Post Office Overcharging

molerat

The BBC and Trading Standards http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7147013.stm have been carrying out an investigation into overcharging by the Post Office. Most of the problems seem to be around the difference between large letter and packet and a staggering rate of overcharging took place so make sure you know what your item will cost. A definite need for retraining I think.

Voyager2002

I had the opposite problem. A letter containing the key to a holiday apartment just didn't turn up. In the end I found out that staff at the sender's post office did not notice that it was marginally too thick to be a letter, and had charged a few pennies less than they should have done. As a result, the letter was delayed and my holiday was very nearly disrupted.

This kind of problem arises from the new system of charging, which is so complicated that no-one can work out how much postage to pay. The solution is obvious: return to the old system of charging by weight.

custardy

not gonna happen

honestly I dont find the 'new' (august2006!!) systme so complicated.
seems most just dont bother making the effort to learn.

the UK is not the 1st to use this system.

the whole point of the pricing is to reflect the handling costs.
an inflated ballon in a box for example costs a lot more in handling than a letter of equal weight

MercilessKiller

My girlfriend is a post office worker bless her. Apparently the biggest problem is customers who try to tell the post office they know what they're doing...

They'll demand certian thing, which then gets rejected during transport. This isn't the post offices fault. Its the customers.

I.E with ebay and the self print postage labels, people regularly wrongly put the weight of the item on. They just "guess" and round it up. My girlfriend can't process this as it would get held up by Royal Mail, but some ebayers will demand it goes through like that to save time and money.....

All this does is cause delays and more expense however...

Just something to remember. The people serving you are trying to help when they won't accept something.... If they just put it thorugh, it would never get delivered... so you should thank them and not get angry

tmm_aka_tracy

I've not had any problem yet, but Im a little annoyed that I bought two christmas cards, one of which is larger than a standard window envelope. I need to send them home, but don't know how much the postage will be. I have a first class stamp but if thats insufficient my dad will need to pay a pound to accept the card. The two post offices near me are both closed down, and the paper shop only do first or second class stamps. I do find the whole thing rather inconvenient and frustrating.....:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Rant over.

MercilessKiller

So you could always start doing it online then and printing your postage its done to make life easier!

custardy

tmm_aka_tracy wrote: »

I've not had any problem yet, but Im a little annoyed that I bought two christmas cards, one of which is larger than a standard window envelope. I need to send them home, but don't know how much the postage will be. I have a first class stamp but if thats insufficient my dad will need to pay a pound to accept the card. The two post offices near me are both closed down, and the paper shop only do first or second class stamps. I do find the whole thing rather inconvenient and frustrating.....:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Rant over.

large stamp = 48p
2 x 2nd class stamp = 48p

see,not so complicated

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=400147&mediaId=41500683

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=638267

Adzha

Shocking, but true

KxMx

I'm sure I was overcharged last week.... Didn't check the "sizer" when I was in the Q, neither did the assistant who served me and charged Packet, I think I should have been charged for Large Letter.
I should have said something or asked them to check but I honestly didn't think anything of it (they should know!) until I got home and looked at my Prices leaflet.

custardy

problem is if you didnt measure it you have little come back.
what measurement/weight do you think was miscalculated ot make it a large letter?

Charis

tmm_aka_tracy wrote: »

I've not had any problem yet, but Im a little annoyed that I bought two christmas cards, one of which is larger than a standard window envelope. I need to send them home, but don't know how much the postage will be. I have a first class stamp but if thats insufficient my dad will need to pay a pound to accept the card. The two post offices near me are both closed down, and the paper shop only do first or second class stamps. I do find the whole thing rather inconvenient and frustrating.....:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Rant over.

I had the same dilemma. I found that putting on two second class stamps meant the cards were delivered OK. It's worth 22p not to have to queue in our PO. The main PO in Worcester, which is a sizeable city, is relocating to...WH Smiths. Unbelievable.

Has anyone else noticed how many of this year's Christmas cards are square rather than the usual rectangular and have things stuck on with sticky fixer type things that make them too wide for the slot, as well as too wide the other way for normal letter post? I bought a few before I had the chance to measure them. The PO must be creaking with items with incorrect postage, waiting for customers to collect.

Charis