Royal Mail and "invalid" stamp

SidJ

Yorkie1 said:

There's literally space for the yellow sticker that says "Fee to pay", and "Invalid stamp", - and the original stamp, plus about 3 cm width.

Not sure what you mean by 3 cm width. Do you mean thickness? The limit for a normal letter is 0.5 cm

born_again

https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/89/~/size-and-weight-guide-–-uk-letters-and-parcels

NBLondon

user1977 said:

Yorkie1 said:

I am more concerned about the fact that she is using stamps bought from the RM

She hasn't bought them from the RM, she's bought them from "her local Post Office". You may wish to invite the RM (and not her local Post Office...) to take a closer look at what she was sold.

If they were bought over the counter from a Post Office (whether main or sub)  - then we should assume they were valid.  Therefore Money_Grabber's theory is most likely - a mistake somewhere in the handling process.    If you've kept the envelope,  challenge the fee.  https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/contact 

Presumably you paid £2.50 as "no postage paid".  Did you pay by going to the Delivery Office or did you pay online or did you pay by sticking stamps on the Fee to Pay card?  Any of those should be trackable but the middle one would be easiest for RM.

sheramber

SidJ said:

Yorkie1 said:

There's literally space for the yellow sticker that says "Fee to pay", and "Invalid stamp", - and the original stamp, plus about 3 cm width.

Not sure what you mean by 3 cm width. Do you mean thickness? The limit for a normal letter is 0.5 cm

The envelope is about 10-12 cm square, 

A square  measuring 10-12 cms across  or wide by 10-12 cms  down the side or deep.

Yorkie1

photome said:

who did you pay the fee to?  did you ask them why ?

was the stamp marked 1st  or did it  had a value on it

Manxman_in_exile said:

Yorkie1 said:

....However, RM have marked the "stamp invalid" and I had to pay a fee to receive the letter....

So what actually happened?

Did you first receive one of these "Fee to pay" cards, and how did you pay?

Fee to pay card: Additional postage & customs fees (royalmail.com)

NBLondon said:

user1977 said:

Yorkie1 said:

I am more concerned about the fact that she is using stamps bought from the RM

She hasn't bought them from the RM, she's bought them from "her local Post Office". You may wish to invite the RM (and not her local Post Office...) to take a closer look at what she was sold.

<snip>

Presumably you paid £2.50 as "no postage paid".  Did you pay by going to the Delivery Office or did you pay online or did you pay by sticking stamps on the Fee to Pay card?  Any of those should be trackable but the middle one would be easiest for RM.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

You're right that the stamps were bought from the Post Office, my error.

I got a grey card from the Royal Mail through the door, with a sticker on it that had a reference number, and details on it such as my surname, full address, date booked, reason "The sender did not pay the full postage" and amount due £2.50.
What to do next = go to royalmail.com/feetopay - and pay with Pay Pal or a card. Alternatively pay with postage by adding stamps to the reverse of the card, or pay in person.

I paid online with a card, and selected the delivery date.

On the delivery date, the item was delivered. 

The envelope is 12 cm high, 12 cm wide, and minimal depth (the depth of a greeting card).

In the usual place on the envelope is a red definitive stamp with 1st on it. Exactly the same as appears on the Royal Mail website as one of the stamps that will have to be swapped out by end of July. The address is in the usual place underneath the stamp.

In the space above the address, on the left / middle of the card, is a yellow sticker that is about 6 cm wide x 3 cm high, which says "Fee to pay", with the amount £2.50 manually completed. The text "Invalid stamp" is also on the sticker. The word Paid is handwritten on the sticker, and the stamp has a biro line through it. On the reverse of the card is the same sticker as had been placed on the original grey card.

MikeJXE

Just google the card size and came across this 

Q. How large can an envelope be and still be eligible for First-Class Mail letter rates? A. The maximum size is 11-1/2 inches x 6-1/8 inches x 1/4 inch thick.

So if that is correct your card was larger than the maximum for standard first class

Yorkie1

Money_Grabber13579 said:

I suspect the issue is due to a lack of training within RM and also due to the fact that RM changed their mind as to when the stamps would become invalid. The best approach would have been to get the delivery office to explain why the stamp was considered invalid at the time of collection as that may have resulted in the surcharge being cancelled.

still worth emailing RM though to complain as I suspect it isn’t an isolated incident.

TELLIT01 said:

If you still have the envelope you really need to go to the local sorting/delivery office and ask them.  It may be that somebody ticked the wrong box and the charge is for inadequate postage.  If they still claim it's an invalid stamp ask them in what way it is invalid given the extension in the time allowed to use the old style stamps.

NBLondon said:

If they were bought over the counter from a Post Office (whether main or sub)  - then we should assume they were valid.  Therefore Money_Grabber's theory is most likely - a mistake somewhere in the handling process.    If you've kept the envelope,  challenge the fee.  https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/contact 

Thank you all for suggestions re. next steps.

I'll try to complain at that link, or if all else fails go to the sorting office. I still have the envelope.

Yorkie1

MikeJXE said:

Just google the card size and came across this 

Q. How large can an envelope be and still be eligible for First-Class Mail letter rates? A. The maximum size is 11-1/2 inches x 6-1/8 inches x 1/4 inch thick.

So if that is correct your card was larger than the maximum for standard first class

Really appreciate you looking into this more.

Just got the measuring tape out. The card is 4 inches x 4 inches x 1/16 inch thick. It is smaller than a regular sized birthday card, so it's well within the limits. (The earlier measurements were in cm).

MikeJXE

It's all very confusing, if you look at Royal Mail site the standard first class state letters much larger than yours, something like 24cm x 18cm 

Your 4x4 is obviously fairly small so someone has made an error 

elsien

I think it’s probably nothing to do with the size of the card, and as someone else has already said, poor training from someone in the sorting office. I think there was another thread on here awhile ago with someone else who had the same problem I can’t remember how it was resolved.