The Royal Mail Scam that you may not be aware of!
Royal Mail Scam, this article outlines the journey of a device posted Special Delivery with Royal Mail, however doesn’t reach its intended destination. The Royal Mail informed us that it had been disposed of but in actual fact it is sold by the Royal Mail for profit!
As an investigation agency Titan Private Investigation Limited has been sending GPS vehicle trackers to operatives all over the UK prior to deployment for many years via Royal Mail Special Delivery. This service costs £8.95 to be delivered before 1pm on a weekday or £13.74 on a Saturday.
We recently sent a tracker via this service to the KA16 area of Scotland and this is what we discovered which you may be interested in.
We attended a Post Office on Wednesday 1st June 2022 at 1:32pm and requested Special Delivery as we had on many occasions previously when posting out one of our GPS tracking devices. We were asked what the package contained, to which we gave the same reply as normal, “It’s a GPS tracking device which contains a battery.” No further questions were asked, which is what we expected. Payment was made, and we expected the package to be delivered to the operative in KA16 before 1pm the following day.
At 5:09pm the tracker within the package started to register movement and travelled via Derby Royal Mail Sorting Office and Beeston Royal Mail Sorting Office to the Royal Mail Sorting Office at East Midlands Airport. It arrived here at 10:30pm. The package didn’t move again until 3:33am on Thursday 2nd June 2022 where it travelled via road to the Royal Mail North Hub on Skyling Drive in Warrington. It arrived here at 5:17am on Thursday 2nd June 2022.
The GPS Tracker Starts It’s Journey
The package doesn’t move from the Royal Mail North Hub until 11:48am on Sunday 5th June 2022 where it travels via road to Tower Wharf, Stena Line, Birkenhead. It arrived here at 12:33pm.
At 8:04am on Monday 6th June 2022 the package arrived at Belfast Harbour in Northern Ireland. It is then transported once again by road to Royal Mail NI Returns Centre, Enterprise Way, Mallusk, Belfast. It arrived here at 9:59am.
On Tuesday 7th June 2022 it has been relayed back from the expecting operative that the parcel hasn’t been delivered. The device is interrogated, and its location is observed which is miles away from its intended location. At this point Titan Private Investigation Ltd lodge a complaint and request the device be returned or the insurance value for the item which was purchased at the point of posting. We received the following email 13 days later on Wednesday 20th June 2022 from Marcella Vallance at Royal Mail.
Titan complains to the Royal Mail
Effectively, what Marcella Vallance is stating is that the item contained within the package contains a Royal Mail “Forbidden Item”, namely a lithium battery. So forgive me, however we as a company have never read the pages and pages of Royal Mail policies and procedures and probably never will. Clearly the Post Office counter staff haven’t either as we informed them exactly what was in the package at the point of posting.
Royal Mail Customer Resolution Team Response
So, we escalated this to the Royal Mail Customer Resolution Team on 20th June 2022 asking for the decision to be reassessed given the circumstances. We requested either the item be returned or reimbursed for the insured amount of the item which was purchased at the point of posting.
On 29th June 2022 we receive a reply from Albert Bedlow of the Royal Mail Customer Resolution Team.
The Item is to be disposed of
So Albert states he will not overturn his colleague’s decision to not insure the item posted. He now states “we’ve processed the item to be disposed of“. However, it is not limited to this. If we wish to challenge his decision we can email the Postal Review Panel. So, on 29th June 2022 we emailed the Postal Review Panel. What’s happening with our parcel in the meantime I hear you ask. Well, on 20th June 2022 some 14 days after it arrived at the Royal Mail NI Returns Centre it travels at 1:16pm to Wilson’s Auctions some five minute’s drive away. In fact it is on the same industrial estate.
On 11th July 2022 at 1224 hours, some 21 days after arriving at Wilson’s Auctions our package started to move. It travels directly to the Newry area of County Armagh in Northern Ireland.
Reply from the Postal Review Panel
On 20th July 2022 we receive an email from Lorinda Pinda from the Postal Review Panel.
Lorinda states in paragraph 3, “I am sorry to say that your item has already been disposed of.”
We decide to interrogate the device to find its exact location in County Armagh and discover that it is at a business address listed on Google. So we contact this business and explain the issue. The business owner stated that he buys all batteries which are detected by Royal Mail, collects them from Royal Mail NI Returns Centre, Enterprise Way, Mallusk in Belfast and simply resells them. On 20th July 2021 we decided to inform Lorinda Pinda from the Postal Review Panel that our package hadn’t been disposed of and it’s still reporting its location at a business which claims they purchased it from Royal Mail.
We didn’t receive a reply from Lorinda Pinder……..BUSTED!
However, there is a happy ending to this unpleasant experience. We negotiated a price to purchase the item back from the company who bought it from Royal Mail and at 2:53pm on Friday 5th August 2022, just over two months after paying for next day delivery with Royal Mail our little soldier walked through the office door from his 502.74 mile journey!
