Royal Mail redirect

moominvalley

A couple of months ago I moved from house A to house B and set up a Royal Mail redirect. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I'm now moving again to another house (house C) next month. I'm therefore looking to redirect post from both houses A and B to house C so I don't miss anything. Has anyone else been in a similar situation and, if so, how did you go about setting this up?

user1977

Haven't done it myself but I presume you follow the "What if I move again during the time covered by the Redirection?" guidance given on Royal Mail's website:

https://help.royalmail.com/personal/s/article/Moving-home-redirection-support-hub

whizzywoo

Yes we did this but don't rely too much on Royal Mail to get things right. They redirected stuff to the wrong address frequently and very often didn't redirect at all. If you are expecting anything important like hospital appointments make sure they have an up to date address for you.

It turned into a bit of a nightmare for us and eventually after my husband actually went into the sorting office things did improve … well, a little bit.

user1977

In practice, the redirection is only going to be as reliable as your (old) postie is, as it's their responsibility to do it while sorting their round. So if you were in the sort of area where the post gets delivered by random temps, it's unlikely to work very well - always best to try to get the new residents to assist with anything which slips through.

J63320

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82036514#Comment_82036514

Can I second the bit about hospital appointments. Appointment letters sometimes have “Do Not Redirect” printed on the envelope.
I nearly lost a referral when I moved - I couldn’t tell the hospital because, at the time, I didn’t know where the referral had been sent. I contacted the dentist who had referred me and they sorted it out.

Jaybee_16

I moved from property A to property B, then a couple of months later I moved to property C. Royal Mail were fine with the redirections.

moominvalley

Thanks all - the post at house A was temperamental at times (2nd class letters taking two weeks to be delivered etc) so I'll make sure anything important has an up-to-date address. Thanks user1977 for the link to the website too!

sgthammer

Bear in mind too that Royal Mail will only redirect their own stuff, not mail from other carriers such as UKMail. Considering it's RM guys who do the final delivery anyway I don't know whether it's some sort of petty bureaucratic revenge for being undercut on price, but it's something to watch out for and makes the redirection service a bit of a white elephant. You're always better changing your details with banks, mobile phone cos. etc directly, even if it's a bit more hassle.

badger09

Yes I have

We ended up moving twice during lockdowns in early 2021 due to failed house purchase. Ended up paying for 3 RM redirections: 1 from ‘home’ in Shropshire to temp accom in Wales. 1 from Wales to new home in Shropshire & 1 from old to new home.
IIRC it was quite expensive as we didn’t know how long we’d be in Wales, and also used to get occasional mail for my son, different surname, working abroad at the time. It worked ok though. At least we’re not aware of having missed anything important.

Good luck

FreeBear

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82041112#Comment_82041112

Not true. Royal Mail will redirect anything that doesn't say "Do Not Redirect" along with letters from the DWP. UKMail and all other DSA post is treated the same by front line staff (what managers do is a different story). Yes, redirect relies on the postie to pick the letters out when sorting his/her round, and casual staff are more likely to miss the stuff. Mistakes happen.