anPost: False green notice "Sorry We Missed You"

alex_r

Hi guys,

Just wanted to share my story and perhaps someone will find it familiar.
Usually I don't write such things, but I feel as I have to add my voice to this issue! Because neither me or our neighborhoods or other people can't stand that anymore.

For the last couple years we were receiving many times false post notices(those green paper notice)
Post guys just leave green notices at the door stating "Sorry we missed you" as if we werent at home at that moment. Which was complete lie!
We even seen simple postmans walking away from our doors but not any sign of van or other vehicle that could bring our parcel!
How's that?

I am not sure that the service people expect when the using post service!

Just yesterday I've got again this false green notice at my office that situated on Mary's Abbey St, Dublin 7.
We have full office of people always in and again a postman was dare enough to just stick this green paper in the slot of our office door stating that he "missed me"

For god's sake! How's that possible?

And now the worst part is that I have to arrange some collection on my own. It would be ok if a local office would be somewhere in near location but collection office stated in the green notice located on Bannow Road. That's 4 kilometres walk from my office and about an hour of time only in one way. Yes I don't have a car and I live in Dublin 8

Can you imagine my frustration from their service?

I'll try to give them a ring tomorrow just to try rearrange some redelivery to more close local post office if that's possible or something else.
But not sure how they can help me since the writing on the notice is awful, you can't read anything form it. Not to mention that the date is wrong, I've got this notice only on 29th.



And also I can't trust anymore to any their paid redelivery due to this false deliveries!

Even if I will somehow resolve this issue, it is still a lot of wasted time and my nerves.
Should I waste my working day on those phone calls or travels to their offices?

I believe such false approach to the customers should not be acceptable even if local post offices have some time or personal issues.

I know my post is a drop in the ocean but I am still hope somehow it will make difference!

How can we stop this bull**it? Create a petition?
Or I misunderstand something?

Bepolite

alex_r wrote: »

Or I misunderstand something?

Yes, that you'll succeed in doing anything to change An Post. This is standard practice. The parcel is with the parcel section, these notices come via the post man. No one ever attempts to deliver the parcels.

dudara

This has been discussed to death many times before on this forum.

It's pretty much common practice that they don't deliver the parcels. They notify you that they're there for collection.

crazygeryy

Bepolite wrote: »

This is standard practice. No one ever attempts to deliver the parcels.

That is total bs and a sweeping generalization. It is not standard practice to do this in an post not at all.and no one ever attempts to deliver the parcels? Your talking out through your arse.

Op ring customer service and complain. They are supposed to knock. Is your doorbell working are you always there? Again it is Not STANDARD PRACTICE.

gufnork

Yes, agreed. You are being given nonsense information OP by some of the other posters here. It certainly IS NOT standard practise. We get an awful lot of parcels delivered to us by our postman. Never have any problems.

Like others here, I would advise you to complain to an post, I most certainly would if it started happening to me.

Diemos

I've always found that if I've been home, I rarely am, they've had the parcel no matter how big.

And they are infinitely superior to Fedex and UPS in my opinion.

dudara

From my experience, my postman makes a judgement call as he knows that I'm not normally at home during the day. He always delivers stuff that will fit, but doesn't deliver bigger stuff at all (he leaves it in the depot) and drops off one of those notices.

caew

My postman doesn't even deliver CDs through my letterbox, which would easily fit. He put the green slip through my door one day when I was home, he had not knocked or rang the bell. I went out to ask him for the parcel (a CD) and he told me that he didn't have it with him. the slips were written up before he leaves the depot.

keithclancy

Yeh .. same here, anytime I answered the door quick enough he was running away, then admitted he didn't have it as it didn't fit on his bicycle.

Bepolite

crazygeryy wrote: »

That is total bs and a sweeping generalization. It is not standard practice to do this in an post not at all.and no one ever attempts to deliver the parcels? Your talking out through your arse.

Op ring customer service and complain. They are supposed to knock. Is your doorbell working are you always there? Again it is Not STANDARD PRACTICE.

