Possible to obtain duplicate receipt of posting with date & address?

Chrissy Kebbell · Post by **Chrissy Kebbell** » 03 Oct 2016, 16:22

Hi

I am guessing you are fed up with customers posting these sorts of emails, I can only say thank you for your voluntary time and for reading these and for any responses or thought.

I returned a piece of unwanted equipment in a parcel by special delivery on the 25th August, on behalf of our local youth club. It was a signed for service. Our Treasurer has been going through our accounts and has found the expected refund was not given. She contacted the seller who stated they had not received the item.

Predictably I now cannot find the proof of postage... (which I did obtain)

On visiting the PO to ask for a duplicate receipt I have been told that this is not possible because records of transactions are not retained on the local system. This is despite knowing the date of the parcel being sent, the address and postcode and our lovely PO lady remembering it being posted (I often go in as an ebay seller, but on this occasion the contents of the box matched what it actually said on the outside, which she remembed).

Neither the charity or myself can afford to lose the money from this item.

Until recently I worked in a shop where we had a computer system that logged every transaction. As a member of staff I could pull up, and if necessary reprint, duplicate receipts provided that I had sufficient information to identify the transaction i.e. date and the amount spent. I did not have a search facility from the front end but we were only a small shop so that was never a problem. The most I ever needed to go back was six weeks but records were there for longer.

I cannot believe there really is no data storage of transactions and corresponding details anywhere in the Post Office system. This sort of data is simply too useful to a business to lose, and enables good consumer relations based on accurate records. Is there anyone I can ask about this (- who is not an automated email asking for a tracking number). Alternatively is there something else I could say to our local PO lady - it is in a pretty small village and while a popular service, this should be a searchable transaction as I have date and address sent to. I am not going to upset her, she has been brilliant, but perhaps there is a search I could suggest? Horizon must save receipts somewhere?

As the purchaser of a service, if the service has not been carried out then I do not (legally) need a receipt: any other evidence, including a bank transaction or witness to the transaction, is sufficient to obtain a refund. If the PO or Parcel Force has delivered the parcel it must have a log of the signature to this address on the date it was delivered?! I am the customer that purchased this service, how can I access the information?

Help!

Many thanks
Chrissy
A loyal customer

Post by **Snaggletooth** » 03 Oct 2016, 18:12

I can confirm that the Horizon computer system has no function to retrieve copies of proof of postage. It does retain details of money paid etc in the way you describe but the address details and barcode number are not retained after passing on to Royal Mail's or Parcelforce's track and trace system. The absence is probably intentional because the existence of potential duplicate certificates of posting could cause legal problems, plus the retention of address data would bring these records under the data protection act. So I think that the computer system has been specifically designed to not allow duplicates to be printed.

Royal Mail and Parcelforce do record signatures as you say, but to access them I'm afraid that you need the barcode from the receipt.

Spedley · Post by **Spedley** » 03 Oct 2016, 18:28

From what I've gathered the old tracking system (using the AB 1234 5678 9DE type codes) only seem to work one way and you cannot reverse look-up the data.

Chrissy Kebbell · Post by **Chrissy Kebbell** » 05 Oct 2016, 12:39

Thank you very much for your swift responses, they were helpful to clarify what was possible, and saved our nice local Post Office lady from further questions from me.

Update:

After a wait, I have a response from Parcel Force via their General Enquiries. I had sent an email to them including the date of posting, the post office the parcel was posted from and delivery address. They have been able to get back to me with the parcel tracking number, date of delivery and the name of the person who took delivery, and even a photo of the signature.

So to clarify, it is at least sometimes possible to access this information, but I may have been lucky and it should not be relied on.

Reminder to customers who are reading this to always ask for and keep Proof of Posting - it needs to be looked after "as cash" - because you never know when it could prove to be worth A LOT of cash to you.

The email from Parcel Force has been fowarded straight onto the company who have claimed not to have received the parcel.

Great customer service on all fronts by both Royal Mail and Parcel Force who have to deal with foolish customers like myself (on a daily basis, I bet). Thank you.