• Pete: 1
• Royal Mail: 0

For anyone interested, here’s a summary of the last six months of the battle:

January:

Discovered that my Royal Mail P.O Box service hasn’t been working for several months (thanks to Keith G6NHU for the help!). Asked for an apology, and a refund of just over £100 for the time that the service was not working

February:

After several phone calls and letters with Royal Mail Customer Services, I get nowhere. They admit the failure, but won’t deal with the complaint. After one shockingly bad letter, I decide to escalate to Royal Mail’s Postal Review Panel, who apparently take an ” unprejudiced and impartial view” of complaints

March:

A month goes by. No reply from the Postal Review Panel. When I chase for the second time, I’m told that someone called Christine is on holiday. I give up and go to POSTRS, the resolution service operated on behalf of PostComm, the regulator.

April:

Going to POSTRS wakes up Royal Mail. I get a £10 cheque to apologise for Christine being on holiday. Royal Mail provide a six page defense. Royal Mail tell me that my transcript of a phone call “cannot be used as evidence in the case”. So, I raise a Data Protection Request with Royal Mail’s DPA Team for the transcript and Customer Services records. Royal Mail provides 4 pages of call logs and case notes, which back up my claim, and give me an fascinating insight into what goes on behind the scenes.

May:

POSTRS release its final decision in a 12 page document. In summary:

• Royal Mail not disputing its negligence, or any of my evidence
• Royal Mail can provide no explanation for why it failed to provide service, despite an internal investigation
• Royal Mail “failed to address the complaint appropriately on a number of occasions”
• Royal Mail has caused me unnecessary “stress, anxiety and inconvenience” though its handling of my complaint

Result: Royal Mail ordered to pay £20 compensation for poor complaint handling, and to issue a written apology. They are powerless to help with a refund or compensation as the P.O Box is “out of scope”. Next step, according to POSTRS is to go to court.

I write to the Chief Executive, Moya Greene’s Office, to see if I can avoid court action. Her office doesn’t reply. Postal Review Panel replies saying that if I want to take them to court, here’s the address to serve papers to. Shocked by the arrogance, I consider taking them to court.

June:

Royal Mail sends me a one line apology that they’ve been ordered to, but forget to enclose the cheque. I remind them of their obligations

Royal Mail writes again, this time with the cheque, apologising for forgetting, and telling me that “coaching and training will be given”

Enough’s enough. I issue a Small Claims Court claim against Royal Mail on the 7th of June (cost £35)

A lawyer at Royal Mail Legal Services writes to me. Can we settle out of court for £150? As this doesn’t cover court costs, I say no, and ask for costs. Several emails exchanged with Royal Mail’s lawyer, who happens to be the most rational and pragmatic of all the people I’ve dealt with at Royal Mail.

Pete vs Royal Mail - Letters and court papers by June 2011

July:

Cheque arrives for £192 from the laywer. Added to the £30 for poor complaints handling, that’s £222. I cancel the court proceedings.

Me, with the cheque from Royal Mail

Summary
I can’t help feeling that it would have been easier to refund my £110 back in January when Royal Mail admitted it had messed up. Mistakes happen, and an early refund would have ended the matter. Instead, Royal Mail dragged the matter on and on, making more mistakes along the way.

For me, this became a matter of principle. I now have my refund, plus payment to cover costs. No real compensation for my time in battling against them, but I consider this to be a win.

Look at my wad - nearly 2 cm of Royal Mail correspondence

Added to the £222 they have paid up, I dread to think how much time this has cost Royal Mail’s Customer Services Team, Information Rights Team, Postal Review Panel, and finally, their legal team over the last six months. All for a £110 refund.

Final Note!!

Interesting piece in today’s Telegraph: Royal Mail complaints rise by a third – Seems I’m one of the 120,884 complaints in the first 3 months of the year. I hope the other 120,883 of you have the energy to persevere too!

