Post criticised by Cable & Wireless for late deliveries
Saturday 24th November 2012, 4:00PM GMT.
CABLE & Wireless Guernsey has heavily criticised Guernsey Post for delivering its monthly bills late, it has emerged.
During consultation with the Channel Islands Competition and Regulatory Authorities about how the quality of postal services should be assessed, the telecoms provider said some of Guernsey Post’s deliveries had been unacceptable.
‘For some time we have experienced problems with our monthly bills being delivered to customers much later than we would expect,’ said Chris Durnell, Cable and Wireless’ Channel Island and Isle of Man head of legal and regulatory, in a letter to Cicra.
Guernsey Post chief executive Boley Smillie, pictured, said the postal operator had noted the comments from Cable and Wireless in the report, and had contacted the company to seek clarification of its concerns because they were ‘not consistent with the agreement’ in place.
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Such a shame Cable and Wireless are not in such a hurry to sort out the absolutely ABYSMAL broadband service that we pay through the nose for.
And not only that but they are now cold-calling their customers (myself included)to blather on about the wonderful new high speed service they are offering (which, wait for it, apparently actually works)for the princely sum of £35 per month. As if we are not already paying enough for the current service which doesn’t even work properly! It’s an absolute scandal. Why don’t they sort out the current service which we are all paying handsomely for, before they start trying to extort even more money out of us?
I am moving to one of the other providers. I am so over C&W and their manoeuvres.
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Lack of competition on the island has created a mire of poor performance and service.
The line in my new house-share took about 3 weeks to be connected and the broadband speed available to us is apparently half what’s advertised, if we’re lucky.
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Lack of competition is not always the problem. Guernsey Telecom had no competition but provided an excellent service.
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Hear Hear Yvonne.
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Deputy Burford
what planet are you on? On what basis are you able to say GT offered an excellent service – other than benefitting from unlimited local calls for 5p – a complete rip off, hugely expensive national and international calls – i fear you know nothing yvonne burford!
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Jack
Yvonne is right.
I served on the board of GT in the final days of the company before it was given away. It seved the island exceptionally well and people had a much better deal then than they now get from the present tel col. GT cared more about service and was committed to Guernsey.
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Moving to another provider is pointless as they all bulk buy from C&W so its the same infrastructure and service anyway just under another name
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The post office need to sort it out, parcels are coming weeks late at the moment!
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Hi Sarah,
I can absolutely assure you that there is no problem at GPL. The only parcels/packets we have on hand are those that we received today, and they will be delivered on Monday. If you are waiting for parcels from companies such as Amazon, you might want to check which service they have been sent by. If you selected the ‘free super saver delivery’ these parcels are often conveyed by other carriers and from the feedback we have received these are taking significantly longer. As a general guide once the items have been dispatched in the UK, using a service for which we provide the delivery, they are taking on average 2 to 3 days.
If you would like me investigate any specific issues feel free to email me bsmillie@guernseypost.com
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…Mr Smillie. Not wishing to be deliberately obtuse, but in response to your reply to Sarah; perhaps you could have put that there is absolutely no problem at GPL that you are AWARE of.
Because there is a problem.
Whatever systems are put in place to monitor any production/manufacturing line, they cannot allow for human interference, which may be happening in this case.
I have often (especially recently) been tracking orders made for online purchases, and the delays always happen after the parcels arrive in Guernsey, often being delivered a week after their arrival by GPL.
Perhaps the first step to solving the problem that Sarah, me, my neighbours and others are experiencing is for you to accept that there IS – or even MAY be – a problem.
I know with certainty that post is being ‘held’ by some drivers who cannot be bothered to complete their deliveries and that on occasion post is bulk ‘dumped’ at incorrect addresses at the end of a route, presumably to prevent this having to be re-sifted back into the sorting system.
This isn’t made as a rant or a personal attack in any way, but even if you open yourself to the possibility of abuse of the system and have an initial ‘poke around’, I think you’ll find a few reasonably well-hidden cans of worms that might be worth opening.
Also this post is not made to criticize our postal workers, most of whom do their very best in a fairly thankless role. I wouldn’t expect postie morale to be particularly high at the moment, which may indicate that a small minority of disgruntled employees are abusing the system.
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Mr Smillie, I have been ordering goods on Amazon, eBay etc. for about 10 yrs.
As a householder, not once have I encountered a problem with Guernsey Post or any of its employees.
Bulk business customers, maybe like GYC, may be experiencing the problems he is describing.
I am not an employee, shareholder etc. nor do I have any relatives working for the Post Office etc. etc.
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My experiences with post office deliveries are all good. Unlike other delivery companies on the island which are shambolic. Last week a white van man left my parcel on my doorstep in the rain didnt even knock and i was at home.
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Mr Smillie,
I have never experienced a problem with late post. I know that if stuff from for example Amazon takes a day or two longer than I would have hoped, it is prob because of some delay in despatch rather than at the GPO.
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My experience of Guernsey Post is overwhelmingly good.
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Hi GYC,
I apologise if my previous post came across as unhelpful, it was my intention to pass my contact details to Sarah so that I could then investigate any specific problem. In doing so I also described a common problem, which admittedly may be way off the mark in respect of Sarah’s post.
In your case I really would like to see the tracking data you have refered to. Could you email this to me?
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GYC
Do accept Mr Smillie’s invitation, I did some months ago and received comprehensive explanations to all my queries. No way would I wish to be a postie this time of year.
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GYC, I presume if you have solid proof of your assertions you would be only too pleased to inform Mr Smillie of the details; I doubt it somehow and I suspect you may be just jumping on the “have a go at Guernsey Post” band wagon.
Amazon and other online retailers send parcel by a number of methods, I’ve had some delayed deliveries in the past with Regency Logistics who are City Link agents and recently had parcels delivered by someone in a private car and I have seen one other private car stacked with amazon parcels so who knows what some other less regulated delivery companies are doing to fulfill their delivery obligations, aside from leaving stuff on the doorstep that is!!
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Boom Boom! More than happy with post deliveries + parcels. C&W need to expand more info for this ~~~~ amazingly never had a prob to complain about. So why this?
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Somewhat ironic for C&W to complain about “late delivery” when at keast 5-10 text messages I send per week take about an hour to reach their destination!
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@Cousin Vinny – Precisely!!!
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Where do I complain about CW’s late delivery of anything resembling service? Been waiting nearly 12 years now.
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C&W April fool joke on Guernsey Post. Sorry it’s late I sent on 1 April via text.
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Many thanks to you all for taking the time to provide feedback, much appreciated.
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We’re having a similar argument here in Jersey about Jersey Post and the responses have been the same. It’s not the local post office that’s to blame in all but a very small minority of cases. There should never have been a break up of services as instigated by the CICRA as both islands are too small for competition in certain areas, e.g. postal and telecoms. Plus now in Jersey, no tax is paid to the States by these foreign owned companies which is by the local ones. I’not sure how Guernsey is affected in this respect.
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Hello Mr Smillie
Firstly thanks for taking the time to reply on here. In the past i have never had any problems (barring the odd parcel left in our bin as safe place!!!) with Guernsey post although the last few weeks problems have started to emerge with post taking 3-4 dyas longer than usual. Probably just an isolated problem as from time to time some items will take longer i expect
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