Soon to be 'old' £20 and the post office

flossy_splodge

I had the misfortune to go into an apology for a post office that we now have in my area.  I wanted to post a small parcel to a relative.  We discussed the price options and I chose one.

Besides an EXTREMELY dour child for an assistant when I went to pay the grand sum of £2.05 the world went into meltdown.

I offered up my £20 note to be told that couldn't be accepted.

I had the temerity  to ask why, given it was still legal tender.

I was then told the Post Office have decided NOT to accept these notes anymore as they had a case somewhere or other at sometime or other where the notes turned out to be fraudulent so their solution was to ban the lot.

I asked to speak to the manager who then passed the message back to me, via another youngster equally unversed in the principles of customer service, that they were not going to serve me.

I have tried to find a phone number where I can have a conversation (remember those things called conversations?) with an appropriate person about the whole fiasco but have been unable to find one that actually connects to a real live human.

By the way, I went to a different branch today, was served beautifully and courteously and my £20 note was happily accepted.

How does one get to converse with a senior person at the Post Office or should I do what many are driven to and just give up?

suggestions anyone? (preferably polite ones please).

Andy_L

"You might have heard someone in a shop say: “But it’s legal tender!”. Most people think it means the shop has to accept the payment form. But that’s not the case.  

A shop owner can choose what payment they accept. If you want to pay for a pack of gum with a £50 note, it’s perfectly legal to turn you down. Likewise for all other banknotes, it’s a matter of discretion. If your local corner shop decided to only accept payments in Pokémon cards that would be within their right too. But they’d probably lose customers. 

Legal tender has a narrow technical meaning which has no use in everyday life. It means that if you offer to fully pay off a debt to someone in legal tender, they can’t sue you for failing to repay"

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/knowledgebank/what-is-legal-tender

Paully28

My suggestion is give it up and move on. 

mjm3346

Some of our local, usually smaller, shops will not accept £50 notes not accepting £20s is just one step further.

flossy_splodge

I think the point I was making has got lost somehow.

I understand perfectly how 'legal tender' works, that wasn't really the point.

A statement that 'the Post Office ' has decided ..... was factually incorrect, otherwise known as a lie.

I offered a £5 note afterwards but that was refused too.

The staff were rude.

The staff appeared not to understand how to do their jobs as I was told the best cost available was for a large letter at £2.05.

The second post office explained that was wrong as the small parcel did not pass through the necessary slot.

Shall I go on?

The point I was making was rude and badly trained staff need to be addressed. Quite simple really.

Just a matter of how.

Thanks for the input.

flossy_splodge

Paully28 said:

My suggestion is give it up and move on. 

Best idea really - thanks for the thought.

powerful_Rogue

I can't imagine it was just the post office staff that was rude from reading your post.

Going on about legal tender, which has been explained as nonsense in this scenerio already - Legally they could have just taken your £20 and not given any change.

flossy_splodge

not sure what you mean.

Who is 'going on' about legal tender?  Personally I only mentioned it once in my original post in order to give a complete picture - I wasn't sure as the 'staff' were so young if they thought the £20 notes had in fact already ceased to be valid. Hope I've made that clearer.

Really only hoping someone knew a tel no. that would help.

Shame someone always wants to 'know better'.

powerful_Rogue

flossy_splodge said:

not sure what you mean.

Who is 'going on' about legal tender?  Personally I only mentioned it once in my original post in order to give a complete picture - I wasn't sure as the 'staff' were so young if they thought the £20 notes had in fact already ceased to be valid. Hope I've made that clearer.

Really only hoping someone knew a tel no. that would help.

Shame someone always wants to 'know better'.

When you post on a forum you're always going to get replies, some you agree with and some you don't.

You mentioned legal tender without clearly knowing what it means. If they don't want to accept £20 notes, then there is no legal obligation for them to do so. It's you patronising tone about the staff which will get peoples backs up.

If you just wanted a phone number, try Google/Bing or 192/118118.

NBLondon

By "old" I presume you mean a paper note which are due to be invalidated at the end of September?

Given that Post Offices usually accept old notes for deposit (not payment) it seems like somebody has made a local decision.  Was this a Main Post Office or a sub Post Office?

https://www.postoffice.co.uk/contact-us-complaint might be helpful.

turnitround

Think we may lie in the same town, 2 Post Offices, 1 go out of their way to be helpful, the other excels in being rude.