Royal Mail redirection - is it worth it? 21 April 2017 at 10:49AM edited 30 November -1 at 12:00AM in House Buying, Renting & Selling 98 replies 31.9K views

custardy

jungle_jane wrote: »

We just took out 12 months...didn't seem like a huge cost considering the benefits. We found that the first 2 weeks were shaky - there was a lot of stuff slipping through going back to the old house. After that it got much better but i am only assuming this as our buyers haven't forwarded anything to us or let us know we had mail...

Down sides to the service:

- we only used Mr and Mrs Jungle so the odd stray that comes to my maiden name misses this
- We have limited companies and neither of these have our surname in their name so assuming anything addressed to that will change

I really think they should make it a household thing and accept more than one name.

Since we took it out there have been loads of things i wouldn't have thought of: cat microchip/insurance, dental reminders, car stuff and a couple of insurances. Really glad i did it and would use the service again

but its done by name,what is a 'household' these days?
You could have 7 people in a house or 1. not related etc.
However I do believe they should allow maiden names (with proof)to be added free.

Margot123

My tenant vacated last June and had his posted redirected for 3 months.

He should have paid for the 12 months as post is still arriving for him (inc DWP, HMRC etc).

I just stick it back in the post 'return to sender' as I don't know his new address. They keep sending it though, and these could be demands for money that he is unaware of.

MobileSaver

Rain_Shadow wrote: »

peanuts compared with the possible inconvenience.

^^ This.

You only need one time-sensitive or important letter not to reach you and you could end up with a world of pain eventually sorting it out; you'd be kicking yourself for being so penny pinching.

greenbee wrote: »

I had stuff redirected for the full two years

I have to be honest and admit I had my last redirection in place for 4 years! For the first two years life just got in the way and there always seemed to be something more important than notifying the last few organisations that I'd moved... got there eventually though.

ThePants999

Appreciate this is an old thread now, but something I think worth contributing... Our sellers didn't set this up, and while I'm sure they did a pretty good job notifying most organisations of their change of address, it's so easy to overlook one. One day we received a notification from the Land Registry about an adverse possession claim on some other land they owned. Fortunately for them, we had their email address, so we could get a forwarding address from them and send it on - otherwise, that could have been quite an expensive oversight.

cloo

Yeah, it's usually worth it, although in our case because we moved on the same street, in the same postcode, it didn't work very well until our usual postman, who had been off sick for a few months, came back on duty and understood the situation!

OceanSound

custardy wrote: »

Whilst not perfect,that was 5 years ago.
A LOT has changed in those 5 years with regards to customer complaints,redirections etc.

'Whilst not Purrrfect..'? you are having a laugh. Is the 'understatement' back in fashion?, or perhaps it never went out of fashion?

As for 'A LOT has changed in those 5 years..'. I'll take that with a pinch of salt until I see some solid evidence.

OceanSound

I think royal mail should be more transparent on how redirection works. At the moment it's all guesswork/conjecture. e.g. I read (in a forum like this one) that it's some bod in the sorting office sticking labels on letters (that need redirecting). Is this how it works?.

DO they have a black/white board in the sorting office with the name and address of the redirects, and each staff member before starting sorting letters look at this board and are aware that Joe Bloggs of No. 8, High Street, needs redirecting to Joe Bloggs, No 21, Maple Street.?

How do some letters slip through the net and end up at the old address?, is it human error? How many letters end up at the old address (or worse)?

custardy

OceanSound wrote: »

I think royal mail should be more transparent on how redirection works. At the moment it's all guesswork/conjecture. e.g. I read (in a forum like this one) that it's some bod in the sorting office sticking labels on letters (that need redirecting). Is this how it works?.

DO they have a black/white board in the sorting office with the name and address of the redirects, and each staff member before starting sorting letters look at this board and are aware that Joe Bloggs of No. 8, High Street, needs redirecting to Joe Bloggs, No 21, Maple Street.?

How do some letters slip through the net and end up at the old address?, is it human error? How many letters end up at the old address (or worse)?

What do you need to know?

no there is no 'blackboard'. Are you thinking RM is that far in the 70's?
Redirection come into units daily in a redirection pouch (Tracked)
All redirections come with labels listing the type of redirection,names/old & new address/sticky labels/duty number and the likes.

Depending on unit size/structure these redirections will be stored at the walk frame or at designated redirection station.

Once a postie has their duty prepared they (should) go through their redirections by address,checking the names that tally with the redirection.
Any redirections that are 'intra' to the same office should be connected same day where possible.
Other redirections should be sorted to a specific redirection frame.

When doing redirections posties should check the date and that the labels are correct.
also checking for whole family moves.
names should of course tally.

Some common issues. marriage break up. Its its addressed to Mr & mrs then it cannot be redirectied.
You cannot pick one party over the other,though back in the dark ages Mr would have been chosen!

variations of names. Eg you have a redi for Mr Robert Smith. You get a letter for Mr B smith. Is it a different guy or same guy under Bob.

Human error in not completing the redis or not completing them properly.
A part time duty prepped by one,delivered by another. Both think the redi's are done.
missorts at prep level so the letter to be redirected is in the wrong slot when checked. they spotted on delivery and delivered

OceanSound

custardy wrote: »

What do you need to know?
......

The Mr and Mrs scenario would mostly apply to Christmas cards and wedding invitations, I assume. Royal Mail (RM) can only redirect according to the names (or whole household - if you select this when you apply - after the household members have given you consent), they cannot possibly be expected to go by current social etiquette. (Pick Mr over Mrs, or vice versa)

As for the variations of the first name. e.g. Robert and Bob, Susan and Sue. Oh heck, why don't I mention Rita too, RM are already on to this. On the redirect application (I started the online one - you can save it and go back and complete it) it asks you

Would you like to redirect all variations of the first name(s)?

For example, if your name is Susan, we'll also redirect Sue. If you select 'No' below we will only redirect the names as you've listed them exactly."

I reckon, if your name is Bob Smith and there is/was also a Bryan Smith in your household, you shouldn't tick that option, as Bryan Smith clearly wouldn't (unless he's given consent) want post addressed to him (as B Smith) being redirected to you.

custardy

OceanSound wrote: »

The Mr and Mrs scenario would mostly apply to Christmas cards and wedding invitations, I assume. Royal Mail (RM) can only redirect according to the names (or whole household - if you select this when you apply - after the household members have given you consent), they cannot possibly be expected to go by current social etiquette. (Pick Mr over Mrs, or vice versa)


you can often have financial type letters coming to mr& mrs

As for the variations of the first name. e.g. Robert and Bob, Susan and Sue. Oh heck, why don't I mention Rita too, RM are already on to this. On the redirect application (I started the online one - you can save it and go back and complete it) it asks you

and yet many folks dont include them. Take this from experience of complaints.


I reckon, if your name is Bob Smith and there is/was also a Bryan Smith in your household, you shouldn't tick that option, as Bryan Smith clearly wouldn't (unless he's given consent) want post addressed to him (as B Smith) being redirected to you.

you seem to have all the answers.
so what is it you need to know?