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A delivery driver has slammed “uncaring” Royal Mail after his elderly mother was left without her Christmas gifts.
Teessider Mark Hesse, now of Merseyside, was due to make a 300-mile round-trip to visit his Thornaby mother Pam – who is 92 and battling inoperable cancer – for the festive season last year. However, cold weather struck, and the 60-year-old decided against risking the frozen roads, instead sending his gifts through Royal Mail.
However, his parcel – which included watches and a gold-tipped fountain pen – didn’t make it to Pam, and she instead received a note saying an incorrect postage amount had been paid. Mark, who claims he “paid what he was told to”, said the package is still yet to surface and branded the postal service and courier company as “unhelpful.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson told The Teesside Lead that it had difficulty locating Mark’s parcel as he no longer had the card containing the reference number – and that there had been a misunderstanding over whether the item was sent first class or traced. They apologised for a “delay in correspondence” over the complaint he lodged.
Mark, who moved away from Teesside six years ago after meeting now-wife and care home worker Julie, sent the parcel from a Post Office near their home. They paid a little over £5 for it to be sent first-class.
(Image: The Teesside Lead)
“I was expecting it to be a lot more expensive,” Mark said. “We paid what we were told to do – £5.39. The box was like a shoe box so we expected it to be more but if they tell you the price, why wouldn’t you believe it?”
Pam received a note saying delivery wasn’t possible due to an incorrect postage payment, with a further £7 owed. While this was considered an honest mistake at the Post Office, what has left Mark upset.
Pam initially feared the note could be a scam – but was unable to go online to make the payment herself and couldn’t visit the sorting office due to her health. She asked another family member to go but this was unsuccessful as the collector lived at a different address.
Mark claims Royal Mail told him to wait 18 days for the parcel to be sent to the main sorting office, where it could be opened and returned. Eventually, it was sent to the National Returns Centre in Northern Ireland which, according to the Royal Mail, is where undelivered mail is sent to be opened to find a sender’s address.
‘It feels like they don’t care’
Despite multiple calls and emails, Mark has no idea if his goods have been found, disposed of, or remain stuck somewhere in the office. He continued: “After the 18 days, I rang and was told to wait 30 days for a callback. They never did and after 35 days, I rang again and asked for a manager to call me back. No one ever did.”
An email sent on February 13 received an automated response promising a reply within three working days, but this was missed. An email one week later apologised for investigations “taking longer than expected.”
But one month on, and another call later, no further correspondence has been received.
“They’ve just not been bothered,” Mark said. “I’ve explained all about Mam and it’s like ‘ok, uh huh’. You’re trying to explain something and they’re not interested. It’s not just the money, it’s the sentimental value and it feels like they don’t care. When we bought the figurines for Mam, we’d sent her pictures and she was dead excited to receive them.”
Mark claims the phone calls have involved long waits on hold.
The spokesperson for Royal Mail said: “The complaint was intended to be escalated to our Escalated Complaints Resolution Team, however, there was a fault with our system and this wasn’t done automatically. This is why there has been a delay in correspondence, we apologise for this.”
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