Not enough postage paid

Big_Macca

I got left a card saying I have to goto the post office to collect an item that did not have enough postage on it. The post office is miles away, if I go can I view the item before I pay the fine or do I have to take pot luck and pay for something which may only be junk?

The_ICT_Engineer

It depends on the sorting office, My local one requires payment first, before they get the item out of the rack.

shaun_from_Africa

Why not give the post office or sorting office a call and see if they will have a look if there is a return address on the package.

The worst that can happen is that they won't be able to help.

neilmcl

Big_Macca wrote: »

I got left a card saying I have to goto the post office to collect an item that did not have enough postage on it. The post office is miles away, if I go can I view the item before I pay the fine or do I have to take pot luck and pay for something which may only be junk?

What fine! It's just the charge for insufficient postage. If you want the item then pay the postage and get onto the person who sent it, if not just ignore it. Chances are it's someone posting a large letter with just a standard first class stamp. It's not your birthday by any chance?

Big_Macca

neilmcl wrote: »

What fine! It's just the charge for insufficient postage. If you want the item then pay the postage and get onto the person who sent it, if not just ignore it. Chances are it's someone posting a large letter with just a standard first class stamp. It's not your birthday by any chance?

Thats the point, I dont know what it is!

System

neilmcl wrote: »

What fine! It's just the charge for insufficient postage. If you want the item then pay the postage and get onto the person who sent it, if not just ignore it. Chances are it's someone posting a large letter with just a standard first class stamp. It's not your birthday by any chance?

There is a fine. They call it the "handling fee". But it's basically a fine

arcon5

goater78 wrote: »

There is a fine. They call it the "handling fee". But it's basically a fine

That's not a fine then, it's a charge for them having to handle the parcel, which will actually reflect very closely what it costs them.

System

arcon5 wrote: »

That's not a fine then, it's a charge for them having to handle the parcel, which will actually reflect very closely what it costs them.

All the customer knows is they have to pay more than the extra postage cost. It may not officially be a "fine" but as its an extra charge above the postage cost I don't really see the difference

prowla

It's paying for them providing a location and service for you to go and collect from.

It's not a fine.

System

prowla wrote: »

It's paying for them providing a location and service for you to go and collect from.

It's not a fine.

As already discussed it doesn't matter what it's for. It's an extra charge.

I accept its not "officially" a fine. However there is no material difference to the customer whether its officially a fine or not. It is still a charge imposed on the customer due to a violation of the postage rules.

paddyrg

Strictly speaking, the recipient is not the customer, but I'm just splitting hairs ;-)

The recipient can choose whether or not to pay the excess, it's a bit of a punt I agree. In the past, I've had an A5 flyer arrive in an A4 envelope with insufficient postage. I called the company, and they sent a cheque for the amount it cost me. They said they'd had a lot of calls (an intern had done the post run), refunded a lot of £1.21's (which cost them 65p/cheque plus another stamp!) and had a lot of people demand to be removed from their mailing list (me included). It cost them very dearly!