Royal Mail's Finest

This morning Royal Mail was supposed to deliver an important registered letter addressed to my wife. For the second time in three months we were waiting in the house, but there was no ring of the bell, no knock on the door, just a little card stuffed through the letter box amongst a load of advertising bumf.
Ringing to find out what had happened resulted in a 30 minute wait on an 0345 number, costing heaven knows how much. Finally, a man answered, asked all the security questions, took my details and then passed me on to the complaints department, to whom I had to repeat everything I had told him.
This was going to end in a speedy resolution to my problem, wasn't it? No. She gives me a complaint reference number that I can use if I need to phone them back. She has, by this time, looked up the delivery on her computer.
'Let me see, it says on my screen that delivery was attempted at 9.48am.'
'Yes, the last man I spoke to told me that. And I told him that the card pushed through the door said 10am.'
'Oh.'
'Can you contact the postman concerned and ask him to stop by on his way back to the depot? We only live 500 yards from there and it's not yet midday.'
'No, all we can do is re-deliver.'
'Today?'
'No.'
'Tomorrow?'
'Oh, no, only on Saturday [two days hence], but you might be able to go to the collection office tomorrow.'
'You don't sound very sure. Are you going to give me a call back to let me know what is happening,' I ask, more in hope than expectation.'
'No,' is the reply, 'we don't do that.'
'So what will be done to prevent this happening again?'
'I expect someone will speak to the postman concerned.'

Meanwhile... my wife has gone to the collection office to try to resolve the matter and get the parcel back. She is surrounded by other irate customers, some holding little red and white failed delivery cards, all nodding and saying things like, 'Yes, that's what happened to me, too.' The visit resolved nothing. The delivery man could not be contacted and the outcome was the same as that from the phone call. Indifference and unhelpfulness. And then we hear the head of the Post Office saying that the company can't compete with other delivery operators because of the home delivery requirements placed on them by government requirements.

Is it me?

Royal Mail do not have a Facebook site, though others have set one up to register complaints. I wonder if they read that to get customer feedback? Hmmm.