Royal Mail possible fake stamps no postage paid fee.

[The GodMother]

Earlier this year l brought some 1st class stamps from Morrisons. I put the first one on my nephews birthday card it arrived next day. One on my drivers license form and a few other things including other birthday cards. 

 

Fast forward to today.

I get a message off my sister in law who informs me yesterday she came home to a fee to pay card of £2.50 it was my nieces birthday card. I had posted on the 26th April in plenty of time for the birthday on 1st April. It took nearly 3 week to get the fee to pay card to them  the postage mark says the 26th April.

 

I asked how come there was a charge as it was under the no fee paid even clearly with the stamp on it. She said they did not recognise the stamp.

 

Spoke to Morrisons where l brought them who told me they come from head office and as far as they are aware they are real. Spoke to Morrisons head office who have been very dismissive of this saying nothing  to do with them they by them off royal mail in bulk.

Royal mail has said if they were sold to Morrisons by them then they would be real. 

 

Now of all the 12 stamps l brought this is the only item that did not get to the place with a problem. The same sister in law received the birthday car for her son only a few weeks earlier. 

 

I have sent my sister in law the money back and apologised.

Tho l dont understand how the stamps can be fake and what l can do about it.

Who is responsible for these stamps.

 

 

[whitelist]

Very much doubt it was because they are fake? 

You mention a Birthday card?

 

Because they are an odd shape and size, bet you did not put a First or Second class stamp (Large) on the envelope or attach two First Class stamp's on the envelope

 

That s why it was surcharged, the weight and size of the envelope, not the actual stamp with insufficient postage

Edited May 17, 2022 by whitelist

[The GodMother]

No the under paid postage fee is £1.50 non paid postage £2.50 which is what the fee is. 

 

Also again no as the size and weight was correct for a first class stamp. It was confirmed by the sorting office it is correct size and weight and even on the envelope hand written in red ink stamp fake no postage paid.

[whitelist]

Might I ask the value of the stamp you put on the envelope and did it say large on the stamp?

 

If it was a single stamp and did not say large, that is your issue

 

No postage paid is normally insufficient postage, not the stamp is snide

[The GodMother]

It was a standard first class stamp. 

 

As l have clearly said it was within the correct size and shape for a standard stamp AS CONFIRMED BY THE SORTING OFFICE. 

 

This link might help you under stand what l am saying re sizes. 

Royal Mail Click & Drop | Send an item - Buy, Print, Drop

SEND.ROYALMAIL.COM

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Whether you're sending one item or several, buying postage online is easy. Choose from over 14,000 drop off...

  This link as in the fees https://www.royalmail.com/receiving-mail/pay-a-fee

this shows its clearly a fee to pay due to no postage paid. 

 

Also as l pointed out THE ENVELOPE HAD WRITTEN ON IT IN RED INK STAMP FAKE NO POSTAGE PAID. 

[whitelist]

Can say for 100% if the Birthday card was the same size and shape as what you get in a card shop, then a normal 1st class stamp (Not large) will be the reason for the surcharge

Edited May 17, 2022 by whitelist

[dx100uk]

the issue would have been the result of the automated sorting machine spitting it out for a reason

poss someone copied the wrong error on the env.

 

is this one of the new stamps with the QRCODE box on them?

 

 

[The GodMother]

I can say 100% its not. 

I know this as l brought the same sized and cards evey year. My nephews and nieces are massive Mario, xbox,  playstation, switch friends harry potter, disney princess and dinosaur fans, please note l have 6 nephews and 9 Nieces,  l get the same cards each year for them they have been weighed and measured by Shelly or Tracey, the owners of the shop and post office where they were brought, they were CONFIRMED as fitting a normal stamp.

 

Why the post office l sent all the letters,  parcels, cards etc that l have sent for the past 10 years from who lie l dont know as they are the only post office for the area and in 10 years l have never had any problem with the shop or service. 

[Manxman in exile]

12 minutes ago, whitelist said:

Can say for 100% if the Birthday card was the same size and shape as what you get in a card shop, then a normal 1st class stamp (Not large) will be the reason for the surcharge

 

Eh?  How would an ordinary birthday card qualify as a large letter and why wouldn't a standard first class stamp be sufficient?

 

 

[The GodMother]

No its not a QR code one. I have not seen these yet and Morrison has the standard old stamps.

My concern is l brought more in April and used some from  them and they have not reached the people and might be having the same issue. Tho they were posted Sunday. 

[whitelist]

 

The Sorting Machine is called the Inward Mechanised Sorter (IMP)

It is like a large washing machine drum

 

The machine turns the letters the right way around and up and as previously stated, the Optical Character Recognition laser reads the stamp. That detects not only if genuine, but if it is a second or 1st class and size of the item

 

The item posted has to be a specific size for the next stage of the process. Either through a compact sequencing machine or anything larger, the A4 sorting machine.

 

1x 

 

1x Mail size guide

• Small size measurements - 290mm x 80mm
• Large size measurements - 353mm x 250mm

Edited May 17, 2022 by whitelist

[The GodMother]

6 minutes ago, Manxman in exile said:

 

Eh?  How would an ordinary birthday card qualify as a large letter and why wouldn't a standard first class stamp be sufficient?

 

 

Dont know they always have been Shelley even said must be Nephews birthday when she sore blu on the card, the dinosaur blue from jarrasic park. 

[whitelist]

Royal Mail Size & Weight Guide Poster Correx Foamex Sticker A0 A1 A2

WWW.EBAY.CO.UK

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4mm Correx. 6mm Correx. A0 - 841mm x 1189mm. A2 - 420mm x 594mm. A1 - 594mm x 841mm. Self Adhesive Sticker. Size & Weight Guide. Channel Islands, Isle of Wight, Isle of Man, Sicily Isles...

 

[The GodMother]

Yep and the cards/ envelope measure 200mm x 60mm x 3mm thick. That is per card. 

Edited May 17, 2022 by The GodMother

[Ethel Street]

Morrisons sell them by the book don't they? So you bought a book of 12 1st class stamps and have used several of them. Only one of them resulted in the local sorting office alleging it was unpaid postage because the stamp is fake.

 

It's incredibly unlikely that stamps from Morrisons are fake, and even less likely that only one of them is fake. More likely is some error in the local sorting office and they incorrectly decided a perfectly good stamp was a fake when it wasn't. I have no idea how that error could be made but it seems by far the most probable explanation. Perhaps some glitch in the machine that reads the stamps.

 

If it were me I'd shrug my shoulders and get on with life but if you want to take it further use the Royal Mail formal complaints procedure. Send them the envelope and stamp (you have kept them I assume) and say you disagree with the local sorting office assessment that the stamp is fake and ask for the unpaid postage fee back.

 

How to contact Royal Mail complaints if you're a personal customer

[whitelist]

The normal recourse for an upheld complaint with Royal Mail is to send the customer a book of First Class stamps as compensation

[The GodMother]

Morrison, well my local, only do first in books of 6 so l brought 2 books. 

All the stamps looked ok. But this is the only one which was rejected out of the 12. 

I dont know where it was classed as fake but l know it had to either be picked up at local sorting office, you pay online or put stamps on the card and post it back. 

 

No l dont have any of the original 12 stamps left. The last one went on my nieces birthday card. 8 have gone to the same house as between January and now we have had a 8 birthdays mothers day easter letters forms and DVLA stuff hence why l brought all the stamps at once.  

 

Its lesson learnt but still does pose questions regarding all this as its rather annoying. 

BTW none of the other places any of the stamps went to have said they had to pay either at time or when l asked yesterday. 

[Ethel Street]

So nothing you can do about it then!