Postwatch aims to get Royal Mail to deliver on its promises

Its immaculate cobbled crescents and scrubbed stone porches are typical of Edinburgh's refined and orderly New Town. But the EH3 district – home to top law firms, foreign consulates and some of Europe's most exclusive residential addresses – had Scotland's highest number of complaints about its postal service last year.

It was a mystery: how could homeowners and businesses in an accessible area at the centre of a capital city have such a bad service? And why did Scotland account for a quarter of Britain's worst 20 postcodes when it comes to first-class deliveries?

Puzzled staff at watchdog Postwatch Scotland sent a questionnaire to 456 tenement addresses in EH3 from which there had been the most complaints. Answers from the quarter who replied uncovered myriad problems which lie at the heart of Royal Mail's underperformance in key parts of Scotland.

In 2006, cumulative first-class next-day deliveries stood at 93.5 per cent for Edinburgh, 92.1 per cent for Dundee and 93.6 per cent for Glasgow for the first three-quarters of last year – all comfortably ahead of targets set by the regulator, Postcomm.

But all three lag behind Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Leeds, Cardiff, Nottingham and Sheffield. Only Aberdeen, with an impressive 95.6 per cent, drags Scotland up the league table.

"The feedback from EH3 was astonishing," said Tricia Dow, director of Postwatch Scotland. "We knew there was a problem, but the responses told an amazing story. Seven out of ten had experienced misdelivery, more than half of them had received mail for entirely different addresses and one in three had been given post that was meant for neighbours in the same building."

Half of residents had their mail left in the hall or communal stairs at least once a week. One-third of all residents had lost items of mail, including credit cards, bank statements, chequebooks, concert tickets and medical test results. Many residents reported receiving no mail for several days, followed by a bundle in a red rubber band.

"I have just received a disconnection notice from Scottish Gas, but have not received the original bill, nor any reminders," wrote one homeowner in Saxe Coburg Street. "Mail that should arrive on Saturday is often delayed to the following Monday or Tuesday," writes another in Rothesay Terrace.

Even the Postwatch questionnaire itself fell victim to the problem: 12 per cent were not delivered until between four and eight working days after posting.

One respondent in Hamilton Place wrote: "The regular postman to our block is very good. When this man is off, post is sometimes (and often) delivered to a different tenement." Another, in Fountainbridge, wrote: "Often the postmen have no idea which buildings are which and letters for one block end up in another for no reason."

What made most of the respondents angry was their powerlessness to put things right. A massive 93 per cent of those who complained to Royal Mail were unhappy with the response. "When I complain to the Royal Mail number they are merely able to pass on my complaint but can never send a follow-up letter explaining what steps are being taken to address the problem," wrote a resident of Hamilton Place.

Royal Mail says the problems are down to the number of tenements in Edinburgh and Glasgow, many of which have no names on doors or main entrances which prevent access to delivery staff during the day.

Despite these challenges, performance in Edinburgh improved dramatically during 2006. Royal Mail said the "tireless work and dedication" of staff had driven up the number of next-day first-class deliveries.

But Postwatch's Dow adds: "Over the same period, the official delivery times were put back to later in the day, so the targets were easier to achieve.

"Tenements are only an issue because deliveries are now during the day when there is no-one in."

Niall Stuart, of the Scottish Federation of Small Business, said: "Getting post later in the day can be a real issue for small firms, particularly when waiting for cheques which are important for cash flow."

Postwatch Scotland has just completed a similar detailed study of EH6 – another area with a high volume of complaints – the results of which are yet to be released.

But Julie Morrison, head of external relations for Royal Mail Group, claimed the problems experienced in EH3 were isolated and that service across Scotland was good, pointing to the above-average performance of areas such as Dumfries and Aberdeen.

She said: "Royal Mail management has met Postwatch to discuss the issues raised in their survey. All the issues raised have been addressed and service to this area has improved. We are also currently writing to customers in the area to make sure that all households have their properties numbered properly and that they carry names on the doors, as well as making sure that the postman can gain access to premises. These are some of the issues we face daily on delivering mail in this area.

"Royal Mail has also asked Postwatch, the consumer watchdog, to also carry out a similar information exercise."

She added that the overall performance in EH3 during March was 92.5 per cent – above Postcomm targets. "Customers can be assured that our people work very hard to deliver mail correctly and the current quality of service bears this out," she added.

"Quality of service is of paramount importance to Royal Mail … and our people work very hard to achieve and beat the targets set by the regulator. Out of the 13 targeted postcodes in Scotland all have passed the target set by the regulator. Quality of service in Scotland is good."