Royal Bastard Mail
Discussion
Apologies in advance if this is in breach of naming and shaming rules. Feel free to change the title to "UK's only Bastard postal service provider"
I'm apoplectic with rage. We sent out the first batch of our wedding invitations yesterday. They were printed at great expense, and Mrs MM spent literally hours wrapping the cards with vellum and tieing with ribbon to match her bridesmaids dresses. They were posted in top quality Conqueror 150gsm envelopes.
This morning, a handful of them were delivered to Mrs MM's mother's house, totally
destroyed. Ribbon torn to shreds, bits missing, envelopes completely gone. They only made it there because that was the RSVP address.
No doubt we have absolutely no
comeback because as far as I know RM accept no responsibility for items in their care despite holding a monopoly on the postal service. Is there anything I can do? I feel like going down to the sorting office and quite literally "going postal".
Rant over, thanks for listening!
I'm apoplectic with rage. We sent out the first batch of our wedding invitations yesterday. They were printed at great expense, and Mrs MM spent literally hours wrapping the cards with vellum and tieing with ribbon to match her bridesmaids dresses. They were posted in top quality Conqueror 150gsm envelopes.
This morning, a handful of them were delivered to Mrs MM's mother's house, totally
destroyed. Ribbon torn to shreds, bits missing, envelopes completely gone. They only made it there because that was the RSVP address. No doubt we have absolutely no
comeback because as far as I know RM accept no responsibility for items in their care despite holding a monopoly on the postal service. Is there anything I can do? I feel like going down to the sorting office and quite literally "going postal". Rant over, thanks for listening!
sorry to hear this miniman.
I tend to deliver by hand if it's something personal, or email long distance. But I guess with wedding invitations it's different, and it must be very upsetting.
The best thing you can do is ring everyone up, and realise that, at the end of the day, it's only money and a bit of effort wasted.
Concentrate on the important bit. Like the wedding! Congratulations!
I tend to deliver by hand if it's something personal, or email long distance. But I guess with wedding invitations it's different, and it must be very upsetting.
The best thing you can do is ring everyone up, and realise that, at the end of the day, it's only money and a bit of effort wasted.
Concentrate on the important bit. Like the wedding! Congratulations!

Some stuff here about what compensation you can claim for first class. Sounds like they might give you some stamps and not much else if you are lucky.
Don't get my started on the royal mail. I'm lucky if my posty comes a couple of times a week, and I consider it a blessing if my EVO magazine doesn't go "missing" every month. As deristrictor would say - "peasants".
Don't get my started on the royal mail. I'm lucky if my posty comes a couple of times a week, and I consider it a blessing if my EVO magazine doesn't go "missing" every month. As deristrictor would say - "peasants".
Sorry about that miniman wedding invitations are very special and the bastards should be more careful.
Just to illustrate how shite the RM can be I had a carnation through the mail a few years ago. It said "On your desk today on your customers deak tommorow" It was advertising the RM.
Great.... Except the fooking thing was dead. It had absolutely no redeeming features at all the bloody flower looked like it had been cooked on gas mark 9 for 3 hours then left out in the rain.
Wnakers.
Just to illustrate how shite the RM can be I had a carnation through the mail a few years ago. It said "On your desk today on your customers deak tommorow" It was advertising the RM.
Great.... Except the fooking thing was dead. It had absolutely no redeeming features at all the bloody flower looked like it had been cooked on gas mark 9 for 3 hours then left out in the rain.
Wnakers.

Can you get the mail delivered by another service? I know Fedex and UPS (in the US) mainly deliver packages, but I wonder if they don't have some alternative letter delivery to compete with the government mail? The USPS (US postal service) lost a gift my mother was sending. Fortunately she'd sent it insured, so they had to refund its worth, but you pay extra for the insurance. If the package is lost, you get nothing otherwise. That's the problem with government-based monopolies: no accountability, no quality, garaunteed. I'm so sorry about your invitations. Usually they're in a double envelope, as you've described, on special paper, and quite obviously an important, personal correspondence. Their mishandling seems that much more hurtful. The post office knows where all the letters go, so there's no way they can't figure out how all the damage occured. Maybe a commercial delivery company could help you, if you tell them about your woeful experience.
Congratulations on your getting married, though.
Congratulations on your getting married, though.

parrot of doom said:
Erm don't envelopes go through HUGE machines? Imagine putting a pencil underneath your fanbelt as it was running.....
I'm not surprised if you had ribbons on the outside if they were damaged.
I think the ribbons were on the cards which were inside the envelopes...could be wrong though
seafarer said:
Can you get the mail delivered by another service? I know Fedex and UPS (in the US) mainly deliver packages, but I wonder if they don't have some alternative letter delivery to compete with the government mail? The USPS (US postal service) lost a gift my mother was sending. Fortunately she'd sent it insured, so they had to refund its worth, but you pay extra for the insurance. If the package is lost, you get nothing otherwise. That's the problem with government-based monopolies: no accountability, no quality, garaunteed. I'm so sorry about your invitations. Usually they're in a double envelope, as you've described, on special paper, and quite obviously an important, personal correspondence. Their mishandling seems that much more hurtful. The post office knows where all the letters go, so there's no way they can't figure out how all the damage occured. Maybe a commercial delivery company could help you, if you tell them about your woeful experience.
Congratulations on your getting married, though.
In the UK delivery of post for under £1 is governed by a Royal Warrent & law - the only two companies that can do this are the Royal Mail and what was formally known as Hays DX (www.thedx.co.uk/). Even then there were some 'interesting' rules about what could classify as a DX exchange...
I know there has been various bits on de-regulation and tenders etc but sooner the better really...
Wow the good news is that it's ALL changing now! :-
www.thedx.co.uk/ab_the_dx_regulation.htm
"Under full market opening postal operators will still be required to hold a licence from Postcomm, but they will be free to deliver any mail, from single letters to huge bulk mailings, in competition with Royal Mail. They will be able to offer any service that meets customers’ needs, though in doing so they will have to comply with codes of practice relating to mail security issues and certain procedures for handling mail between different networks. It is expected that existing licences, including that currently held by DX Network Services Ltd, will either be suitably modified or replaced by new licences to reflect the new regime before the end of 2005."
www.thedx.co.uk/ab_the_dx_regulation.htm
"Under full market opening postal operators will still be required to hold a licence from Postcomm, but they will be free to deliver any mail, from single letters to huge bulk mailings, in competition with Royal Mail. They will be able to offer any service that meets customers’ needs, though in doing so they will have to comply with codes of practice relating to mail security issues and certain procedures for handling mail between different networks. It is expected that existing licences, including that currently held by DX Network Services Ltd, will either be suitably modified or replaced by new licences to reflect the new regime before the end of 2005."
minimax said:
parrot of doom said:
Erm don't envelopes go through HUGE machines? Imagine putting a pencil underneath your fanbelt as it was running.....
I'm not surprised if you had ribbons on the outside if they were damaged.
I think the ribbons were on the cards which were inside the envelopes...could be wrong though
Correct

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