Stamp Swap False Information

Cpt_Haddock_1970

Cpt_Haddock_1970 said:

I have received the same letter today but unfortunately I didn't go down the special postage route I just followed the instructions on the form sending it to Freepost SWAP OUT. I've not been able to speak to anyone about it yet but I'm guessing it's gonna be a case of their word against mine.

I received an apologetic letter from Royal Mail today stating a human error had resulted in the first letter. Replacement stamps now received.

NBLondon

johnb2 said:

Unlike the original mail in which they did not want you to insure, and indeed we've seen people complain that their stamps were lost in transit. 

   The original sending that they did not require you to insure.  They may have made a bad assumption on the percentage that would go astray.   In the early days, people seemed to be getting replacements without question.

Note also the people above who report no problems in getting their replacements.

johnb2 said:

Its clearly a ploy to stop people appealing bad actions by RM. 

Given how badly some of the T&C are worded, much more likely !!!!!!-up than conspiracy.  RM had to change the T&C at least 3 times as problems came to light.

johnb2 said:

You do seem to be an apologist for RM

I'm the person who read the T&C before sending off my excess stamps.

Plasticman

I sent mine off without much thought. A mix of first class and second class. Stupidly I didn't even take a copy of the form but I'm fairly sure that the amount they've provided is lower than the amount I sent. They also sent 2nd class only which is a bit rubbish as the old ones were a mix of both first and second class. 

paul2louise

Glad i found this conversation although reading the comments concerns me. I sent back a lot of first class and large first class stamps. I was worried that the total cost was quite a lot. I will be needing stamps for Christmas so i hope i will be getting them back in time, especially with the strikes. 

NBLondon

paul2louise said:

I will be needing stamps for Christmas so i hope i will be getting them back in time, especially with the strikes. 

You could have used the ones you already had for Christmas.  Then sent back any excess in January.  (That was the case even before the extended grace period).   Or were you hoping to convert your Large 1sts to standard 2nd class for use on cards?

There has been a lot of incomplete and misleading coverage in the press, compounded by RM being vague and changing things throughout the year.

Right now - the best approach seems to be:

If you have 1st and 2nd class old-style - use them up first.  If you have far more than you can use in the next few months; wait until the New Year and then send them in.

If you have values e.g. 19p, 37p  see if you can use those too by making up combinations.  2x 34p = 1x 2nd class.  If not, sort them carefully and again wait until the New Year before sending them in.

The only reason to send them in now is if you have only those old numerical values and you want to avoid buying any more stamps for Christmas Cards.  Do it quickly and cross your fingers as it may take 3 weeks or more and on current reports, you may get 1st or 2nd or something else.

If you have the "make-up" values - 1p,2p,5p,10p,20p,50p then in theory you should get the same values back in barcoded form.  If those are useful, go ahead.  If not, see if you can make them up to usable combinations as above.

Ectophile

NBLondon said:

If you have the "make-up" values - 1p,2p,5p,10p,20p,50p then in theory you should get the same values back in barcoded form.  If those are useful, go ahead.  If not, see if you can make them up to usable combinations as above.

I decided to do a test run of the system by sending off all my random small value stamps.  Many years ago they were useful before 1st and 2nd stamps became available, and you needed to add a few pence to your existing stamps whenever the price of postage went up.

Most of them came back as barcoded versions of the same stamps.  There was one that they rounded up to a 2nd.

NBLondon

That's what they said they would do.

I have some £1.70 commemoratives; to use these on letters to Europe I now need to add a 10p and a 5p.  

Meanwhile....   the OP has not returned but perhaps they were caught up in this - https://blog.norphil.co.uk/2022/11/swap-out-error.html

knightstyle

I sent off a load of old unused stamps including several from old 50p booklets containing 1/2p and 2.5p stamps.  Jost got a load of1st class back worth about 3X the ones I sent so really happy.