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

trix-a-belle

peterbrown2 said:

I submitted a mixed bag of stamps, mainly 2nd class, but I have been sent £93 quid'sworth of First class stamps only. I have no use for First class - I only use Second for Xmas cards. Can I swop?? What can I do? I am angry about this!

You can look at the post only 5 posts above yours which gives the relevant details with paragraph references which direct you to how to reject them

NBLondon

johnb2 said:

Their T&Cs (which in their 7 Nov form do not apply to me because I entered into a contract with them my submitting my form in October, 

Feel free to link to the previous version of the T&C which were in force on the day you sent the form...    (Clue: that para hasn't changed - it was the same in the July version).

Yes - they require you to use SD to send stamps back to them.  If your claim is valid (and I think it reasonable) they will refund because it is their error.    I think you'll have a better chance by doing that than by threatening to involve Ofcom.

NBLondon

peterbrown2 said:

I submitted a mixed bag of stamps, mainly 2nd class, but I have been sent £93 quid'sworth of First class stamps only. I have no use for First class - I only use Second for Xmas cards. Can I swop?? What can I do? I am angry about this!

Recent posts seem to suggest that the team dealing with this are out of 2nd class for some reason.  The original version of the T&C (March) says that they will use 2nd class to replace the numeric values; the July version changed this to "typically 2nd class".

Take a pragmatic approach.  Did you get the correct total value back?  If no, complain.  If yes, do you have enough 1st Class for your Christmas Cards?  If yes, is it worth the hassle of complaining?  It apparently may be 4 weeks before you get a response.

darkh0rse

I swapped 120 quid of stamps, took about 3 weeks, arrived just the other day.

Now the deadline is extended and I bet RM are going to put pricing up in April as usual. 

So that means my swapped out stamps will require extra postage in April yet if I hadn't have swapped them they would have been valid for another 4 months.

What a con! 

molerat

darkh0rse said:

I swapped 120 quid of stamps, took about 3 weeks, arrived just the other day.

Now the deadline is extended and I bet RM are going to put pricing up in April as usual. 

So that means my swapped out stamps will require extra postage in April yet if I hadn't have swapped them they would have been valid for another 4 months.

What a con! 

A 1st stamp was swapped for a 1st stamp, you have not lost anything and will still be able to post a 1st  letter whatever the cost of a stamp rises to without adding extra postage.

glosbobbles

Can anyone point me to a statement on Royal Mail's website confirming the extension of old stamp validity until 31 July 2023. 
I have looked at RM's website and can only find reference to the 31 January 2022 deadline.

KeithP

glosbobbles said:

Can anyone point me to a statement on Royal Mail's website confirming the extension of old stamp validity until 31 July 2023. 
I have looked at RM's website and can only find reference to the 31 January 2022 deadline.

There are a couple of posts on page 65 of this thread that mention it.

And here's MSE's article on it...

You now have until 31 July 2023 to use 1st and 2nd class stamps without barcodes after a Royal Mail U-turn – here's what you need to know

But yes, I can't find anything on RM's website either.


Edited to add...

Just found this on RM's webpage...
(scroll down to the FAQs)

Norman_Castle

https://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/community/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=107384&sid=9bcb8cf3456a7eb7e5d13405872f25b8

"Tory MP Alexander Stafford, vice-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Philately Group, said: “The January deadline would have inevitably left many people with stamps that they had bought with their hard-earned cash and which would suddenly become completely useless.”

While I'm delighted to hear there's a All-Party Parliamentary Philately Group it a bit presumptuous to suggest they had been bought with "hard earned cash". How does he know how they were financed?

elsien

johnb2 said:

As Special Delivery is £8, no-one would do that if not promised recompense. I got proof of posting as I didn't trust them (and scanned the form, something they also require for disputes, which I doubt many did). Their T&Cs (which in their 7 Nov form do not apply to me because I entered into a contract with them my submitting my form in October, demand you use Special Delivery at your expense to when rejecting stamps, and if they reject your claim you won't get it back. They also have a dubious strike action clause. All in all, unreasonable contract terns and fertile ground for a Ofcom complaint.

I’ve sent mine special delivery using some of the stamps that I already had. I may or may not get the postage cost reimbursed but I’ve got 400 quids worth of stamps so if I  lose £8 odd it’s still better than losing the whole lot.

jrawle

Just found this discussion and the associated article while looking for information about the extension to the deadline, which I thought I'd heard somewhere.

I haven't read the whole thread, so apologies if it's been raised already, but I don't agree with the article saying the stamps will become "worthless" after 31 January (or July now). They won't be "worthless" after that deadline, you simply won't be able to use them to post items until they have been swapped. "Worthless" implies that they have zero value and can no longer be swapped, yet no deadline for swapping the stamps has been announced. I feel this is an important distinction.

With the extension, I'll be holding out for stamps with the King's portrait on them so that I won't be stuck with a whole load of stamps with the late Queen, given that I may well be using them for years to come.