Could letters sent via post office have underpaid postage?

Notm

Hi. I recently had letters forwarded to me by a third party. They sent me the receipt showing that these were posted via the post office for £2.70 on 14 March.

The letters never arrived but on 28 March I received an underpaid postage card requesting £1.50 before the letters can be released.  I’m wondering if this could be the missing items. Can the post office decide that postage is underpaid even if processed via the post office?

It’s a hassle to go to the post office but if I do, can I check the letter before I pay? I don’t want to pay if it’s some marketing nonesense!

Thanks

GrumpyDil

Only option is likely to be to visit the collection office and ask to see the items.

Marketing nonsense is normally prepaid under a contract so very unlikely to be that. 

born_again

Crystal ball not working 🤣

All you can do is go to Royal Mail collection office & pick up items & find out.

But Post Office do not deliver post, that is done by Royal Mail & they are 2 separate companies.

Notm

born_again said:

Crystal ball not working 🤣

All you can do is go to Royal Mail collection office & pick up items & find out.

But Post Office do not deliver post, that is done by Royal Mail & they are 2 separate companies.

Thanks- I meant can postage be underpaid even if posted via post office. They normally check and weigh the items before giving proof of postage.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

It shouldn't but can happen OP.

£2.70 paid suggests a large letter between 251g and 750g and a £1.50 fee suggests insufficient postage on a large letter so either the large letter weighs more than 750g or the size is greater than that permitted for a large letter.

If the item of mail is the right weight and size for a large letter then Royal Mail may have made a mistake but good luck with that, if the Post Office made the mistake they should refund the £1.50 but again good luck with that. 

Some Post Offices require large letters to freely fall through the measuring device, others are happy if it can be rammed through, some are probably just lackadaisical. 

Sometimes a large letter can be the right size when posted but the contents move around increasing the thickness which can cause it to be then become a parcel. 

Best thing to do it pop down and pick up the mail or pay the fee online and have it delivered, whilst you may be entitled to the £1.50 back the headache of dealing with either Royal Mail or the Post Office sadly means it's probably not worth bothering  

user1977

Notm said:

born_again said:

Crystal ball not working 🤣

All you can do is go to Royal Mail collection office & pick up items & find out.

But Post Office do not deliver post, that is done by Royal Mail & they are 2 separate companies.

Thanks- I meant can postage be underpaid even if posted via post office. They normally check and weigh the items before giving proof of postage.

Yes, of course it can. It's staffed by humans, they might make mistakes. The Royal Mail is entitled to come to a different opinion about what the postage should have been (of course, it's also possible that they've got it wrong!).

And no, you don't have a right to know what the item is before you pay the excess postage, but it would seem very unlikely to me to be some sort of mass-marketing mailout.

DeathByFluffy

I’ve had the same thing before - it was borderline if the item was thin enough to be a Large Letter but the counter staff put it through anyway. 

Lo and behind, a few days later my customer gets a ‘fee to pay card’. Not the end of the world, but annoying! 

km1500

this happened to me I would then rank post office counters and they refunded it

they agreed that if the post office allow it then that should be the end of the matter

DeathByFluffy

km1500 said:

this happened to me I would then rank post office counters and they refunded it

they agreed that if the post office allow it then that should be the end of the matter

I should have added that the Post Office did indeed cover the fee for me too. 

DullGreyGuy

There are two humans involved, it's possible for either of them to make a mistake. At an old postoffice we used to go to there was a small ledge behind the scales and more than one saw people putting stuff on the scale but it was partially resting on the ledge. Clearly more likely to happen with parcels than letters but it's possible. Most the time the post office staff spotted it and told them to realign the item but I am sure at least once in all the years it was like that it was missed. 

There was a call at one point to exclude post office weighed items from fees for wrong weights but I dont think it ever gain traction... it'd have the potential for people to try and exploit it if they could intentionally leave the package partly supported by the ledge or equivalents to make it lighter. 

eddddy

I imagine the OP's question is more about whether a contract was formed with an agent of Royal Mail

For example...

• Is the Post Office acting as an agent of Royal Mail?
• If so, the customer asked Royal Mail's agent "What is the charge to deliver this letter?"
• Royal Agent's agent replied "£2.70" and the customer paid £2.70.
• Therefore, was a contract to deliver the letter for £2.70 formed?

Or if the Post Office isn't Royal Mail's agent, is the Post Office guilty of innocent misrepresentation?

For example,

• The Post Office person said "Royal Mail will deliver this letter for £2.70,"
• That misleading information induced the customer to enter into a contract with the Post Office to buy a stamp for £2.70

An analogy being something like..

• In a cafe, a waiter says "a cup of coffee costs £2.70"
• On that basis, you pay £2.70 and drink the coffee
• Then somebody else in the cafe says "The waiter made a mistake, you need to pay another £1.50 for that coffee"

(Obviously, in either of the above cases, there's the question of how you go about making a claim for £1.50 against Royal Mail or the Post Office, etc)