Advice re Royal Mail stamp swapout

olgadapolga

Codger1947 said:

jon81uk said:

If over £200 and sent to the address given they will reimburse the special delivery postage (as more stamps).

" Postage costs will be refunded, if sent by Special Delivery GuaranteedTM, by sending you the equivalent value in barcoded stamps added to your swap."
Stamp Swap Out form (over £200 pounds) (royalmail.com)

My point is that RM has imposed this deadline for using old stamps, but its so-called free swap scheme isn't really free for us, their customers, at all.  Either we have to pay for special delivery, or use Freepost with the considerable risk of bearing the loss in the likely event of them being stolen en route.  

Why not use some of the stamps you want to swap to pay for the special delivery fee? You can use stamps to pay it, just work out how many stamps you need and stick them in the envelope! Then you don't have to pay extra to send them as you'll get the cost returned via barcoded stamps.

Codger1947

StartledJesus said:

***WARNING TO MSEers re Stamp Swap Out***

@Codger1947 This is EXACTLY what I have already experienced, and the scheme only started last Monday, 4th April.

On Monday I posted my form, and 24 Self Adhesive 1st class stamps, still stuck to a single strip of paper, to the Freepost address. At that point I had not seen your post, but I did have certain qualms, but dismissed them with the thought that I have placed the envelope directly into the Royal Mail system which, of course, I trust implicitly. Valued at the current price of 95p, that gave a total of £22.80.

This morning, Saturday, I received a letter from Royal Mail. This must be my replacement stamps, I thought, how very efficient and impressive. 

How naive was I? What the envelope actually contained was a letter from Royal Mail, informing me that they had received my claim form, but no stamps. Therefore, just to rub it in, they kindly informed me that they would be sending me 0 stamps with a value of £0.00. They even sent me a dispatch note!!

Now I am 110% certain that I included the stamps. I even didn’t include another 2 stamps because they were loose. So patently the stamps have been purloined by someone in transit, and RM have just ended up with the form. They definitely have the form, because otherwise they would not have known my name and address to write to me, and the value of the missing stamps.

The implication is that they think that I have not put the stamps into the envelope, or that I am ‘trying it on’ for the sake of £22.80. Interestingly, their letter was addressed from Sunderland, but the return address on the envelope was Edinburgh.

FURIOUS does not cover it. Unfortunately, I have not been able to do anything about it because the unit dealing with it only works Monday to Friday, and probably from home. I did make a call to RM General customer services, but gave up after 20 minutes on hold. 

Rest assured that I will be straight into their ribs at 8.30am on Monday morning.

@Codger1947 Who/where did you contact with your enquiry (that was answered by 'Emma Drew') ? 

I sent a message via the "Contact Us" page - https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/webforms/contact/c/310

jon81uk

Codger1947 said:

jon81uk said:

If over £200 and sent to the address given they will reimburse the special delivery postage (as more stamps).

" Postage costs will be refunded, if sent by Special Delivery GuaranteedTM, by sending you the equivalent value in barcoded stamps added to your swap."
Stamp Swap Out form (over £200 pounds) (royalmail.com)

My point is that RM has imposed this deadline for using old stamps, but its so-called free swap scheme isn't really free for us, their customers, at all.  Either we have to pay for special delivery, or use Freepost with the considerable risk of bearing the loss in the likely event of them being stolen en route.  The RM should be obliged to enable people to exchange old stamps for the hideous new ones over the counter, e.g. at a Post Office.

It is free though as they will refund the special delivery costs.

The Post Office is a seperate company so they may not be willing to take the risk of swapping stamps which they have to then work out if they are valid and not counterfeit etc.

Codger1947

olgadapolga said:

Why not use some of the stamps you want to swap to pay for the special delivery fee? You can use stamps to pay it, just work out how many stamps you need and stick them in the envelope! Then you don't have to pay extra to send them as you'll get the cost returned via barcoded stamps.

Why should I have to pay the RM to return perfectly good stamps when it is the RM which has insisted on this?  And how exactly do customers benefit by being obliged to use these ugly barcoded stamps?  To watch videos?  Give me strength!

jon81uk

Codger1947 said:

olgadapolga said:

Why not use some of the stamps you want to swap to pay for the special delivery fee? You can use stamps to pay it, just work out how many stamps you need and stick them in the envelope! Then you don't have to pay extra to send them as you'll get the cost returned via barcoded stamps.

Why should I have to pay the RM to return perfectly good stamps when it is the RM which has insisted on this?  And how exactly do customers benefit by being obliged to use these ugly barcoded stamps?  To watch videos?  Give me strength!

The benefit to customers is that stamps are all genuine and valid, not counterfeit costing Royal Mail more and driving prices higher.

Codger1947

jon81uk said:

If over £200 and sent to the address given they will reimburse the special delivery postage (as more stamps).

" Postage costs will be refunded, if sent by Special Delivery GuaranteedTM, by sending you the equivalent value in barcoded stamps added to your swap."
Stamp Swap Out form (over £200 pounds) (royalmail.com)

Buried in the small print of the "over £200" form, presumably so that those fewer to swap won't notice it. Not a good look for a company in the communication business!

jon81uk

Codger1947 said:

jon81uk said:

If over £200 and sent to the address given they will reimburse the special delivery postage (as more stamps).

" Postage costs will be refunded, if sent by Special Delivery GuaranteedTM, by sending you the equivalent value in barcoded stamps added to your swap."
Stamp Swap Out form (over £200 pounds) (royalmail.com)

Buried in the small print of the "over £200" form, presumably so that those fewer to swap won't notice it. Not a good look for a company in the communication business!

They are in the delivery business, not communication!

But its not that buried really, for those who have over £200 worth I think it is quite clear.

olgadapolga

jon81uk said:

Codger1947 said:

jon81uk said:

If over £200 and sent to the address given they will reimburse the special delivery postage (as more stamps).

" Postage costs will be refunded, if sent by Special Delivery GuaranteedTM, by sending you the equivalent value in barcoded stamps added to your swap."
Stamp Swap Out form (over £200 pounds) (royalmail.com)

Buried in the small print of the "over £200" form, presumably so that those fewer to swap won't notice it. Not a good look for a company in the communication business!

They are in the delivery business, not communication!

But its not that buried really, for those who have over £200 worth I think it is quite clear.

@jon81uk, I think that some people just like to have something to complain about. 

Codger1947

jon81uk said:

They are in the delivery business, not communication!

But its not that buried really, for those who have over £200 worth I think it is quite clear.

It says on the Freepost form says that the Bulk Stamp Swap Out service is for more than £200 of stamps.

As for the RM not being in the communication business, you might as well argue that ISPs and phone companies are not in the communication business either.

StartledJesus

Update on my personal situation as mentioned previously.

I spoke on the phone to a Royal Mail agent this morning, explaining the situation. RM offered to replace the 'lost' 24 stamps without any argument. So all's well that ends well - presuming they do eventually arrive!

As others have said, I'm not really sure why this cannot be done face to face at the Post Office. Surely it cannot be any more time consuming than being behind a shopkeeper banking the day's takings? 

I did point out to RM that the Freepost address, as well as being a bit sparse and minimalist, was a dead giveaway and 'asking for trouble', if someone was so inclined. It also gives no indication of the destination, in geographic terms.