A retired grandmother received a birthday card ripped into bits and minus a £20 gift voucher, while her identical twin sister got her card in one piece with the voucher to spend.
Diane Stinton received the torn-up fragments of her 66th birthday card in a clear plastic bag from the postman at her home in Chacewater Crescent in Worcester.
When she rooted around in the torn envelope, her Every Wish voucher was missing.
The shredded card dropped onto her doormat in the Royal Mail bag with a letter printed ‘our sincere apologies’ and the message ‘we’re sorry the enclosed item has reached you in this condition’.
MESS: The shredded remains of Diane Sinton’s birthday card which arrived at her Worcester home in bits minus the gift voucher (Image: Newsquest)
Meanwhile, her sister, Christine Wooley, also 66, received her card and voucher intact at her home in Blackpole in Worcester. She is now free to spend her voucher, which can be used on 200 High Street brands.
Their older brother Ken Rea (who ironically is a retired postman) sent both cards first class at the same time from the same Bristol post box. First class stamps now cost £1.80 each.
Mrs Sinton says the price of stamps, plus the cost of the voucher itself, is not a small sum of money for someone who is retired.
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Mrs Stinton, who is now retired but used to work in advertising sales, said: “It came on the Tuesday before my birthday. My brother was absolutely fuming. I felt annoyed. I had lost £20, my brother made the effort to send it, and I didn’t get a birthday card.”
She originally tried to register a complaint online but was told by Royal Mail they could not do anything without proof of purchase (which her brother was unable to supply).
She eventually got through to Royal Mail on the phone after waiting around 30 minutes to connect, speaking to ‘a lovely lady who said there was nothing they could do about it because I haven’t got proof of purchase’.
The call handler told her the damage would definitely have been caused by a sorting machine but Mrs Stinton remains unconvinced, believing the voucher would also have been found.
DISAPPOINTING: The shredded packet which once contained an Every Wish gift voucher (Image: Newsquest)
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All she received, however, was the ripped-up remnants of the card and the envelope it came in. She believes she should receive compensation but added: “I don’t think I will.”
“If the address is not visible, they legally have to deliver it. I was told the only thing they can compensate for me is the cost of the card and the postage stamp,” she said.
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She left her email address with the call handler. However, Mrs Stinton said the call dropped out before they could finish the conversation. She said she was told ‘you should not put gift vouchers inside cards’ and used brown envelopes instead.
But she added: “That’s not the point.”
The mother-of-three and grandmother-of-one also sent a card to a friend first class earlier this month and said and it took 13 days to arrive. Meanwhile, all her Christmas cards arrived in a bundle last year.
“I sent a card to my brother in Bristol a few years ago. That never arrived. I think the service in Worcester is dreadful.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We process millions of items of mail every day and take great care to ensure they reach customers safely.
“Rarely, an item can be damaged while moving through the postal network, for example if it becomes caught in processing machinery, as appears to be the case here. Where an item arrives damaged or with contents missing, we take that seriously and customers can report this to us so the circumstances can be investigated.
“We also know how important it is that mail arrives when expected. A First Class letter taking nearly two weeks to arrive would be highly unusual. Across all letters, more than 93% arrive on time and over 99% within a week.”
