Mail Redirection Question

Enigmatic_Me

We moved house back in April and have had a mail redirection on for 6 months. We have moved to a completely new area over 100 miles from our previous address.

Last week we got a letter from a National Company (well known opticians) which was a computer printed letter addressed to our new address. NB this was NOT redirected. Now the strange thing is we had never changed our address with the optician as they were based in our previous old town.

I therefore phoned to ask where they had got our new address from. They had absolutely no idea, all their records still showed our old address. They advised they would check with their Head Office.

They have called today to advise that it will have been obtained from Royal Mail as when we completed the mail redirection we would have ticked a box allowing other companies to have our new address???

Well I think for sure we would not have done that as we are both quite careful about ticking boxes. What I also find strange is why would their HO (who have sent out the letter on behalf of the local branch) not use the address in their own records?? I mean come on I have worked for large companies, you write to customers at the address on your own systems, not check for a new address with Royal Mail?? It is not as though they have written to our old address and had mail returned, the redirection is still active so had they written to our old address we would have received it.

Just wondered if anyone has experienced anything like this before.

Thanks

pinkteapot

Sounds like it's just junk mail and nothing to do with the fact the company already had your address on their customer database (as they said they had your old address).

You may or may not have ended up on a junk mail list thanks to Royal Mail. Could have been any company you've given your new address to in the last six months who shares mailing lists (have you always ticked every box carefully?). I doubt you'll get to the bottom of where they got your details from.

If the mailing has small print about how to opt out of future mailings, follow the instructions.

Enigmatic_Me

Thanks for your reply Pinkteapot (love that user name btw )

I should have added in my initial post it wasn't junk mail, it was letters (one for me and one for my hubby) reminding us that our eye test is due.

Since moving (touching wood) we have had no junk mail and no junk calls on the landline which is bliss

pinkteapot

Hmm, just looked at the Royal Mail redirection order form:
http://www.royalmail.com/sites/default/files/Royal-Mail-Redirection-Application-Form-30-March-2015.pdf

You probably wouldn't have ticked to opt in to marketing communications, but did you opt out to this?

We can also pass the contact details of everyone whose mail is being redirected to organisations that already know them so they can update their records, helping to reduce the risk of identity theft.
There’s no extra cost for this. If any of you do not want this free service, please mark an ‘X’ in the box.

On the subject of landline, register your new number with the Telephone Preference Service if you haven't already:
http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/index.html
It's free, and official, and opts you out of junk calls. If any UK-based company phones you, you can tell them you're registered with the TPS and they shouldn't have called and you'll find they hang up sharpish. Only thing it doesn't help with is overseas-based dodgy claims lawyers. We've been registered for a few years and get next to no marketing calls.

Enigmatic_Me

Thanks, I did look at the Royal Mail Redirection form online before I posted and did see that.

It was my hubby who completed the form online and although I cannot guarantee it I would be pretty certain he would have opted out as he is fussier than me when it comes to these things. However as I say, we cannot be 100% certain.

I still think it is strange though even if that is what they have done, why they have gone down that route instead of using the address on their own systems?

pinkteapot

That I don't know!

I wonder if he stayed opted in to that part because they say it helps with identity fraud (so sounds like a good thing).

wickesy

It sounds like they have outsourced the mailing to a mailing house who have 'cleansed' the data on their mailing list using the NCOA register

http://www.royalmail.com/business/services/marketing/data-optimisation/ncoa-update

It saves them wasting money sending out letters that might bounce back to them. The updated addresses will then be returned to the opticians to update on their system as and when they get round to it.

GingerBob_3

Do not trust RM Redirect, in fact, don't use them. It's as simple as that. It might seem like a convenient service but it comes with several problematic issues:


They require too much personal data, about everyone in the household. Are you happy to give them your childrens' DoB?


Various government departments have access to the database.


It's highly likely that RM furnish CRAs with your details, and that goes against you on their files as other addresses.