I have always like to send and receive birthday cards. Usually I allow 7 days for cards to UK. I have just found out that the card I sent for my brother’s 90th took 19 days. So was very late. I am very disappointed. He tells me that there are always long delays these days. I can’t find out where the problem lies here or there. Anyone had similar experiences. Maybe it’s time to stop sending cards, what with the expense and trouble it takes.
I’ve had to send and receive a regular series of letters (ie not cards) to/from businesses/HMRC in the UK over the past year, and have tried to track their dates of posting/receipt. It seems that six weeks is the usual minimum time (occasionally it can be 10 days) but can take up to 4 months.
I cannot work out where the problem is, but strongly suspect it’s the UK end. I often use ‘suivi’ (ie ‘tracked’) for France to UK, but things seem to ‘go dark’ once the item gets anywhere near the UK, and no further info is forthcoming when you follow online.
Thanks George. We had the same experience with a suivi to Govt Work and Pensions. We got a refund, by cheque,of 4.55 euros. But no information about the item. Seems like it must be UK as the tracking said left coutry of origin.
Use Moonpig or similar company for actual cards or Jacquie Lawson for virtual cards (£15.00you can send as many cards as you like for one year.)
4 Likes
Moonpig is very good but lacks that personal touch. Been getting some nice cards at Action.
I have used moonpig twice this year and both arrived within days of being posted from Guernsey where they are based However, be aware that they charge for using a french debit card, not a lot but obviously if you use it a lot and for more expensive items, it will cost more. I have given up with french post, it takes weeks to go a couple of depts.
I would agree on sending things “tracked” - once they leave France, they seem to drop into a black hole!
Generally speaking, I’ve been a lot luckier in the main with cards, although I suppose I often won’t know whether they arrived or not 
The post has changed here very recently - change of management at the depot I think. I used to get a regular weekly newspaper from the UK, which always took one day longer to get here (i.e. Saturday instead of Firday in the UK). Now it arrives Tuesday and I get nothing at all on Saturday and Monday - not even the fliers which normally appeared on my box on Monday.
The last time I had any definite information about specific hold-ups, there seemed to be some sort of depot in Southend which held onto stuff for ages. Don’t know if that’s still the case.
I sent my last years UK tax return to HMRC by tracked International post last October.It actually was marked delivered after 7 days.Unfortunately HMRC have just informed me by letter that it was never re eived and that I owed them 300 pounds(at the letter date in June) and 10 pounds a day until I send it.
I hesitate to send the photocopies of same by tracked post so will wait until I return to UK in several weeks.
Post from the UK to France seems to take about a week but post to the UK taking 6 weeks is a massive worry. Surely there must be some kind of courier service giving immediate for important documents? We have to send signed life certificates to the pensions dept in the UK and they’ve given us 16 weeks but that was some time ago.
I once received a letter from my brother in London that came, according to the postmark, via the Cayman Islands.
I had horrible issues when trying to get a replacment bank card from my UK bank a few years ago. In the end, they had to send 5 cards as three never arrived, one did arrive after about 55 days I think, and the last one succeeded. The last, successful one came by DHL. I think they must have had horrible issues with many EU residents as now all letters/statements and replacment cards come from a facility in Germany.
Looking online,it seems to cost (very roughly) between 20-35€ for something like Chronopost to the UK (delivery against signature etc, taking 3-6 days) or around 55€ for a 1-2 day classic courier via eurosender.
I have no experience of using either for international delivery to the UK (I usually ask people travelling back to the UK to post them, recorded from within the UK)…I imagine some SF members have experience of using letter delivery services to the UK from France and perhaps might add their thoughts…
Classic from HMRC today:-
20 May. 22/23 tax return posted at post office in Hertfordshire, with proof of posting obtained
20 June. HMRC categorically deny receiving it (webchat)
23 June. Return resent from France, using suivi
24 June…HMRC issue tax statement based on (nil) return they apparently haven’t received!
Today (7 July) Tax statement received in France (14 days later)
Today (7 July) HMRC retrospectively updates its online forms tracking service to show the return was in fact received by them on 25 May, 26 days before they denied receiving it.
Hopeless.
When I sent all my pension application papers back last october they went by International LRAR, about €13 or about as was a big thick envelope but I got a receipt back dated and signed for.
Total thread drift, but one of my favorite summers activities as a poor younger person was document courrier to european cities. Picked things up at (usually) a law firm in the city, headed to airport and on to X. Drop document off, and have a few hours or maybe a day until flight back. Bad jobs were when courrier was waiting for document at airport, so had to get straight back on a plane.
I wasn’t paid much more than the costs of a sandwich, but I wonder what that cost to the document owner.
2 Likes
Now that’s what I call a sumner job.
It might also depend on where they are sent from in France ? I only say that because the stuff my wife sends to the UK, mostly birthday cards and small packets, seems to get to its intended destination in less than a week. We posted a letter on Tues/Weds to the SIL in Herefordshire, nothing special about it, yet it arrived today, so 3 days max. Maybe we’re just lucky.
(Moonpig) You can personalise them with photos (which I mostly do) and you can also add photos on the inside of some cards, of your handwritten note. I regularly send to UK (usually 1-2 days and it’s sent from the Channel Islands) the USA was much slower but they are now sent directly from New Jersey so it’s much quicker.