This was potentially going to be a criminal investigation, but as the police have decided not to pursue this, I can relay some facts to make people aware of what can happen to your post.
In November 2008, i noticed that bank statements and utility bills weren't being delivered. I did get two letters informing me that my credit card applications had been declined before the post stopped totally.
I contacted Forest Hill sorting office. "We'll look into it and monitor the situation. I'll email you when any post turns up at the office and we can monitor whether it gets delivered"
No emails and no post.
The first week of December I go to Sydenham police station on Dartmouth Road to report postal theft. I was told by the WPC on the desk, this was a matter between me and Royal Mail.
One letter arrives, telling me I have a new credit card with a £5,000 balance. Nice!
So I contact the sorting office again. They will investigate.
Then on New Years eve I get a telephone call asking me to the sorting office to meet one of the managers. Once i get there it is explained that all my post had been diverted to "collect from the sorting office". The manager asks for some ID and a sample signature, then hands over 2 months of mail.
What has happened is that a criminal(s) have got hold of some of my personal details and applied for credit cards (interestingly they give the wrong sex on the applications, so most cards are declined. One is authorised, and presumably collected from the sorting office. £5k is withdrawn in cash). The criminals then don't bother collecting any more post, and leave me to sort out the mess.
My two queries are: How can someone divert my post, giving me a wrong gender, a different signature and therefore no ID?
Has anyone else had a similar experience?
Ali B
strange happenings with post deliveries
This was the METs response.
In early December 2008, i went into the police station on Dartmouth Road to report missing post. The WPC said it was a matter between myself and Royal Mail, unless i could substantiate this allegation.
December 31st I had my meeting at Forest Hill sorting office. They had allowed my mail to be diverted by someone giving a different first name, a different gender and a signature that looked nothing like mine. (mind you, a well known credit card company had allowed them to make off with £5k, given the same information)
I reported this to Sydenham police station an hour later and got a crime number.
Miraculously, the first post i recieved in the New Year was from the MET, saying they weren't going to pursue investigations into the case. (oh, the irony).
I know where i'd start looking first, but i cannot speculate about such things on a message board.
Please give me your mates details Lambchops, by PM
Ali B
In early December 2008, i went into the police station on Dartmouth Road to report missing post. The WPC said it was a matter between myself and Royal Mail, unless i could substantiate this allegation.
December 31st I had my meeting at Forest Hill sorting office. They had allowed my mail to be diverted by someone giving a different first name, a different gender and a signature that looked nothing like mine. (mind you, a well known credit card company had allowed them to make off with £5k, given the same information)
I reported this to Sydenham police station an hour later and got a crime number.
Miraculously, the first post i recieved in the New Year was from the MET, saying they weren't going to pursue investigations into the case. (oh, the irony).
I know where i'd start looking first, but i cannot speculate about such things on a message board.
Please give me your mates details Lambchops, by PM
Ali B
I know from experience that the postal service round here is not the greatest, the tendency for no post for days and then a huge pile does seem to suggest stockpiling.
Also had stuff go missing, such as cheques, it's just a hassle for them to cancelled and re-sent (though to an SE23 address which seems to be more reliable in the past).
Nowadays I don't tend to post stuff in SE26, send it from in town and it gets there so much faster.
Also had stuff go missing, such as cheques, it's just a hassle for them to cancelled and re-sent (though to an SE23 address which seems to be more reliable in the past).
Nowadays I don't tend to post stuff in SE26, send it from in town and it gets there so much faster.
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Nickerbockers
- Posts: 228
- Joined: 31 Oct 2007 13:04
- Location: Sydenham
Well, my sorting office JUST comes under Catford, but I've had an experience too which just shows the postal service in general is getting ridiculous;
I'd ordered some stuff online for Special Delivery especially so they would arrive quickly. So get to Saturday when I was expecting them... and someone was in the whole time. I actually popped out in the morning, so walked past the doormat going out and coming in again and no 'while you were out' card was there!! So, later, I was back, my mum was in the house too, and all of a sudden we heard a thud. I thought it was the Postie knocking but when I went in the hall, there was a Lewisham Life mag, and a 'while you were out' card... the time on it was 8am!????? WHAT is that about??? We think there's a scam possibly going on, whereby some poor souls are never gonna get their post that day, and a mate of one of the Postmen shoves a WYWO card through when he does his rounds with his mag; he gets a fee for it, the Postman gets a nice hour or two off!
I was furious and had to go and collect my stuff from the Sorting Office as I didn't trust it to be delivered by them.
What's it coming to... ?
I'd ordered some stuff online for Special Delivery especially so they would arrive quickly. So get to Saturday when I was expecting them... and someone was in the whole time. I actually popped out in the morning, so walked past the doormat going out and coming in again and no 'while you were out' card was there!! So, later, I was back, my mum was in the house too, and all of a sudden we heard a thud. I thought it was the Postie knocking but when I went in the hall, there was a Lewisham Life mag, and a 'while you were out' card... the time on it was 8am!????? WHAT is that about??? We think there's a scam possibly going on, whereby some poor souls are never gonna get their post that day, and a mate of one of the Postmen shoves a WYWO card through when he does his rounds with his mag; he gets a fee for it, the Postman gets a nice hour or two off!
I was furious and had to go and collect my stuff from the Sorting Office as I didn't trust it to be delivered by them.
What's it coming to... ?
This is not new. While living in another part of London, I received a bank statement showing I had spent several hundred pounds paying a credit card, a carpet business and a phone bill. It came out to be that someone had broken into the Post Office and took several items, a cheque book of mine among them. The police could not have had it easier, for at least one cheque was used to pay for a phone bill. But they asked me if had lost money as a result. I said no. That was the end of it. Never mind that someone had broken into a Post Office, used stolen cheques and falsified my signature. It makes you wonder what will take to change that attitude...
Just this morning I received a packet in the post,had been opened and then wrapped in "royal mail plastic" with a rubber band around,all of the packets I do receive have been opened and looked at prior to being delivered ,are we living in a world of "mangies".I even received an envelope the other day that was completley opened and a voucher had been torn off and removed.This has only happened since the sorting has moved to F. Hill.Trust in Royal Mail,I don't think so!!!!
The sooner the Post Office's monopoly is smashed the better. Continuous and repeated failures to deal with everything from the most basic of customer service mistakes to serious flaws in delivery standards and security that warrant criminal investigations show the organisation to be fundamentally flawed and incapable of doing what it was created to do.
or the other way of looking at it is that the profitable areas of the business have been opened to tender creating loss of customs whilst they have still been burdened with the unprofitable areas which the competitors will not touch and therefore replace - consequently they have less resources than they used to.Barty wrote:The sooner the Post Office's monopoly is smashed the better. Continuous and repeated failures to deal with everything from the most basic of customer service mistakes to serious flaws in delivery standards and security that warrant criminal investigations show the organisation to be fundamentally flawed and incapable of doing what it was created to do.