Royal Mail - Redirection refunds?

Chris94

I took out a 6 month redirection service from Royal Mail when moving house.

I changed my address with as many places I could think of, but I barely received any redirected mail which I thought was odd. The ones I did receive were mainly junk mail. Only when I was expecting some important mail which I did not receive, I realised they must have been sent to the old address. I got in touch with the new tenants and they had 8 letters for me which had not been redirected, even though my name was the same as that on my redirection service. I could understand one or two to slip through, but not 8. Fortunately the new tenants were understanding and kept them for me, but with the redirection service your paying for peace of mind and to avoid having to rely on the new residents keeping your mail safe for you - this isn't what I received.

I contacted Royal Mail to complain about this, and they gave me a pretty standard response about how incidents like these are rare and are taken very seriously and that they have investigated and interviewed the staff who would have been responsible, etc. However, I didn't feel there was any genuine apology. No offer for a refund (partial or full) or offer to extend the service to compensate for it.

Do I have any rights in this case to claim a refund or compensation?

wealdroam

Chris94 wrote: »

I took out a 6 month redirection service from Royal Mail when moving house.

I changed my address with as many places I could think of, but I barely received any redirected mail which I thought was odd. The ones I did receive were mainly junk mail. Only when I was expecting some important mail which I did not receive, I realised they must have been sent to the old address. I got in touch with the new tenants and they had 8 letters for me which had not been redirected, even though my name was the same as that on my redirection service. I could understand one or two to slip through, but not 8. Fortunately the new tenants were understanding and kept them for me, but with the redirection service your paying for peace of mind and to avoid having to rely on the new residents keeping your mail safe for you - this isn't what I received.

I contacted Royal Mail to complain about this, and they gave me a pretty standard response about how incidents like these are rare and are taken very seriously and that they have investigated and interviewed the staff who would have been responsible, etc. However, I didn't feel there was any genuine apology. No offer for a refund (partial or full) or offer to extend the service to compensate for it.

Do I have any rights in this case to claim a refund or compensation?

You have every right to claim a refund. They appear not to have provided the service you have paid for.

From your post, it appears that you have not asked for a refund.
Do you really expect a commercial organisation to offer a refund without being asked?

As for compensation... just list all your losses and stick that claim in too.

Chris94

wealdroam wrote: »

You have every right to claim a refund, but that does not mean you will get one. They appear not to have provided the service you have paid for.

From your post, it appears that you have not asked for a refund.
Do you really expect a commercial organisation to offer a refund without being asked?

As for compensation... just list all your losses and stick that claim in too.

I didn't directly ask as it was my initial complaint, but I seriously hinted towards it. I've seen some posts on here that say Royal Mail don't offer refunds, but I don't know where it stands in terms of consumer rights.

wealdroam

Chris94 wrote: »

I didn't directly ask as it was my initial complaint, but I seriously hinted towards it. I've seen some posts on here that say Royal Mail don't offer refunds, but I don't know where it stands in terms of consumer rights.

They have provided the service. You have told us that some mail has been redirected.

If you still have a count for the items that were rediected, I suppose that you could work out what percentage of mail has been redirected and submit a claim for that amount.

Chris94

wealdroam wrote: »

They have provided the service. You have told us that some mail has been redirected.

If you still have a count for the items that were rediected, I suppose that you could work out what percentage of mail has been redirected and submit a claim for that amount.

I don't have a count for the items that were redirected. I know it isn't that much though, and was mainly junk mail. They advertise the service as redirecting all the mail. Redirecting only some of the mail is not the service I'm paying for. I'd be better off having not paid for the redirection at all and went and picked up all the letters along with the others that weren't redirected that the new tenants saved for me.

wealdroam

Chris94 wrote: »

Redirecting only some of the mail is not the service I'm paying for.

Claim on that basis then. Good luck.

ThumbRemote

wealdroam wrote: »

You have every right to claim a refund. They appear not to have provided the service you have paid for.

wealdroam wrote: »

They have provided the service. You have told us that some mail has been redirected.

Isn't your advice somewhat contradictory here?

They both have and have not provided the service. Schrodingers redirection?

wealdroam

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Isn't your advice somewhat contradictory here?

Yes, you could say that.

Which, in your opinion, is right?