Forum Topic

I just nearly started a riot at Acton PO! Join my campaign for more staff.

I just popped in to the main Post Office to post a small parcel. The queue was massive and not moving at all. There were only 2 or 3 counters open and one woman was wondering around, I assume to try and flog insurance or some such. I complained to the shop people and then the roving woman that the queue was unacceptable. I was taken to meet the manager who told me she had been trying to get more staff to no avail. She said she was getting many complaints every day from the public. I am very concerned about what will happen if Churchfield Road Post Office closes if the main PO can't cope now. So my suggestion is that as well as campaigning to keep Churchfield Road open, we also campaign for more staff at the main Acton PO. The manager gave me a leaflet called Your Guide to Customer Service. It calls the PO the Peoples's Post Office, so lets reclaim it! The address to write to is: Post Office Customer care, Freepost, PO Box 740 Barnsley S73 0ZJ email: customercare@postoffice.co.uk. Please write and demand more staff for Acton Post Office.If you were in the Post Office around 12.30 I was the woman urging people in the queue to complain or nothing will change!

Chris Hurley ● 6748d20 Comments

How ironic!  And it is planned to close the Churchfield and the Gunnersbury Post offices because people can go to the Acton High Street one.  There's an item on the next Cabinet Agenda opposing the closure of post offices and this will be a very good example to use.  Ta.

Barbara Yerolemou ● 6748d

We encountered a similar problem at the main Post Office in Acton. It took about 40 minutes before we reached the counter, manned by only 3 staff. Whilst in the queue a man was trying to interest the frustrated customers into buying insurance!It will get much worse if they close the sub Post Office in Churchfield Road.It is a far cry from the adverts about the Post Office on TV!Robert & Jean

Robert Julian Fernandez ● 6748d

Yes, it hasn't changed since the 1970s. And some of the staff are so impolite. By the time you get to the counter, you have been bombarded by empty boxes of cheap hair curlers, flickery TV screens trying to sell you all and sundry, and an in-house insurance salesman. It reminds me of the first time I visited Poland in the early nineties. To my mind, it is the central post office that needs to close, and we need another couple of sub-post offices.

John Theodore Clark ● 6748d

Excellent idea!

The Editor ● 6748d

"There were only 2 or 3 counters open and one woman was wandering around, I assume to try and flog insurance or some such."This really takes the biscuit. I encountered the same thing in a central London branch with similarly gargantuan queues. Sending someone round to try and sell us something we don't want, rather than opening another counter, is absolutely breathtaking in its arrogance and naivety. And then if we actually get to a counter without expiring during the wait, we are hampered and delayed further by a sales pitch for every damned thing other than what we went in for. When I went to get some Euros, the young lady asked: "Do you use your debit or credit card when you're abroad at all?" It really does deserve a two-word answer.

Keith Clarke ● 6748d

Today the queue at Acton Main Post Office was right out of the door (again!).People were just about to walk in, turned on their heel and straight out again.It's absolutely ridiculous that customers have to stand around for AGES waiting to be served.Perhaps they should keep the SUB Post Offices open and close the Main Post Office, surely it couldn't be worse than the present situation?

Robert Julian Fernandez ● 6745d

Same in Ealing main PO today, long queue but lots of counters open and so we did move along fairly quickly. When I was in Churchfield Road PO the other day (I seem to spend my life in various POs!) the Postmaster showed me a newspaper cutting about rising stress levels amongst postal workers. More and more staff are leaving due to the strss of working in the PO which in turn places huge amounts of stress on those who are left to cope. I wonder how the PO are managing the health and safety of their staff?

Chris Hurley ● 6745d

God help any of u that get stuck in the queue at the P.O.on Turnham Green .... some of the staff behind the countersare actually dead i believe.                no movement  no eye contact ... no hope .

Bob Hodkison ● 6743d

God help any of u that get stuck in the queue at the P.O.on Turnham Green .... some of the staff behind the countersare actually dead i believe.                no movement  no eye contact ... no hope .

Bob Hodkison ● 6743d

never really experienced the misery at acton po until yesterday when i spent an hour in the queue trying to renew my tax disc!  It is clearly apparent that the PO have a master plan to bring the community together (you can't help but talk to people to relieve the boredom).  Also keeps their tele-marketing budget down as they can employ one person to walk up and down and try to get his captive audience to buy life insurance, savings and car insurance.  Actually its not a bad marketing strategy less po's more people in one place and more sales!

Diane John ● 6743d

I'm sad to read Acton PO has become so bad.  I haven'tbeen there for a couple of years, but used to use it regularly.  (I was a refugee from Chiswick PO which is absolutely terrible - they closed most of the sub PO's in Chiswick years ago.) At that time I found Acton PO quite efficient.  Queues were sometimes long, but there were plenty of windows open so the queues moved quite quickly.  And the staff I dealt with there were polite and helpful.  What a shame it seems to have radically gone downhill, sounds like it is as bad the the Chiswick branch.I used to live near Ealing Bdwy, and even then - 20-odd years ago - the main Ealing PO was always a nightmare to be avoided at all costs.

Catherine Hall ● 6742d

The situation at Acton Main Post Office is getting worse instead of better! People were queuing almost to the entrance but instead of opening more positions we ended up with only 2 people serving customers by the time it was my turn! How ridiculous!Then we have the guy working for the Post Office walking along the queue still trying to sell insurance or whatever! Talk about a captive audience!Don't they care about their customers? The service really has gone down the pan, customers were becoming very annoyed - it would take the patience of a saint to stand in that queue! Some people have said they can wait up to 45 minutes to be served at Acton Main Post Office.Their postal service is no better. Recently someone rang my bell to deliver a parcel but scarpered before I could even get to the front door! This happened in less than a minute! In the end I had to go to collect the parcel from Bollo Bridge Road.

Jean F Fernandez ● 5937d

I avoid going inside there unless it's absolutely and totally unavoidable for all the reasons stated above. However in terms of queues the NatWest takes some beating, it was snaking out in to the street early in the week. Why they don't take their custom elsewhere is a complete mystery.

Jeremy Beckett ● 5937d

I don't think they bother to carry the parcels, just put a card through the door before you can open it.

Becky Bell ● 5937d

Depends on your postie - ours is fab and tries really hard to ensure things are delivered - to the extent that i sometimes feel like a sub-station.Agreed the main post office is unusably awful...do they do it on purpose to ensure we do more stuff online which is cheaper to process?

Sara Nathan ● 5937d

There is still a sub P O on Horn Lane by Acton main line so for things like parcels, the staff will still serve you with a smile there, and I've never had more than 3 people in front of me!

Miriam Kerketta ● 5937d

You will have now Miriam!

Maggie Dodge ● 5937d

My husband and I have noticed that the sub Post Office in Horn Lane has levied higher charges for posting overseas cards and parcels! This has happened on more than one occasion.After being asked to pay over £1 to send a very small card to Australia my husband told the counter staff that he would not be sending it after all. We later took the same card to the main Post Office where we were charged about 40p less for posting it!We queried this with the lady who was serving us, she used to work at the smaller counter just near the entrance to the main Post Office. She replied that some sub Post Office branches can so this as they may be a franchise!I am not sure if this is common practice but it certainly happened to us. I wonder whether anyone else discovered the difference in price to send some items by post?The sub Post Office staff are friendly, queues are shorter but do check whether charges are higher.

Jean F Fernandez ● 5937d

Postal overcharging, which was discussed in the forum about a year ago, is illegal. The number to phone to report overcharging is 08457 640 640.

Ian M Green ● 5937d

wow, postal charges are on faith, never heard of overcharging before.

Miriam Kerketta ● 5936d