Royal Mail - Track and Trace fail

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

It was working yesterday, promising a delivery this morning (Saturday).

but now it does nothing when you enter the reference number - no Capture pictures, no error, it just does nothing.

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

never found any tracking to be any good especially royal mail and parcelforce ....

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

chinky tracking is dire ....

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

Jim GM4DHJ ... expressed precisely :

It has become worse over time. It used to track to point of China exit, that it has exited, then at least tell you it had arrived in the UK International depot, then tell you when it was out for local delivery.

Now it just tells you it has arrived at the China exit port, next thing it is at your door.

[Pamela]

I find Royal Mail tracking is poorer than most and is one of the very few which the all-in-one courier apps can't track.

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

Pamela used his keyboard to write :

I'm not sure that is correct - my parcel was sent from Kent via an independent, which showed it arriving in a Yorkshire hub. RM's tracking would not work, yet RM delivered this morning with it still not working. The courier emailed to say it was out for RM delivery, then later to confirm delivered. So they must have been able to track through RM's system somehow.

[polygonum_on_google]

Last thing I had delivered from China, the tracking was excellent all the way through to delivery. Have to say, I was pleasantly surprised as, previously, once in the UK it didn't actually track. At best, a "delivered" status after the event.

[Pamela]

That's the same as happens when Amazon uses RM.

Although RM provides confirmation of delivery, it doesn't seem to let you track it through the delivery process using a courier's system.

I had a parcel sent from Australia which I could track but only as far as its arrival in the UK, where the Aussie courier had arranged for RM to complete the delivery.

This is such an oversight that I expect it to be remedied soon.

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH...TEE HEE

[Andy Burns]

RM offers untracked, signed-for but untracked, tracked and signed-for options

I sent something to America recently, the RM tracking sight knew where it was until it left heathrow, after that they directed you to the USPS tracking site, once it had been delivered by USPS the RM site knew it had been signed for.

[Pamela]

Presumably you sent it by RM and tracked it by RM who received data from their partner courier.

However I'm referring to RM tracking by another courier service, such as Australia Post, in which case RM doesn't seem to provide them with UK tracking data other than completion on delivery.

[Andy Burns]

RM only tracked it until it left the UK, then USPS tracked it and RM knew nothing about where it was, until it had been delivered, after which RM knew it had been delivered, but still didn't know where it had been.

That sounds exactly the same provision of data between RM/OZ and USPS/RM.

[Pamela]

I haven't seen that before.

I usually see a message explaining the problems with getting RM tracking data on other courier's web sites. Third party Android apps largely don't handle RM tracking.

'Parcel' creator Ivan Pavlov tells me that he has previously spoke to Royal Mail management about the change, and they told him that it is part of their "strategy" to not share tracking data with anyone else.

[alan_m]

I currently have a RM tracking number that suggests that its already been "scanned" as delivered - in 3 days time on 30th Aug 2019 !!!!!

[alan_m]

I now also have UKmail(DHL) tracking number for something expensive that I ordered which was on a "normally" next day delivery . The seller sent an item dispatched email within a few hours of ordering with the tracking number. The tracking shows that UKMail/DHL picked up the item and transported it to the local distribution centre overnight. Since then they have been promising to deliver the next working day until around 10am on the next day where they update the delivery has been delayed message and add yet another (working) day for the promised delivery!