The misery of Ferndale Rd Post Office

[shakespearegirl]

Ms T, thats outrageous that you can't get it redelivered. Do you know if this is going to be the case permenently?

I am sure when they talked about closing HH post office re delivery was an option

After getting a card through the door (of course saying they tried to deliver when I was in fact at home), with re-delivery being crossed out as an option, I tried to call Camberwell to query this.

After being hung up on twice I selected complaints.

The complaints guy assured me that re-delivery is an option and has arranged it for Saturday.

To avoiding lining up in Camberwell for hours, complain...

 

[boohoo]

I've been all the way to East Dulwich to collect a parcel ( that's travelling from Railton Road)

 

[bluestreak]

When you get that red card, use the online service to have it redirected to another, smaller post office. Whilst it costs you 50p, and takes an extra day or two, it's a far calmer experience. I get all my stuff redirected from the Camberwell sorting office to Herne Hill PO and it's generally fine.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

The online service hasn't been available for days...I've spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to get a parcel from the sorting office to no avail.

 

[gaijingirl]

The online site frequently goes down - and then even when you do use it - there's no guarantee that it will actually be followed through. I always complain and always get a very nice letter of apology. I very often don't, however, get my post.

 

[christonabike]

The online site frequently goes down - and then even when you do use it - there's no guarantee that it will actually be followed through.

It worked very well for a few months and then it all went to shit

I would wait days for a parcel to turn up at the Elm Park Post Office, which was very handy for me, and then I'd get told it was at the sorting office on Blenheim Gardens and it wouldn't be there


Then no-one would know where the parcel was and I was left wondering what the fuck went wrong with this brilliant service

 

[gaijingirl]

Well basically it worked great until the postal strike a while back - and never quite got back on track after that...

 

[Ms T]

When you get that red card, use the online service to have it redirected to another, smaller post office. Whilst it costs you 50p, and takes an extra day or two, it's a far calmer experience. I get all my stuff redirected from the Camberwell sorting office to Herne Hill PO and it's generally fine.

Apart from I was talking to someone who used to have his parcels redirected to the post office in Costcutters in Herne Hill, but stopped after they repeatedly lost his stuff.

 

[bluestreak]

Never had any stuff lost myself, now I'm worried about it.

 

[story]

My copy of Lambeth Life (April 1st) says that the branches under threat are:

Abbeville Road
Acre Lane
Clapham Hgh Street
Gypsy Road
Lambeth Walk
South Streatham
Streatham Place

These are all pretty busy branches, are they not?

This makes no sense, no sense at all.

 

[jiffjaff]

Man does this place suck: there's a queue stretching past the door, there's a full complement of screaming kids and just about everyone looks pissed off.

A pox on the The Man for closing all the local Post Offices.

*shakes fist aimlessly

--There's another thread on here about the nightmare of Ferndale Road PO. Some people, including myself, have complained and been told that in order for it to be better staffed and equipped with self service machines that would make the queues shorter, they need to receive a certain amount customer complaints - to prove that there's a problem.

I specifically complained about the lack of self service machines, and was told that they have been requested by the branch manager, but not authorised. The 'urgency is being monitored', which I take to mean that unless they get a lot of complaints, there'll be no self service machines (which I think would reduce the queues for everybody).

For those that may want to complain / request more staff and more self service machines, the manager's name is Mr Salim Bawa and you can use this email address to make complaints - [email protected] or call 08457 22 33 44.

 

[urbanspaceman]

[Might be a good idea to merge this thread with "Brixton Post Office: make a complaint"]

I emailed this message:

Dear Sir

I am writing to register my dissatisfaction with the service levels and
general appearance of - Brixton Post Office.

Queues are absurdly long; this is not a new phenomenon, but a situation
that has prevailed for many years. The Post Office interior itself is drab,
scruffy and depressing.

