from the money I sent. I accept contract rules state differently. However reputable companies look after ALL their customers.  

 

As it happens several years ago I received an item from an eBay seller in the post which suffered damage. The seller asked me to claim directly and posted me the receipt, the Royal Mail accepted my claim and paid me, they can be flexible 

I doesn't matter who sent the money, its the person who actually buys the postage that the contract is with.

 

If you are complaining because you didnt get next day delivery in times like these with severe staff shortages then you are being completely unreasonable

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, Half-full said:

I doesn't matter who sent the money, its the person who actually buys the postage that the contract is with.

 

If you are complaining because you didnt get next day delivery in times like these with severe staff shortages then you are being completely unreasonable

 

If you had read my postings from the start you would be aware that I have no issue with having to wait added time for our mail, and I am very grateful for the sterling service that the boots on the ground are giving us.

 

The first of my grumbles was that Royal Mail continued to sell a service which they had suspended, at the beginning and height of the crisis they were still selling a click and collect product which they stated could be handed in at the local post office, I went to 2 post offices who both told me I had to use the Royal Mails own customer service office, not only did I find the office shut but a member of staff was extremely unhelpful. I had to go to the Post Office for a third time and buy a different service.  Simply this online service should have been turned off

 

Secondly as for special delivery, I can accept in these times the normal guarantee cannot be guaranteed. So again do not print guaranteed to be delivered by 1pm on a label. Simple IT function by 9pm if possible.  Perhaps in these times it may be better suspending this service and upping the compensation on first class

 

Quite simply sort out the online software. Don't sell products which are not available,  don't g'tees you know you may have trouble providing. Hardly rocket science

 

A short while ago I found out a friend had bought 8 Special delivery labels on line. His wife took the parcels to the local post office who stated they could not accept these and she had to go to a main office. She got there and guess what it was closed. They had to relabel each item and go to the Post office and buy new special delivery labels just to get the things in the system.  Seems I am not the only one falling foul of the RM with their online products

 

 

[maq1988]

Twice I've shipped things privately with DPD in 'these times', both were picked up on time and arrived on time (next day in the UK). I've had multiple 8am drops also by DPD. I sent a model off somewhere with in the UK and Royal Mail delivered it on time (Monday sent - Wednesday arrived). Seems random.

 

Most of the time I'm now waiting for shops to have staff / complete their back orders first. I'm waiting on C&L to send me some copper clad sleepers and some coaches from Ebay. I'll just find something else to work on.

[Guest Half-full]

5 minutes ago, hayfield said:

 

If you had read my postings from the start you would be aware that I have no issue with having to wait added time for our mail, and I am very grateful for the sterling service that the boots on the ground are giving us.

 

The first of my grumbles was that Royal Mail continued to sell a service which they had suspended, at the beginning and height of the crisis they were still selling a click and collect product which they stated could be handed in at the local post office, I went to 2 post offices who both told me I had to use the Royal Mails own customer service office, not only did I find the office shut but a member of staff was extremely unhelpful. I had to go to the Post Office for a third time and buy a different service.  Simply this online service should have been turned off

 

Secondly as for special delivery, I can accept in these times the normal guarantee cannot be guaranteed. So again do not print guaranteed to be delivered by 1pm on a label. Simple IT function by 9pm if possible.  Perhaps in these times it may be better suspending this service and upping the compensation on first class

 

Quite simply sort out the online software. Don't sell products which are not available,  don't g'tees you know you may have trouble providing. Hardly rocket science

 

A short while ago I found out a friend had bought 8 Special delivery labels on line. His wife took the parcels to the local post office who stated they could not accept these and she had to go to a main office. She got there and guess what it was closed. They had to relabel each item and go to the Post office and buy new special delivery labels just to get the things in the system.  Seems I am not the only one falling foul of the RM with their online products

 

 

It may seem 'hardly rocket science' to you to change software, you try doing that quickly.  It has to be tested, both in a test environment and live both at source and at end user terminal before being fully implemented, its not an overnight process.  

 

RM's IT is not UK based, so having to get that change done, with the associated time differences, with most probably depleted staffing at the IT side (the company my employer uses for IT has been fully closed for weeks now - and I work for a key service)

 

Common sense would tell you not to rely on any guarantees at this time, collection points and RM offices close randomly due to virus related staffing issues.   Common sense would tell you that unless it was medical supplies, then there is no need to send anything by another other than normal post.  If you really need to, use a courier.