No, today isn’t National Tea Dunking Day, in fact it’s Towel Day, a day set up by fans of the Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy to make the passing of Douglas Adams in 2001.

What is Towel Day?

It’s a day that all fans carry a towel, in acknowledgment that a towel is the most staggeringly useful thing that anyone can carry. I’m sitting here typing, sitting on my towel as a mark of respect, and I’m hoping that many of my like-minded chums out there, even if they’re not carrying a towel, are at least thinking towel-ly thoughts with the occasional Hitchhikers quote drifting through their minds.

Towel Day has prompted me to revisit the original radio series of HitchHikers Guide to the Galaxy, even though a) I should be working, b) I should be revising, and c) I know the script off by heart, but it will be getting a listen at some point today. If you’re unfamiliar with the whole Hitchhikers thing – forget the movie, and enjoy the radio series, which you can download for little more than three Earth pounds – H2H2 at Audible.

Even the cat is getting into the spirit, having a nap on a handy towel.

Cat enjoying the tenth annual Towel Day

Share and Enjoy Towel Day, and check out the various Towel Day activities around the world at towelday.org

It’s on day’s like this, I really wish I’d listened to what my mum said…

(By the way, you can buy the T-Shirt from ThinkGeeks.)

If, like me, you spend a serious amount of time online, then I’d encourage you to take a look (I’ve embedded the link below).

It’s a short speech given by a chap called Eli Pariser, at a TED (changing ideas) conference in the US in February.

For those reading that can’t spare the 9 minutes to watch, at the root of this, is that the Internet is being filtered and censored – not by Governments, but by the likes of Facebook and Google, and their filters. We’re increasingly living in a bubble, as new technology filters out the “stuff” that it thinks we’re not interested in.

Now, I like filters. I don’t want junk mail, and I don’t want irrelevant clutter thrown at me when I’m searching, but as online personalisation increases, am I in danger of being locked in a tiny bubble.

Thought provoking stuff, and a good explanation of the bubble effect.

I’d encourage you to watch this clip. It could change your attitude to online search…

Interestingly, when I was doing some more reading on the subject, I stumbled upon a piece on the Huffington Post commenting on this clip. Right in the middle of the piece, is a huge ad for “Protect My Bubble”, the gadget insurers. The advertising filter has detected “bubble” as a keyword, and is serving ads accordingly.

Filters – good or bad? I’m hoping I don’t come across as blinkered here, but I like my noise filtered if it gets my work done quicker. I would, however, welcome a filter “off switch”, so I can see outside by bubble from time to time. This might be a topic I cover in an upcoming podcast, so any opinions on this are welcomed.

More on this subject here: TED: Online Bubble

I’m here with my Amateur Radio buddy Jim 2E0RMI, at the top of this disused lighthouse. Jim’s set up a 2 metre rig with a pole sticking up out of the lighthouse, and he’s making some good contacts using the 2 metre band plus the Internet Amateur Radio service.

It’s a windy old day up here, with some great views.

For information on the lighthouse, go to harwich.net/natwire.htm

Good fun playing with radios and admiring the view, although it’s 100 steps down to the nearest loo, and there’s no coffee for miles.

Data provided by residents of the UK goes to help shape the country’s future. It happens every 10 years, and each year, we get more and more questions. This year, the Government want to know what type of central heating system we have, how each of us get to work and what exams we’ve passed. The controversial, and optional, question, is religion.

In general, I’m in favour of the census, and believe it should be treated seriously – mainly for the family history element. For some years now, our family has been researching our family tree, and access to the 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901 and 1911 census has been invaluable in tracing ancestors and building up a picture of our extended family (I use the excellent Ancestry.co.uk for census access). In the hope that the 2011 census falls into the hands of my descendants, I’ve completed the form by hand (as opposed to the online submission that many would suspect I’d do), and I’ve been happy to tell the ONS that my central heating is gas-fired, to help keep future generations informed.