An post have categorically told me they don't attempt to deliver parcels to certain addresses. These would be addresses served by every other courier firm. It's standard practice.

looksee

Where I live we have parcels delivered by courier, An Post vans, and packets by the regular postman. I have just (a couple of minutes ago) received a parcel ordered from Germany on Sunday evening and delivered by An Post this morning (Thursday). Our postman knows the area well enough that we take in parcels for immediate neighbours, and they for us, if we are out. On a very few occasions we have had a green slip, but always because we were genuinely out.

dilallio

looksee wrote: »

Where I live we have parcels delivered by courier, An Post vans, and packets by the regular postman. I have just (a couple of minutes ago) received a parcel ordered from Germany on Sunday evening and delivered by An Post this morning (Thursday). Our postman knows the area well enough that we take in parcels for immediate neighbours, and they for us, if we are out. On a very few occasions we have had a green slip, but always because we were genuinely out.

Same as this

morgana

We never have problems with anPost delivering parcels - they are way superior to most of courier services, especially if you live out in sticks where your postie knows who and where you are while courier services have to ring or cba to find out (we had one guy giving us bold faced lies that he had rung the mobile when he clearly had not). Never any hassle with our posties. I just got a big heavy parcel on Monday which he insisted to bring into the kitchen and put on my table as it was so heavy!

Bepolite

I'm sure in the country where they can pull up, wander in and have a chat they're great. It's been a long running debate that postal services should not be fully privatised because these loss making routes would be discontinued.

OP is in central Dublin however where the service is no where near as good as other courier firms. An post simply do not bother with many addresses. To be fair it's based on their experiences of probably getting less than a 10% strike rate on people being in. It's still bloody annoying though when you are in and they don't bother, or you know there is absolutely no point in rearranging delivery as they never come out.

Again I doubt it's a guy on a bike delivering parcels, I suspect if you're in a more rural area it's a guy in a van. In the big smoke it's a guy on a bike that does the letters and these 'we missed you things' and a man in a van that does the parcels. The man in the van just says "not going there, there, there or there and hands a big pile of dockets to the postman. Who I will say in my area, despite looking like Rasputin on a bad hair day is a sound fella.

looksee

I am not in the country, reference my post above, I am in a housing estate in a town.

crazygeryy

Bepolite wrote: »

An post have categorically told me they don't attempt to deliver parcels to certain addresses. These would be addresses served by every other courier firm. It's standard practice.

whoever told you that is categorically wrong.there is an attempt made with every single parcel unless told not to or the postman/woman is acting the dick.again it is not standard practice.

crazygeryy

dudara wrote: »

This has been discussed to death many times before on this forum.

It's pretty much common practice that they don't deliver the parcels. They notify you that they're there for collection.


From my experience, my postman makes a judgement call as he knows that I'm not normally at home during the day. He always delivers stuff that will fit, but doesn't deliver bigger stuff at all (he leaves it in the depot) and drops off one of those notices.

you seem to be contradicting yourself.

if you had a day off and he left you a notice to collect your parcel where ever it is i dont think youd be to happy.he doesnt know when you are there or not there(unless you have a personal arrangement with an post) nor does he give a damn, believe me.
take the parcel out knock at the door if no one is home leave a note, this is the standard practice.by the way im not saying every single post person does this.they may not but they should.
judgement calls are not standard practice either.

dudara

crazygeryy wrote: »

you seem to be contradicting yourself.

if you had a day off and he left you a notice to collect your parcel where ever it is i dont think youd be to happy.

Possibly mildly irked, but I know that me being at home is the 1 in 100 event, and I wouldn't blame the postman for that.

he doesnt know when you are there or not there(unless you have a personal arrangement with an post) nor does he give a damn, believe me.

Believe it or not, postmen are quite clued in on what people do. Remember they deliver your letters and walk up to your house every day. Even in a city, your local postman will get to know something about you. The only exceptions are apartment blocks.

Bepolite

crazygeryy wrote: »

whoever told you that is categorically wrong.there is an attempt made with every single parcel unless told not to or the postman/woman is acting the dick.again it is not standard practice.

Several people in the D8 collection office and people on the 'help'line.

It's absolute rubbish that they even attempt in many places in the City Centre.

beauf

caew wrote: »

... I went out to ask him for the parcel.... and he told me that he didn't have it with him....

I had the same experience. I stopped using them. Stuck to things like Parcel Motel for this reason.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I nicely worded letter direct to the Post Master will clear this up one way or the other.

Michael D Not Higgins

OP where in Dublin 8 are you? You could see if they'd be willing to bring it to their collection depot on the South Circular, if that's any use to you.

crazygeryy

Bepolite wrote: »

Several people in the D8 collection office and people on the 'help'line.

It's absolute rubbish that they even attempt in many places in the City Centre.

