The Register informed on Monday what was already broadly known – Royal Mail Website services are down. Over the weekend we experienced problems with RM service which was simply down.  A lot of our e-commerce customers couldn’t process parcels as Royal Mail decided to upgrade the system.

Web Postage Order Down due to new system implementation scheduled during the highest sales season

Everyone knows on approach to Christmas online sales jump up and Royal Mail is extremely busy with all extra staff employed. Unfortunately someone decided to upgrade their system in the middle of the high season usage! – effect thousands of  angry people on twitter and a lot of lost business.

Someone from Royal Mail should think about this – why not make large changes to important parts of your site during off-peak seasons?

The two points to take away are clear:

1) If you run an organisation as big as Royal Mail – Ignore your customers if you fail this same people will be asked to pay from their taxes for your services anyway. Look no further than banks.

2) If you’re a reliable and trustworthy company who cares, make sure whatever your marketing effort is your company may suffer if you do not consult changes on your internal system with your customers or community.

The highest sales season is the worst to go for implementation. Check your stats and make sure you upset the lowest number of people in the process.