Problems "isolated", say Royal Mail

Despite the large number of local complaints, and hundreds of Christmas cards and other more vital mail being delivered up to a month late, these problems are, we now understand, in our imagination.

In a national Sunday newspaper, the Royal Mail insisted that any delayed letters or cards were "isolated" incidents and the vast bulk of the Christmas mail bag – consisting of two billion parcels and letters – was delivered by December 24th.

It must be assumed, therefore, that the Royal Mail's chief executive will have received very few complaints in the past week. Which poses the question as to why Audlem Online has still not received a response to our posted complaint sent to her by First Class mail last Wednesday.

Hopefully, that eagerly awaited letter will arrive today, assuming it's not lost in the post. If so, we will publish it in full. (Update 11.30pm – No Royal Mail letter arrived with this morning's post)

In contrast, after a technical problem last Thursday, Audlem Online had to contact Orange. The call was dealt with by an Indian call centre where an operator promised to send a replacement router which, they said: "Will be with you as soon as possible."

The parcel arrived the following morning at 10.00am – delivered by DHL courier. And that's now the competition Royal Mail is up against! On recent experience, including that letter to Royal Mail's chief executive, they seem to be struggling.

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.