You either don't like an post,an post have done something to you that you didn't like or your trolling.

One call to an post customer service just five minutes ago and they said they absolutely must take out all parcel s and attempt to deliver them unless the customer Has informed an post of otherwise.

My advice to op is complain complain complain.

No Pants

Complain to the people you're buying the contents of the parcel from. They're the ones you're paying.

I live in Swords and we get the chap on the bike in the morning and a guy in a van later if there are larger packages.

Bepolite

crazygeryy wrote: »

You either don't like an post,an post have done something to you that you didn't like or your trolling.

One call to an post customer service just five minutes ago and they said they absolutely must take out all parcel s and attempt to deliver them unless the customer Has informed an post of otherwise.

My advice to op is complain complain complain.

Yes because no one ever in a customer service call centre has ever told a fib. Perhaps with a bit of persistence, a bit of a chat to a few people you might get the actual story.

I have absolutely no doubt my parcel is in the back of his van as he drives past my gaffe and doesn't stop in either of the loading bays within ten yards of the front gate. In fact I absolutely know it is. I've done this dance so many times with deliveries from amazon at this stage (sometimes twice a week) that there have been a couple of times I've been at the office and the parcel is 'out for delivery'. Someone has been at home so I ring and have they delivered it - have the bo...

Either you love An post, work for an post or are trolling.

I've absolutely nothing against An post, the sorting office is a short stroll from where I am three days a week. Makes sod all difference to me, the postman I have (bike guy) is great. The lads at the D8 sorting office are grand, ask the nicely and they'll go looking for stuff, and be especially nice and they'll even tell you the magical secrets*.

*Because they're not secrets, they're standard practice.

coylemj

I've had mixed experiences with An Post, I think as with a lot of things it all depends on the employee on the day as there are mixed messages on this thread.

The absolute worst case was when I asked for a mail order item from the UK to be delivered to my office which is open from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mon-Fri. The company I ordered from told me that delivery failed because the delivery company (An Post) 'failed to make contact' with anyone with no other explanation. Given that the office is in D4, is on a busy street and there are hundreds of people coming and going all day, this simply wasn't credible so I made my dissatisfaction known to the mail order company and suggested they use a different courier company. During office hours there would be both a receptionist and a security man on duty so no way was there nobody there to accept a delivery. I double-checked and the exact street address and company name (which is prominently displayed outside the building) were on the parcel.

For home deliveries, I remember at least one occasion when I heard something drop through my letterbox and it was the 'we called etc.' leaflet (i.e. no attempt to deliver) which meant I had to go to the sorting office the next day. However, lately the service has improved significantly, largely because for some reason (in D18), they have switched to delivering parcels in the afternoon when I'm more likely to be at home so I haven't had to trudge up to Ballyogan Road for a while.

dantastic

Same here. I haven't had them attempt a delivery in a very long time.
The green slip is sometimes dated the day before as well. Don't know if that means something, maybe they don't deliver anything at all some days.

byronbay2

dantastic wrote: »

Same here. I haven't had them attempt a delivery in a very long time.
The green slip is sometimes dated the day before as well. Don't know if that means something, maybe they don't deliver anything at all some days.

Likewise - has happened to me loads of times. I used to get infuriated but have reached a state of "Serenity Now" at this stage. Caught the postman dropping the leaflet in the door one day and he admitted that he didn't have the package with him. His argument was that he couldn't be carrying all those packages every day, his back would be broken!

On the other hand, I have never had a problem with the courier companies (UPS, DPP etc.) - they ring, organise a time for delivery and then call within 15 minutes of the agreed time.

barone

dudara wrote: »

From my experience, my postman makes a judgement call as he knows that I'm not normally at home during the day. He always delivers stuff that will fit, but doesn't deliver bigger stuff at all (he leaves it in the depot) and drops off one of those notices.

this is bull.

a postman MUST take out all items on his route daily,if he leaves something behind he will get a call to go back to the office and collect it.. there can be NO items left behind in the office that have come in for delivery that morning/during the night shift .. this includes all parcels.

if you see your postman leave a notice without attempting delivery then call him/her back and find out what the hell is going on,a delivery must be attempted,if they have gone then ring the office straight away and complain,the office will ring them and tell them to go back..

if however the postman has been,knocked,rang a bell..and you have not heard it for what ever reason,and you see the notice 20 mins later having not left the house/flat etc and you ring saying they never knocked etc,then you are calling them liars and they could be reprimanded upon complaint, which is not fair if they have in fact attempted delivery,you just did not hear it.