 

We should be grateful that RM are trying to keep the postal system running.  Some services are slower, some quicker, some non-existent, and that varies from place to place throughout the UK.

[hayfield]

2 minutes ago, Half-full said:

It may seem 'hardly rocket science' to you to change software, you try doing that quickly.  It has to be tested, both in a test environment and live both at source and at end user terminal before being fully implemented, its not an overnight process.  

 

RM's IT is not UK based, so having to get that change done, with the associated time differences, with most probably depleted staffing at the IT side (the company my employer uses for IT has been fully closed for weeks now - and I work for a key service)

 

Common sense would tell you not to rely on any guarantees at this time, collection points and RM offices close randomly due to virus related staffing issues.   Common sense would tell you that unless it was medical supplies, then there is no need to send anything by another other than normal post.  If you really need to, use a courier.

 

We should be grateful that RM are trying to keep the postal system running.  Some services are slower, some quicker, some non-existent, and that varies from place to place throughout the UK.

 

So selling products which you have suspended is fine ?

[Guest Half-full]

2 minutes ago, hayfield said:

 

So selling products which you have suspended is fine ?

This takes an IT change, which I've already explained is not a quick fix.

 

Take it up with RM when things improve for a refund

Edited May 12, 2020 by Half-full

[hayfield]

2 minutes ago, Half-full said:

This takes an IT change, which I've already explained is not a quick fix.

 

Take it up with RM when things improve for a refund

 

That makes it fine then.

[pirouets]

I have to say I think Mr Hayfield is right here. Any 1/2 decent eCommerce platform allows you to remove a piece of content from the web page with the product on it and thus not be able to select it which in turn calls the complex back end gizmo's without making IT changes and I say that having spent a number of years working on digital projects and products in the past, part of which involved the transformation of the main site to allow this and give the business control of the product set. 

 

As an example Amazon deploy code changes every 11.7 seconds. (https://techbeacon.com/devops/10-companies-killing-it-devops)

 

[Guest Half-full]

5 minutes ago, pirouets said:

I have to say I think Mr Hayfield is right here. Any 1/2 decent eCommerce platform allows you to remove a piece of content from the web page with the product on it and thus not be able to select it which in turn calls the complex back end gizmo's without making IT changes and I say that having spent a number of years working on digital projects and products in the past, part of which involved the transformation of the main site to allow this and give the business control of the product set. 

 

As an example Amazon deploy code changes every 11.7 seconds. (https://techbeacon.com/devops/10-companies-killing-it-devops)

 

There is no comparison between Amazon and RM's IT.  RM's site isnt built as an eCommerce platform, more an information portal with the ability to buy online bolted on.  Amazon has billions to throw at IT, and relies on it being 100%, RM doesn't have the money nor the need due to its physical presence on the high street

[maq1988]

3 minutes ago, pirouets said:

As an example Amazon deploy code changes every 11.7 seconds. (https://techbeacon.com/devops/10-companies-killing-it-devops)

 

There is a reason Amazon has the largest online retail presence. Code changes are vetted. They have the single largest cloud platform in the world (AWS), okay it could be Google but they hide their numbers. You can't just make code changes for fun. If you take down a datacenter region because you've screwed up a router config or DNS change you'll be in trouble.

 

Should RM be selling the service - no. Should they change it - yes. Are Post Offices struggling for multiple reasons - yes.

[hayfield]

37 minutes ago, maq1988 said:

 

There is a reason Amazon has the largest online retail presence. Code changes are vetted. They have the single largest cloud platform in the world (AWS), okay it could be Google but they hide their numbers. You can't just make code changes for fun. If you take down a datacenter region because you've screwed up a router config or DNS change you'll be in trouble.

 

Should RM be selling the service - no. Should they change it - yes. Are Post Offices struggling for multiple reasons - yes.

 

It does not say much for the programming if changing a price or a word on a label brings the whole system down. Supermarkets change prices, add and delete products every night without issues. Whilst Royal Mail is not in the same league as Amazon, its not a two bit back street retailer.

