Problems after mail redirection finished

[ashlez]

I had all my mail redirected for two 3 month periods last year whilst I was working out of the country. The final 3 month redirection ended just before Christmas and I was under the impression (as per the royal mail website) that once a postal redirection ends, the mail will start going to the original address again. I thought everything was fine until today....

I went into a shop today and tried to make a purchase with my debit card which was declined. I phoned the bank and they said they put a stop on my account this week, because 3 or 4 of their letters to my address have been returned to them as "recipient gone away". Looking back, I have not received any post actually addressed to me since the redirection, only address to "The occupier". I didn't think much of this because 90% of all my communication is now done online and by e-mail.

After thinking about it some more, I have realised I am missing lots of post. I recently changed energy supplier and I have had no post about the switch over and I can think of other examples of missing post that I thought was just taking a long time to arrive but now it makes sense.

I guess my question is....does anyone know if this is standard procedure for Royal Mail to start returning all mail back to sender after redirection finishes? Their website says not - "What happens when my redirection runs out?" at https://www.royalmail.com/personal/rece ... 5-19350100" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

No its not standard practice to RTS all mail after a redirection.

The quickest way to resolve this is to pop into the Delivery Office when it opens tomorrow and advise the callers office, who will tell the relevant manager and they will sort it out.

What I think has happened is human error and or someone thinking they are helping the residents of your address by RTSing your mail, when clearly they are not. If my suggestion does not work then escalte it by complaining officially through Customer Services, but that can take some time as they are based seperately from the Delivery Offices.

[Lounge Lizard]

I had all my mail redirected for two 3 month periods last year whilst I was working out of the country. The final 3 month redirection ended just before Christmas and I was under the impression (as per the royal mail website) that once a postal redirection ends, the mail will start going to the original address again. I thought everything was fine until today....

I went into a shop today and tried to make a purchase with my debit card which was declined. I phoned the bank and they said they put a stop on my account this week, because 3 or 4 of their letters to my address have been returned to them as "recipient gone away". Looking back, I have not received any post actually addressed to me since the redirection, only address to "The occupier". I didn't think much of this because 90% of all my communication is now done online and by e-mail.

After thinking about it some more, I have realised I am missing lots of post. I recently changed energy supplier and I have had no post about the switch over and I can think of other examples of missing post that I thought was just taking a long time to arrive but now it makes sense.

I guess my question is....does anyone know if this is standard procedure for Royal Mail to start returning all mail back to sender after redirection finishes? Their website says not - "What happens when my redirection runs out?" at https://www.royalmail.com/personal/rece ... 5-19350100" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks in advance for any advice.

I'm sorry to say that I've known colleagues, unaware of the correct procedure, who never think that someone might have moved away temporarily, assume that the period of redirection is all they want to pay for and wrongly, as quite likely in your case, 'kill off' all such addressed mail after the redirection ends.

[ashlez]

Thanks for your quick responses. Looks like I may be the victim of someone trying to be helpful by making sure my mail doesn't go to the "new occupiers" of my house when I am actually still living there

I will head to the delivery office tomorrow. One last question - will they have a record of what mail they have RTS'd? I won't ever know what I might be missing if I wasn't expecting it in the first place

[Lounge Lizard]

Thanks for your quick responses. Looks like I may be the victim of someone trying to be helpful by making sure my mail doesn't go to the "new occupiers" of my house when I am actually still living there

I will head to the delivery office tomorrow. One last question - will they have a record of what mail they have RTS'd? I won't ever know what I might be missing if I wasn't expecting it in the first place

No, we might each sort and deliver over a thousand letters a day so they won't, can't, have a record of mail Returned To Sender.

[toaster]

No its not standard practice to RTS all mail after a redirection.

The quickest way to resolve this is to pop into the Delivery Office when it opens tomorrow and advise the callers office, who will tell the relevant manager and they will sort it out.

What I think has happened is human error and or someone thinking they are helping the residents of your address by RTSing your mail, when clearly they are not. If my suggestion does not work then escalte it by complaining officially through Customer Services, but that can take some time as they are based seperately from the Delivery Offices.

Can i ask what is the callers office?I only ask because i sent a letter and when i have looked on the online tracking its says "RETURNED TO CO" and the track point has my local delivery office.What happens to the letter at the CO?

[Lounge Lizard]

No its not standard practice to RTS all mail after a redirection.

The quickest way to resolve this is to pop into the Delivery Office when it opens tomorrow and advise the callers office, who will tell the relevant manager and they will sort it out.

What I think has happened is human error and or someone thinking they are helping the residents of your address by RTSing your mail, when clearly they are not. If my suggestion does not work then escalte it by complaining officially through Customer Services, but that can take some time as they are based seperately from the Delivery Offices.

Can i ask what is the callers office?I only ask because i sent a letter and when i have looked on the online tracking its says "RETURNED TO CO" and the track point has my local delivery office.What happens to the letter at the CO?

The Callers Office is the small office at a Delivery Office where the public call to collect items that couldn't be delivered because nobody was in or there's a surcharge to pay.

[toaster]

No its not standard practice to RTS all mail after a redirection.

The quickest way to resolve this is to pop into the Delivery Office when it opens tomorrow and advise the callers office, who will tell the relevant manager and they will sort it out.

What I think has happened is human error and or someone thinking they are helping the residents of your address by RTSing your mail, when clearly they are not. If my suggestion does not work then escalte it by complaining officially through Customer Services, but that can take some time as they are based seperately from the Delivery Offices.

Can i ask what is the callers office?I only ask because i sent a letter and when i have looked on the online tracking its says "RETURNED TO CO" and the track point has my local delivery office.What happens to the letter at the CO?

The Callers Office is the small office at a Delivery Office where the public call to collect items that couldn't be delivered because nobody was in or there's a surcharge to pay.

Thank you,now i'm confused,on http://www.royalmail.com/track-trace" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; it says "Your item is being re-directed and will take longer to reach its final delivery address" and on http://www.royalmail.com/trackdetails" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; it says "RETURNED TO CO".Will it be at the CO or will it be on its way somewhere else?