do not expect them to be happy with you if they had indeed knocked.

if however you have seen them not attempting delivery then call them back,call the office right away.. they will still be in the area and will go back with your item.

yes im a postie, i know how it works.



i had a woman ring complaining id not attempted to deliver a item to her flat,she rang the office and they rang me .. but i was two doors away attempting delivery of another item,when my office told her that she refused to come out,stating she was leaving for work via the underground car park..

turns out she wanted it re deliverd to her job that same day to save her collecting it.. but she could have gotten me into bother had i not been outside her bloody door (she obviously never checked the attempted delivery time noted on the slip,which by the way is recorded by the scanners used by an post for recorded delivery items) and that info is live in seconds on the system once scanned.

anyway.. dont come on here complaining,nothing will change.. contact an post directly.


btw, they are well used to people saying that the postie did not knock,then look for a redelivery elsewhere ..they have heard all the excuses.




on a side note,if you have a regular postie it pays to be friendly to him or her,actually you dont need to be friendly,just dont be rude,or call them liars, most will go out of there way to accommodate you on any special delivery requests you make from them, i.e could you drop it to the office,neighbour etc etc .. and i dont mean you have to tip them either.

bear in mind,it takes a lot longer to write out them notices and then process the parcels etc back into the system on return to the office then it does to knock and get a signature or deliver a item that dont fit in box ..once we hand them to you our job is done,if your not home its xtra work for us ..we prefer to deliver,trust me.

foggy_lad

crazygeryy wrote: »

That is total bs and a sweeping generalization. It is not standard practice to do this in an post not at all.and no one ever attempts to deliver the parcels? Your talking out through your arse.

Op ring customer service and complain. They are supposed to knock. Is your doorbell working are you always there? Again it is Not STANDARD PRACTICE.

It sppears to be standard practice in many areas and especially when a van driver or other postman/woman is sick or on holidays.

gufnork wrote: »

Yes, agreed. You are being given nonsense information OP by some of the other posters here. It certainly IS NOT standard practise. We get an awful lot of parcels delivered to us by our postman. Never have any problems.

Like others here, I would advise you to complain to an post, I most certainly would if it started happening to me.

I would complain to the sender of the parcel and demand they arrange to resend at no cost to me. Making sure they are aware that no attempt was made to deliver the first time!

Is it a case that they want people to pay the extortionate rates for the redelivery option? in effect forcing people to pay twice for post?

coylemj

Could it be that larger packages which go out in vans have a better chance of being delivered first time? Some posters are suggesting that the regular postman often doesn't bother bringing the package to the door so he just drops the leaflet. My recent experience has been with van deliveries, they knock on the door and wait for me so they definitely are not mad keen to drop the leaflet and run.

barone

coylemj wrote: »

Could it be that larger packages which go out in vans have a better chance of being delivered first time? Some posters are suggesting that the regular postman often doesn't bother bringing the package to the door so he just drops the leaflet. My recent experience has been with van deliveries, they knock on the door and wait for me so they definitely are not mad keen to drop the leaflet and run.

postie has to take everything out,there is no option to leave it in the office other then a mail holding service ,or re direction.. both bikes and vans ,or trolleys .. everything must go,everything must be accounted for upon any returns

Daemos

The postmen in our area seem to have learned that nobody gets up at 9am to take in parcels, so now they deliver regular letters at that time, and then come back 3 hours later to try to deliver bigger ones. Only then do they write it up if nobody answers

That's a really solid service and beyond the call of duty IMO

allthedoyles

looksee wrote: »

Where I live we have parcels delivered by courier, An Post vans, and packets by the regular postman. I have just (a couple of minutes ago) received a parcel ordered from Germany on Sunday evening and delivered by An Post this morning (Thursday). Our postman knows the area well enough that we take in parcels for immediate neighbours, and they for us, if we are out. On a very few occasions we have had a green slip, but always because we were genuinely out.

Same as this

wingnut

I have experienced the 'sorry we missed you' while in he house, no knock but hear it coming through the letterbox.

Recently I was waiting for a parcel from Amazon. After three weeks I got worried made a few calls. Has shipped in two days to Limerick and was sitting in the parcel office for three weeks, no phone call, no notice in the door.

Also annoying is that the collection depot in Limerick has no parking facilities.