I’ve also, of course, told them that I’m a Jedi – 400,000 people in the UK declared themselves as Jedi in 2001, making Jedi the 4th largest religion. See: Jedi Census Phenomenon at Wikipedia

2011 Census Form - Question 20

The phrase “May the force be with you” is especially true today, as I’m using a Star Wars Lego game as part of a review I’m writing re. the Nintendo 3DS.

Those who know me well, know that one of my pet hates is poor customer service. I admit it – it drives me nuts. It also drives me to make a complaint, and to keep complaining until I get a result.

Since January, I’ve been in dispute with Royal Mail, and a letter from them today has me bouncing off the walls. I’m venting my frustration on those poor souls who read my occasional blog posts, mainly because the cat just doesn’t understand the formal complaints process.

In a nutshell, after moving house a year or so back, I told the Royal Mail that I’d moved, and to redirect my business post to the new address. They wrote to confirm the change, and all should have been well.

It transpires that all was not as well as expected, and for months, my mail’s been bounced as “gone away”. I paid a visit to the local delivery office, to be told that Head Office hadn’t notified them of the change, and they’d fix it. A call to Head Office in Plymouth confirmed that a mistake had indeed been made, and they’d get back to me.

In due course, a letter arrived confirming that the delivery office didn’t know about the change of address until I went in. This is true… but unhelpful, as I knew that.

So, another phone call. “Oh dear”, she said, before agreeing that the letter was inappropriate. “Leave it with me”. Nothing.

With phone calls getting me nowhere, I wrote a letter (after all, perhaps Royal Mail like getting letters, and the revenue from my stamp). It was the reply to this letter that got to me today.

Again, I’m told that the Delivery Office weren’t told until January this year, despite Royal Mail’s letter in March 2010 confirming the new details. Then:

“Having reviewed the details of your claim, my manager and I feel that our colleague dealt appropriately with your complaint. Therefore I cannot change the original decision or take any further action”.

So, a business mail service paid for in March 2010 has never materialised, I’ve lost lots of mail, Royal Mail’s admitted the error, but they won’t do anything about it and have closed the matter.

This is gonna be fun.

I’m already at phone call number 4, letter number 3, email number 1 and Stage 3 in the official complaints procedure. Apparently, the next step is the Postal Review Panel, then the Postal Redress Service.

Wish me luck!

Today’s oddness appeared just after lunch… an email from an Internet advertising company I’ve been working with for five or six years, to the email address they’ve been using for years, asking me the following:

“We are currently undergoing our standard site checks at , and would like to make sure the below domain belongs to you.”

… and giving me 7 days to confirm.

Despite the fact I’ve been working with them for many years, and they mail me about that domain about once a week, what’s odd is that they did what they did…

An email to me@domainname.com asking if I own domainname.com

I’m struggling to work that one out…

I’m creating this post as I need to test that one of the WordPress plug-ins I’m using is working. What should happen, is that this blog entry, created on the petesipple.co.uk domain, should auto-post to Twitter (once), and also add a posting to my Facebook wall. Rather than typing “just testing”, I thought I’d add a few words to report on the day.

• An early start with tea and toast
• My podcasting buddy’s been here, recording some audio about streaming media. Lots of editing to do, I fear
• Into town for lunch, a visit to the bank, then coffee and biccies at Costa Coffee (coming soon to Leigh).
• Back to base to firefight a dozen emails and feed the cat (apparently urgent)
• Just about to phone a couple of college students about an upcoming course
• Trying to fix a problem with WordPress, with help from a plug-in developer, and the lads at Namesco support

So there. That’s my day so far – now off to see if this post makes it to Facebook…

Today, the 6th of February 2011, I attended my first rally. Again, that’ll mean nothing to the majority, and around 12 years back when I heard my colleagues Don and Glen asking if they’d be going “down the rally on Sunday”, it meant nothing to me. Twelve years on, I broke my Rally virginity with a trip to The Paddocks on Canvey Island.