I know that the Post Office exerts a monopoly on many services that the
public must use, and so can treat us with a measured level of neglect
(verging on contempt) because we have no choice of provider. But do you
have to make it so obvious ?

And I got this reply:

Thank you for letting me know about your experience at Brixton Post Office® branch recently.

I’m sorry that you are dissatisfied with the level of service provided by the branch. I am also sorry for the length of time you had to queue for a branch assistant to serve you when you visited the branch. We want all our customers to be served quickly and efficiently and expect our branches to be staffed in line with normal customer demand. I do appreciate the concern that this matter has caused you and please accept my sincere apologies for this.

We take all complaints seriously therefore the details of your complaint have been recorded and will be fed back to the Brixton Post Office to enable them to monitor the queuing times and realign staffing numbers if needed to ensure that waiting times for customers are realistic.

It may help if I explain that the Brixton branch is a Sub-Post Office and as such, it is independently owned and run by the incumbent Subpostmaster. Post Office Ltd is not responsible for the building itself or the fixtures and fittings within the site, and we are therefore unable to become involved in issues that do not relate directly to the provision of Post Office products and services.

May I thank you for taking the time to bring this to our attention. I do hope the above information will resolve this matter for you and I trust that you will have no further cause for concern.

We do rely on customer feedback to improve our service so please feel free to contact us if you have any further issues. As we record every complaint, you can simply quote 1-2628701285 and we can get your details quickly.

Once again, I’m sorry for any concern caused by this incident.

If we can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us again by emailing [email protected] or by clicking reply to this message.

To help us improve the service we provide, an independent agency conducts telephone interviews with a sample of customers who have used our helpline each month. All feedback is welcomed and used to further improve the service. If you are contacted and do not wish to take part, please let the interviewer know. If you prefer not to be contacted please call 0113 387 9872 within seven days of the date of this email and quote the reference from the top of this email, to the agency.

If you need any further help with Post Office products and services, you can call 0845 722 33 44 between 8.15 am and 6 pm from Monday to Friday, and 8.30 am to 2 pm on Saturday. You can also access information at www.postoffice.co.uk, the official Post Office website.

Yours sincerely
Debra Ellis

 

[jiffjaff]

Many Post Offices across London POs to be closed, potentially Stockwell and Acre Lane (making Ferndale Rd much busier):

http://www.cwu.org/news/archive/london-worst-hit-with-post-office-closures.html

 

[colacubes]

Many Post Offices across London POs to be closed, potentially Stockwell and Acre Lane (making Ferndale Rd much busier):

http://www.cwu.org/news/archive/london-worst-hit-with-post-office-closures.html

Oh ffs It's bad enough as it is now.

 

[Plumdaff]

Stockwell is a busy PO by itself. I see no sense in closure whatsoever and not everyone who uses it is sprightly enough for the walk into Brixton or Clapham.

 

[story]

Stockwell is a busy PO by itself. I see no sense in closure whatsoever and not everyone who uses it is sprightly enough for the walk into Brixton or Clapham.

Well it makes no sense at all, does it.

We have a supermarket on every street corner, but we can't have a PO closer than a half hour walk or a bus ride away. It's stupid.

 

[Tricky Skills]

I went to the consultation meeting on Friday afternoon about the closure / merger of Stockwell with Ferndale Road. It was a drop in style session, with some PR bods from the Post Office there to guide you through the consultation.

It was bollocks.

This is pretty much a done deal. We were told that only 5% of mergers were reversed, following these consultations. The tiny sub-branch in a private shop along Wandsworth Road was offered as an alternative. The Post Office bod claimed that this is actually busier than Stockwell. No figures were offered to back this up. Complete twaddle.

Many users spoke about the misery of Ferndale. We were told that two self-service kiosks would be installed, should the merger go ahead.

A similar process is happening in Kennington, due to be 'merged' with the nearby... Walworth Road.

Here's the link for the online consultation for Stockwell.

 

[Dexter Deadwood]

The Post Office as we have known it is dead. Sad times.