Disconnect between Royal Mail website and Actual postage costs at the post office

Julis7239

I send and sell alot of items via ebay. I often use the Royal Mail on line calculator to predict costs and charge my buyers. Has anyone else found it is often totally wrong!? This has caused me a lot of problems.

Yesterday I combined postage on two collectable magazines that I needed to send to Australia for a buyer. The combined weight was 2.5kg so it was an expensive post. THe buyer paid £32.46 based on printed papers sent signed for.

When I got to the post office they said they wouldnt send it as it was too heavy unless it was an educational item - no where on the royal mail site did I see this said this or I couldnt combine postage! I ended up having to buy extra envelopes and send the items seperately untracked and it still came to £36 - more than I had quoted.

This is the third time this has happened and its p"ssing me off!

Has anyone else had this and what should I do?

custardy

* Books and pamphlets are the only items over 2kg that can be sent by Royal Mail’s international services. These can be sent via Printed Papers up to a maximum weight of 5kg; for each additional 20g add 10p to Europe or 22p to Rest of world.

Please note; No items over 2kg (including books and pamphlets) can be sent to Canada and only books over 2kg can be sent to the Irish Republic.

does that not cover it?

macfly

Tell them they are books. Job done.

lindseykim13

you have a point i check online to make sure my item will go 2nd class in weight and then check the size dimmentions too as some have been border line standard parcels. All checked out fine online so i charge for 2nd class po charges me for standard parcels so i loose out.

Would someone mind confirming for me the maximum dimentions for a 2nd class parcel? so i know i've been looking in the right place and not loosing my marbles.

custardy

2nd_class wrote:

How large can it be?
The maximum dimensions for rectangular items are 610mm x 460mm x 460mm.
The maximum length for rolled items is 900mm and the length plus twice the item diameter must not exceed 1040mm.
Items over these dimensions should be sent by Standard Parcels or using Parcelforce Worldwide
The weight limit for Second Class items is 1000g.

standard_parcels wrote:

What are the maximum weights and measurements for sending in Standard Parcels?
You can send parcels up to 20kg in weight. Parcels must be no longer than 1.5 metres, and the combined length and girth of your item must not exceed 3m.

...............................................

lindseykim13

thanks i thought so at least i can have a moan next time they try and overcharge me and point them in the direction of the website

adam2484

if you split the parcel up and have 2 packages of less then 2kg each then it'll be much cheaper

NotQuiteNorbert

adam2484 wrote: »

if you split the parcel up and have 2 packages of less then 2kg each then it'll be much cheaper

They did. It wasn't.

Julis7239 wrote:

I ended up having to buy extra envelopes and send the items seperately untracked and it still came to £36 - more than I had quoted.

custardy

£23.26 2Kg

£6.51 0.5Kg

£3.70 international signed for


£33.47

so i dont know where £32.46 came from
now how did the OP get 2.5KG? if it was using home scales then most likely it was a bit heavier

steviebabes

A lot of post office staff don't know much about the services they provide for Royal Mail. You need to point out their mistakes and if they still argue try a different PO. They are too busy trying to sell travel/home car insurance and phone/broadband packages than concentrating on their core business. The usual tricks are to send 1st class package by default and question anything over 2KG going overseas. Printed papers are anything that is printed, I use this service a lot.

JacksterD

Julis7239 wrote: »

When I got to the post office they said they wouldnt send it as it was too heavy unless it was an educational item - no where on the royal mail site did I see this said this or I couldnt combine postage! I ended up having to buy extra envelopes and send the items seperately untracked and it still came to £36 - more than I had quoted.

BS, printed papers covers *any* printed papers, not just educational items.

Next time this happens tell em to check their SmartPost help :cool:

And you said you were under quoted, unfortunately it can sometimes be quite difficult to get a price out of the computer because they're just so slow and when you do get a price but decide not to take it, it sometimes does this weird thing where it won't let you do anything else but mail until you complete another mail transaction. New computers are coming soon though