So, what’s a rally? Well, it reflects my new hobby – playing around with radio transmitters and bits of wire. I’m now a licensed radio amateur, and the various ham radio rallies held around the country are opportunities for other hams to meet up, and buy stuff. And boy, is there lots to buy.

I’ve been to my fair collection of trade shows, collectors fayres, gadget shows and exhibitions in my time, but this was an eye opener – where else can you buy a working radio transmitters for less than a tenner? More connectors than a Maplin stocktake, some very odd antennae, large boxes of random unlabelled things (that clearly mean something to those eagerly searching), stuff that appeared to pre-date Marconi, and more importantly, lots of helpful folk hoping to sell their wares and enthusiasts passing on knowledge and advice.

A snap of the action at the Canvey Ham Radio Rally 2011

First off, a few thanks:

• Thanks to the guys at CARS, the Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society for the welcome, and for more RSGB sweets than I was probably entitled to. Shout outs to Mark, Clive (inc. an on-air chat on the drive to Canvey), Murray and Colin (who helped out with a radio interview I was doing last year for our podcast)
• To fellow Foundation licence holder Tony M3KPQ, who gifted me a handy icom lead after listening in to a conversion I was having on-air about the joys of connecting a radio to a PC (Nice to meet you at last two-shacks Tony!)
• To some familiar faces from my course – Peter, Dave and James, there to sniff out bargains (and to sell a few too)
• To Jim 2E0RMI, who’s always happy to point me in the right direction (notably the second hall!). Always great to catch up and get some new ideas.

I came home with a bag of stuff – including a bunch of connectors (about 5 times cheaper than at the local Maplin), a podcasting book that I’d been searching for, some sweet wrappers, and a some rather odd wire that I’ve spend the evening making into a rather clever aerial.

Stuff bought at the Canvey Rally

The antenna in question was introduced to me by the aforementioned Jim 2E0RMI, and is known as a Slim Jim (not after Jim 2E0RMI, although coincidentally, Jim is quite slim). Who’d have thought I’d be making my own aerials? Yup, that’s how I spent my Sunday afternoon.

My Slim Jim is now ready and waiting for testing (it’s a portable aerial used for VHF comms – coils up nicely and does clever things on the 2 meter band). I can almost hear people glazing over as I type. Apparently, you can also make a decent portable dipole aerial out of two stair-crawling Slinky toys. That’s next Sunday sorted then…

Things to note for next year Pete:

• It’s real busy at 11am. Car park full, and very crowded. The best bargains are to be had at 10.30 (doors open), and people queue
• It quietens off a lot at 1pm. So much so, that a lot of people start packing up around 2, despite the event going on until 4
• Get a bacon sandwich
• There are two halls. Thanks Jim. Maths was never my strong point

It’s great to see that amateur radio is very much alive, and to experience my first real taste of the rally community… a club I should have bought into a long time ago. All in all, a good and interesting day. I’ll be back (as they say).

73s (as they also say) from Pete… also known in some circles as M6PSI

2010 has been a busy year, and looking back, I actually achieved a surprising amount:

• Completed my first full year’s trading as Director of my own limited company
• Became a licenced Amateur Radio operator (a.k.a Radio Ham)
• Won an award for best UK non-profit podcast
• Was filmed for a BBC TV consumer programme
• Started to teach a new evening course for the local college
• Joined the committee of a local charity
• Helped to co-ordinate a reunion with some former work colleagues
• Changed a business relationship with a single tweet

That’s in addition to settling into a new house, and watching my daughter progress from 2.5 to 3.5 years old.

Look back through the list above, I realise I’ve achieved a lot – and all things that weren’t on the radar this time last year.

For that reason, I have no dramatic plans for 2011 – just a resolution to be open to new challenges and opportunities, and to be positive.

I hope that 2011 will be a positive year for you too…