[meatloaf]

14 hours ago, hayfield said:

At the start of the lock down Royal Mail were still amazingly keeping up their normal service standards, I had not bought anything for 3 weeks, but for the past 10 days the post has been very slow. No complaints with the Posties who are doing a great job, with a far greater workload and I guess staff sickness. unfortunately the second Saturday without service coincides with a Friday Bank Holiday

 

I do have 2 grumbles with the Royal Mail, which is down to very slipshod management practices

 

1/  I bought a click and collect service which stated I could drop off at a Post office, that not the case as the Post Office does not accept this service, I then drove 5 + miles to the sorting office to find the Customer Service section to be closed, an employee who was passing was most unhelpful when I asked what should I do, I gave up waiting on the help line. The solution to me is quite simple if you cannot provide a service don't offer it

 

2/ I paid for a parcel to be sent to me next day delivery by 1pm, it arrived a day late saying guaranteed next day delivery claim if it is late. Only the sender can claim !!!. Now if they cannot provide this service due to the situation that's fine.    But dont offer it stating next day delivery guaranteed, its called taking money under false pretences.

 

This is not a moan about a group of hard working workers doing a sterling job, however some of those in  charge are clearly not up to it     

Special delivery items are being  guaranteed as next day delivered up to 9pm at night now.  This is assuming the sender gets to the post office before last collection which at one of the branches I work at is 11am at present. If they arrive on a Monday afternoon at 1pm it wont be delivered until Wednesday as it wont leave the post office till Tuesday. Come after last collection on a Saturday and it wont be there until tuesday

 

But any issues the sender has to sort as they have the contract

 

 

[maq1988]

1 hour ago, hayfield said:

 

It does not say much for the programming if changing a price or a word on a label brings the whole system down. Supermarkets change prices, add and delete products every night without issues. Whilst Royal Mail is not in the same league as Amazon, its not a two bit back street retailer.

 

Code changes and content changes are different things. Content changes should be swift with little repercussions managed by some form of CRM, but the poster above spoke about code changes at an impressive 11.7 seconds per change. Code changes are back-end, and require more consideration.

 

Don't get me wrong - I'm not disagreeing that RM shouldn't be selling a service they cannot deliver (lol), but at the same time things aren't as easy as some people hope. The world is full of things that shouldn't be.

 

Gaugemaster was storing account passwords in a reversible ** format for years (at least 2011 to 2018, I don't delete emails) - if you did a password reset they sent you your actual password via email, that's bad web security practice 101 (seems now fixed on their new platform). I raised it as a security issue. 

 

I'm sure turning off a 'service' on Royal Mail is easy - but how long is that approval process? How far up the chain does it need to go? How long is testing and Q&A. How many people will be upset that it's no longer a service offered?. There are factors we don't know.

 

Edit - ** I doubt it was even 'reversible', it could have just been plain text in a DB column

Edited May 12, 2020 by maq1988

[meatloaf]

2 hours ago, hayfield said:

 

So selling products which you have suspended is fine ?

 

What product do you think they are selling that's suspended? The 1pm guarantee? Its well  advertised that its now up to 9pm as I said above and I maje a point of telling people I sell the service to. They are using the 1pm labels - do you expect new labels?

 

To answer another of your points about special delivery purchased online, sometimes the till dosent recognise the barcode when scanned at the post office. Sometimes it works if the barcodes keyed in manually.  I don't know why this happens. If not youd have to take it the main sorting office.

 

EDIT - just seen you mean the label that prints off the till - we cannot alter what goes on that label bar the postcode and house number. Everything else is automatically generated when you say what service you want. For special delivery its 3 buttons - by 1pm - by 9am and Saturday guarantee. Then more buttons to select value - standard cover from £500 on the 1pm up to a max of £2500

Edited May 12, 2020 by meatloaf

[adb968008]

Around our way postman comes daily,

our online ordering is considerably more than before.
 

I ordered from Hattons a Colas Class 70 on sunday, it arrived today.

My order from Wizard models 10 days ago has not.

An order from Hereford models took around 3 days.

 

An Electrtren 0-6-0 from Spain (won Apr 27th), took 7 days, the one from France won the same day still isnt here, ebay wants me to wait until May 27th before investigating.

it was a lot slower 3 weeks ago, but i’m finding it closer to normal now.

 

 

Edited May 12, 2020 by adb968008

[hayfield]

8 hours ago, meatloaf said:

 

What product do you think they are selling that's suspended? The 1pm guarantee? Its well  advertised that its now up to 9pm as I said above and I maje a point of telling people I sell the service to. They are using the 1pm labels - do you expect new labels?

