Royal Mail barcoding stamps - existing stamps valid only until 31 Jan 2023

pmets

Probably a silly question, but I am in the process of sending off a variety of stamps for my Mother in law. They are all in books, but none are self adhesive. Do I have to remove them from the books, and bag them up in quantities of 50, or can I leave them in the books?
  Oh and there’s over £200 worth, so using the bulk form

NBLondon

pmets said:

Probably a silly question, but I am in the process of sending off a variety of stamps for my Mother in law. They are all in books, but none are self adhesive. Do I have to remove them from the books, and bag them up in quantities of 50, or can I leave them in the books?
  Oh and there’s over £200 worth, so using the bulk form

I'm guessing these are the older style booklets? If you've got enough of the same denomination you could probably bundle the booklets together with an elastic band. As long as you have counted up and annotated the checklist correctly - it shouldn't be an issue. Or bag the booklets by denomination of the stamp. Based on what I read on philately forums; the key thing is to keep an accurate copy of the form and possibly a photo of what you send as there are some miscalculations happening.

StartledJesus

Sapindus said:

I think they are getting their act together...

I think not. See my posts especially on this thread, from another board (SmallBiz). Appalling customer experience on the <£200 side of the fence. 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79119862#Comment_79119862 

anotheruser

Just to report that despite me sending about £40 worth of stamps off with no proof of postage, within a week I had £40 of new stamps back.

I had some, which had specific values on them - 5p, 20p ones.
I sort of expected them to just give me an extra first or second class stamp but no, got new versions of those too.

anotheruser

Money_Grabber13579 said:

BooJewels said:

Thank you @Money_Grabber13579 - I must lead a sheltered life as I'd never seen ungummed/previously used stamps for sale. If they're chemically removing franking marks so that they can deliberately be re-sold and used, then that's clearly not on.

Here are some fakes which I found from a quick search on eBay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275194625328?hash=item4012e0bd30:g:Wm4AAOSwW69iIm9f

And yet both items I looked at clearly stated they were used (or not genuine) and should not be used for posting...
What the buyer does with those "stamps" is not up to the seller.
And if Royal Mail does not have a system to check... well that's on them, surely?

Some people, believe it or not, may want fake (but real looking) stamps for something.

anotheruser

petersy said:

molerat said:

It would have been  nice to get books back but you sent in 1st class stamps and got 1st class stamps back.  Just tear them off in strips of 4 x 2 and fold in half into a booklet, simples.

I think you've missed the point.

We purchased booklets from the RM website (which is what we paid for and what we wanted) and now through no fault of our own we have to change what we originally purchased with no recourse. Would you accept this with any other product purchased online? I doubt it.

No, you purchased stamps.
How they're transported or stored is irrelevant.

I buy a product online.
How it arrives or method of arrival is of no concern to me (obviously so long as the product isn't damaged).

You won't see it like that because you're desperate for books but it's just one of those things.  You're not missing out, so just manage as best you can with the sheets and go back to buying books.

petersy

anotheruser said:

petersy said:

molerat said:

It would have been  nice to get books back but you sent in 1st class stamps and got 1st class stamps back.  Just tear them off in strips of 4 x 2 and fold in half into a booklet, simples.

I think you've missed the point.

We purchased booklets from the RM website (which is what we paid for and what we wanted) and now through no fault of our own we have to change what we originally purchased with no recourse. Would you accept this with any other product purchased online? I doubt it.

No, you purchased stamps.
How they're transported or stored is irrelevant.

I buy a product online.
How it arrives or method of arrival is of no concern to me (obviously so long as the product isn't damaged).

You won't see it like that because you're desperate for books but it's just one of those things.  You're not missing out, so just manage as best you can with the sheets and go back to buying books.

We purchased books of stamps and we expected books of stamps back.

If you bought a new red car from a dealer and they delivered a green one, I suppose you would be happy with that.

Just because you don't use books of stamps, don't assume that others don't want them.

millie

Has anyone had their refund for the postage cost they did not send with the new stamps. I spoke to them on 13th April but still not had them

custardy

anotheruser said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

BooJewels said:

Thank you @Money_Grabber13579 - I must lead a sheltered life as I'd never seen ungummed/previously used stamps for sale. If they're chemically removing franking marks so that they can deliberately be re-sold and used, then that's clearly not on.

Here are some fakes which I found from a quick search on eBay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275194625328?hash=item4012e0bd30:g:Wm4AAOSwW69iIm9f

And yet both items I looked at clearly stated they were used (or not genuine) and should not be used for posting...
What the buyer does with those "stamps" is not up to the seller.
And if Royal Mail does not have a system to check... well that's on them, surely?

Some people, believe it or not, may want fake (but real looking) stamps for something.

Which amazingly is why they are brining in barcoded stamps.
Also why people get surcharged for using used stamps...........

StartledJesus

Extract from a letter of complaint to Royal Mail

 ‘…the whole process is due to a decision by Royal Mail to switch to bar coded stamps, and make pre purchased stamps, which were bought in good faith, obsolete. Customers try to cooperate with the scheme, but are met by an appallingly disorganised and mismanaged response…’