ScouseMouse

Completely agree. I caught my postman doing it. No attempt was made, he didnt even have it with him.

crazygeryy

superscouse wrote: »

Completely agree. I caught my postman doing it. No attempt was made, he didnt even have it with him.

Well as with every other company/job/ buisness on the planet there are chancers in them, an post is not immune to chancers.
Complain complain complain and it will stop.

sawdoubters

the parcels in his van down the road

Miaireland

I'm very lucky with the Post Service where I live. If I get a parcel and there is nobody home the postmen drop it into my workplace as it is on the way to the depo.

07734

this is one of the main reasons i use parcel motel. (though there is one 100 yards from my house, so its an easy decision)

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

barone

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

that's because they dont,parcels are delivered by a van

Fuzzy Clam

I'm lucky with living in the sticks my postie drives a van so parcels are always delivered.
On one occasion I was out when he called with a parcel. I passed him driving home and he flagged me down.
Can't argue with that type of service.
I feel guilty that in 8 years I still haven't given him anything at Christmas.

Yggr of Asgard

In my Area (Swords) these are 2 different services, the letters and small packages are delivered by the AnPost delivery guy (the one who walks around) and packages are delivered by a guy in a van from the parcel depot (which for long time was at a different location until they merged in Malahide). It's 2 different services.

I had this for a long time, attempted delivery notices in my mailbox at crazy hours (0630 to 0800) or at times I even could see the driver getting out of his car (not van) putting the note in during the day. It transpired that AnPost has contracted someone to delivery parcels (not mail) in my area and he was not doing what he was supposed to do.

I complained to AnPost Customer service and the regulator and within days it was sorted, now we are back to a nice driver, that comes at reasonable times, always has the package with him and is friendly.

Complain to AnPost and the regulator would be my suggestion to the OP,

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

dublin-texas wrote: »

In my Area (Swords) these are 2 different services, the letters and small packages are delivered by the AnPost delivery guy (the one who walks around) and packages are delivered by a guy in a van from the parcel depot (which for long time was at a different location until they merged in Malahide). It's 2 different services.

I had this for a long time, attempted delivery notices in my mailbox at crazy hours (0630 to 0800) or at times I even could see the driver getting out of his car (not van) putting the note in during the day. It transpired that AnPost has contracted someone to delivery parcels (not mail) in my area and he was not doing what he was supposed to do.

I complained to AnPost Customer service and the regulator and within days it was sorted, now we are back to a nice driver, that comes at reasonable times, always has the package with him and is friendly.

Complain to AnPost and the regulator would be my suggestion to the OP,

Exactly. If An Post are not attempting delivery then write to an Post. It is easily sorted. Much better to send a formal complaint and see it sorted than just complain in public about it.

Frigga_92

When I lived in Dublin, this used to drive me mad. My postman would do this all the time and no amount of complaining made a difference, I wrote a few letters of complaint, made phone calls, nobody cared.

I live pretty much in the middle of nowhere now and we are blessed with a lovely postman. He is new enough, only working the route about 2 years now, the postman before him was equally lovely.
He knows that myself and my husband are usually gone from the house by 8:30am every morning, he also knows we both drive motorbikes and do not have a car so picking parcels up from the depot can be a pain, so whenever possible he interrupts his route and detours to our house with any parcels before 8:30am to save us the trip to the depot.
So whilst I do agree that some an post workers do not fulfil their duties properly, you cannot tar them all with the same brush. However, maybe we are just very very lucky with our current postman.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

barone

Fred Swanson wrote: »

But you did say earlier that all items must be sent out for delivery.

And your confused how ?

Mail and packets on a bike..parcels in a van.. doesnt mean same person does both jobs

I have to say our postman always delivers parcels

Jim van Morrison

sawdoubters wrote: »

the parcels in his van down the road

Do you pick random threads off the front page or what? Single sentence post & no intention whatever towards discussion?

Are you mental, by any chance?

suicide_circus

crazygeryy wrote: »

That is total bs and a sweeping generalization. It is not standard practice to do this in an post not at all.and no one ever attempts to deliver the parcels? Your talking out through your arse.

Op ring customer service and complain. They are supposed to knock. Is your doorbell working are you always there? Again it is Not STANDARD PRACTICE.

while it may not be "standard practice", it is certainly endemic. Caught An Post staff delivering the "sorry we missed you" cards more than once without attempting to ring the doorbell. D8 area also.
Your fierce defense of An Post is admirable though, care to declare an interest?:D