 

To answer another of your points about special delivery purchased online, sometimes the till dosent recognise the barcode when scanned at the post office. Sometimes it works if the barcodes keyed in manually.  I don't know why this happens. If not youd have to take it the main sorting office.

 

EDIT - just seen you mean the label that prints off the till - we cannot alter what goes on that label bar the postcode and house number. Everything else is automatically generated when you say what service you want. For special delivery its 3 buttons - by 1pm - by 9am and Saturday guarantee. Then more buttons to select value - standard cover from £500 on the 1pm up to a max of £2500

 

If there is a known issue with bar codes not being recognised, something must be done about it, perhaps a work around

 

My post office is excellent and the staff could not be more helpful. They told me they could not accept the online service I bought, I had to go to the Royal mail customer service office at the local sorting office to get it into the system, trouble was the office had been closed several days earlier. this was a few weeks ago

 

Yesterday I found out a friend purchased 7 special delivery labels, his local Post Office stated they could not accept these packets and was redirected to what he said was a main office, Trouble is when they arrived it was closed. They to ended up having to buy new postage labels at the Post office

 

Two people living in different counties, several weeks apart having the same problems.  

 

I don't mind waiting longer for my post, the service I use is dictated by the Royal Mail's terms of compensation. But selling items which cannot be accepted into the system should stop. Quite clearly something is amiss with some products

 

Many companies are simplifying their systems/products to enable their business to trade better in challenging times. The special delivery may be splitting hares, but until joining in this thread I had no idea Special Delivery terms had changed and if you use the short cuts to get a price or label there is no mention of these changes.

 

 

[newbryford]

Back to model shops and postal deliveries.......

 

Many model shops and suppliers are still operating mail order - usually from behind closed doors and with minimal staff to maintain distancing rules and a safe workplace. (Some places will find it easier than others to apply the rules)

Not only that, they are also receiving order levels higher than normal, so it's a double-edged sword to get stuff out of the door in good time.

Whilst there are obvious delays and hiccups via delivery systems, note that there are also delays at the shop/supplier due to the above staffing/distancing. Not helped by folk ringing up/emailing asking where their parcel is after a couple of days.

 

We must be thankful that they are actually working.

 

There is simply no consistency in how long it takes from an order being placed to delivery.

 

We currently live in times that are far from "normal" and some people are finding it difficult to grasp that.

 

 

[pirouets]

Reading the above is the problem actually simpler. Royal Mail do still provide the service but it does not make clear the limitations currently in place and that it is only available via the Royal Mail and there may be limitations on their office times. Should also be made clear on Post Office site.

 

The reason I write this is the Royal Mail and Post Offices are different companies doing different things. The Post Office just happens to act as a visible partner offering Postal, Goverment & Financial services.

[JohnDMJ]

7 hours ago, newbryford said:

Back to model shops and postal deliveries.......

 

Many model shops and suppliers are still operating mail order - usually from behind closed doors and with minimal staff to maintain distancing rules and a safe workplace. (Some places will find it easier than others to apply the rules)

Not only that, they are also receiving order levels higher than normal, so it's a double-edged sword to get stuff out of the door in good time.

Whilst there are obvious delays and hiccups via delivery systems, note that there are also delays at the shop/supplier due to the above staffing/distancing. Not helped by folk ringing up/emailing asking where their parcel is after a couple of days.

 

We must be thankful that they are actually working.

 

There is simply no consistency in how long it takes from an order being placed to delivery.

 

We currently live in times that are far from "normal" and some people are finding it difficult to grasp that.

 

 

 

Couldn't have put it any better!

 

Given that some couriers seem to be looking at the destination premesis and judging that it is closed without even leaving their seat, then returning the goods to sender, others seem to be doing sterling work in ensuring the 'post' gets through!

[AY Mod]

I had a parcel to be collected, after the other party booked it with DPD this morning the driver came to collect it within half an hour. :/ Efficiency confuses the hell out of me.

[pirouets]

39 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

I had a parcel to be collected, after the other party booked it with DPD this morning the driver came to collect it within half an hour. :/ Efficiency confuses the hell out of me.

Was sir still wrapping it then when it they turned up :-)

[AY Mod]

12 minutes ago, pirouets said:

Was sir still wrapping it then when it they turned up :-)

 

Erm, yes!