Letter returned with no reason given

KatM · Post by **KatM** » 14 Jan 2017, 17:53

Hi there,

I am in need of some advice.

I sent an international letter, to Ukraine, although it was returned to me the next day. Royal Mail did not leave a card that told the reasons for why the delivery attempt was unsuccessful. They did not write anything on the envelope either.

What are the reasons why the letter was returned? And how to solve this issue?

Many thanks

Post by **fb1969** » 14 Jan 2017, 18:18

Presumably you had a return address on the envelope? About once a week I see an envelope that has gone through the sorting machine and it has picked up on the return address rather than the 'to' address. Are there orange lines on the envelope (like a barcode) on the same side as the return address? This is the most common incorrect return I see. If this has happened the pressure on the posties is such that they may not have noticed it was going in the wrong direction!

Assuming you haven't opened it, scribble the orange lines out and put pen lines through the return address. That way it should go through the machines correctly.

KatM · Post by **KatM** » 14 Jan 2017, 20:24

Aaaa, thank you for your response!

I have just looked and there is an orange barcode on the return address (even though I wrote the return address on the back)

Will they charge me again for postage?

Post by **fb1969** » 14 Jan 2017, 20:41

More often it is a case of the sender putting a return address on the front but I have seen it with the address on the back. The envelope has gone through back to front and the machine just sorts it to the address that it sees. I've got as far as a letter box before realising what has happened.

If the front hasn't been marked then you should be ok to do as I put above, making sure you scribble out the orange lines and cross through the return address (especially the postcode) - it doesn't have to be unreadable, just less clear. I have done that on ones I have seen and put them back into the system, but have no idea about what happens next but they haven't come back again! I can't see there being a problem if you just pop it in a post box.

KatM · Post by **KatM** » 14 Jan 2017, 20:59

I have now written return address in the left, top corner. I have also scribbled out return address on back, although it looks a mess. Do you think it will be fine to glue white paper over it?

Post by **fb1969** » 15 Jan 2017, 06:39

Best not to have the return address on the front. As long as any sticker is fully stuck on and it doesn't look like you have cut the stamp off another envelope to reuse it, you should be ok.

Post by **SpacePhoenix** » 15 Jan 2017, 07:17

fb1969 wrote:Best not to have the return address on the front. As long as any sticker is fully stuck on and it doesn't look like you have cut the stamp off another envelope to reuse it, you should be ok.

Some countries customs services will refuse an item entry into their country if the return address isn't on the front of the item somewhere. The best place is probably the top left corner, in a much smaller (though still readable) font than the to address