Royal Mail Swap Out - Fraudulent stamps

born_again

outtatune said:

Are you sure they haven't caused issues when you've used them in the past? It would be the recipient, not the sender, who would need to deal with unpaid postage.

Stamps stuck to a envelope will not be checked for being gen or not.  Just there is a stamp.

It will only be the process of exchanging for new that will be checked to see if they are fake. Otherwise it's fraudsters heaven 🤑

user1977

born_again said:

outtatune said:

Are you sure they haven't caused issues when you've used them in the past? It would be the recipient, not the sender, who would need to deal with unpaid postage.

Stamps stuck to a envelope will not be checked for being gen or not.

Of course they will - have a quick Google on this topic and you'll find recipients being asked to pay the excess postage because the stamps used were forged.

NBLondon

born_again said:

outtatune said:

Are you sure they haven't caused issues when you've used them in the past? It would be the recipient, not the sender, who would need to deal with unpaid postage.

Stamps stuck to a envelope will not be checked for being gen or not.  Just there is a stamp.

The barcodes are unique.  So in theory, the sorting equipment will reject an item if a) the barcode is invalid or b) the barcode has previously been scanned (i.e. the stamp is being re-used or is a copy of another stamp).

I can't quite see how b) will work  as the equipment would have to look at an increasingly large list of pre-used stamps.  It could certainly be set to check against known fake codes but not every single stamp.  I suspect there will be random checks and the rest is just meant to be a deterrent.

ripongrammargirl

It seems Royal Mail will do anything for their bank account including refusing to swap stamps. You should have used them on silly things like TV competitions with postal entries.
There are legitimate businesses out there that do sell real stamps at a discount, including the new barcode ones. I have been using one company for years and never had any problems. The owner can sell at a discount (usually 5-10p cheaper) because he buys in bulk from people selling older stamps or selling on collections. A lot of them are from Royal Mail collections series, such as Rock bands, wildlife, events etc or lots that have the Queen’s head on which I have now used up. 

No idea how I found this company over a decade ago but the service is fabulous, there are 100s of great reviews for it and every stamp is genuine.

Money_Grabber13579

ripongrammargirl said:

It seems Royal Mail will do anything for their bank account including refusing to swap stamps. You should have used them on silly things like TV competitions with postal entries.
There are legitimate businesses out there that do sell real stamps at a discount, including the new barcode ones. I have been using one company for years and never had any problems. The owner can sell at a discount (usually 5-10p cheaper) because he buys in bulk from people selling older stamps or selling on collections. A lot of them are from Royal Mail collections series, such as Rock bands, wildlife, events etc or lots that have the Queen’s head on which I have now used up. 

No idea how I found this company over a decade ago but the service is fabulous, there are 100s of great reviews for it and every stamp is genuine.

If the stamps that are being sent in are fraudulent, then Royal Mail has every right to refuse to swap them. I don’t see how they can be criticised for this. If people want to be sure that they are buying genuine stamps, then they should purchase only from Royal Mail, a Post Office or other trusted retailer. Buying stamps from anywhere else runs the risk that the stamps supplied with be fraudulent and this risk is on the customer, not Royal Mail. Some forged stamps are now hard to identify so I wouldn’t be confident that every stamp is genuine where it is bought through a repurchasing company.

Aylesbury_Duck

ripongrammargirl said:

It seems Royal Mail will do anything for their bank account including refusing to swap stamps. You should have used them on silly things like TV competitions with postal entries.
There are legitimate businesses out there that do sell real stamps at a discount, including the new barcode ones. I have been using one company for years and never had any problems. The owner can sell at a discount (usually 5-10p cheaper) because he buys in bulk from people selling older stamps or selling on collections. A lot of them are from Royal Mail collections series, such as Rock bands, wildlife, events etc or lots that have the Queen’s head on which I have now used up. 

No idea how I found this company over a decade ago but the service is fabulous, there are 100s of great reviews for it and every stamp is genuine.

So they should aid fraud by just sucking up the loss?

EmotionalIntelligence

Money_Grabber13579 said:

ripongrammargirl said:

It seems Royal Mail will do anything for their bank account including refusing to swap stamps. You should have used them on silly things like TV competitions with postal entries.
There are legitimate businesses out there that do sell real stamps at a discount, including the new barcode ones. I have been using one company for years and never had any problems. The owner can sell at a discount (usually 5-10p cheaper) because he buys in bulk from people selling older stamps or selling on collections. A lot of them are from Royal Mail collections series, such as Rock bands, wildlife, events etc or lots that have the Queen’s head on which I have now used up. 

No idea how I found this company over a decade ago but the service is fabulous, there are 100s of great reviews for it and every stamp is genuine.

If the stamps that are being sent in are fraudulent, then Royal Mail has every right to refuse to swap them. I don’t see how they can be criticised for this. If people want to be sure that they are buying genuine stamps, then they should purchase only from Royal Mail, a Post Office or other trusted retailer. Buying stamps from anywhere else runs the risk that the stamps supplied with be fraudulent and this risk is on the customer, not Royal Mail. Some forged stamps are now hard to identify so I wouldn’t be confident that every stamp is genuine where it is bought through a repurchasing company.

Yet, they have refused to pay me for 48 1st class stamps bought from the Post Office, provided zero evidence to me, simply saying "they are used or fraudulent" - OK, so how do I get my money back from the Post Office that sold me these? This is a fraud, just like the poor Post Office managers scandle - and they are getting away with it again

Aylesbury_Duck

It's nothing like the Post Office scandal, don't be so ridiculous. That cost people their jobs, their freedom, their health and in some cases, their lives. You've lost a few quid on some allegedly counterfeit stamps.

What evidence have you got that the stamps were sold to you by the Post Office? That's what you'll need to pursue this.

Edited to add:  I've just seen your other post on the same subject. Your jiggery-pokery moving stamps between books was in contravention of the terms of the swap, so the fault appears to be yours. 

movilogo

I have the same problem! I sent few 2nd class stamps for swap out and got a letter that my stamps were non genuine. However, they have not returned me my stamps nor provided any explanation why they think those stamps are not genuine. 

I bought them few years back and was using them without any issue. I had no clue that they are not genuine.

I called Royal Mail and they said they can't do anything. They gave me a complaint reference number but said they would simply do nothing. I asked how do I know if dishonest RM employee not stealing my genuine stamps to which they were unable to say anything.

If you have a problem with Royal Mail then you can complaint to here. I have done so but don't know if they would investigate. On hindsight I should have continued to use my old stamps. 

Postal Review Panel
FREEPOST

screech_78

movilogo said:

I have the same problem! I sent few 2nd class stamps for swap out and got a letter that my stamps were non genuine. However, they have not returned me my stamps nor provided any explanation why they think those stamps are not genuine. 

I bought them few years back and was using them without any issue. I had no clue that they are not genuine.

I called Royal Mail and they said they can't do anything. They gave me a complaint reference number but said they would simply do nothing. I asked how do I know if dishonest RM employee not stealing my genuine stamps to which they were unable to say anything.

If you have a problem with Royal Mail then you can complaint to here. I have done so but don't know if they would investigate. On hindsight I should have continued to use my old stamps. 

Postal Review Panel
FREEPOST

I’m not surprised they’re being unhelpful when you’re accusing RM staff of theft without a shred of evidence. Never a good idea.