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broncoupe
Posts: 2
Joined: 15 Apr 2018, 10:55
Gender: Male

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Post by broncoupe »

Hi any help please
Does anyone know how things work
When you send a parcel from a local post office and the assistant asks you for the postcode
1- If you give the wrong postcode will her machine reject it
What has happened to me is that a parcel was accepted by the counter assistant i even stuck the barcode label on
At the local depot they picked up the incorrect address i guess by scanning the barcode then manually reading the hand written address and barcode.
So i am trying to understand the previous events at the local post office to apportion blame
the assistant asked me for the house number and road name which i confirmed
i have checked the postcode on the printed barcode relates to it does not have this road assoiciated with it
it was a simple mistake of 1 letter in the postcode a B instead of a D
Does the machine just print was is entered or does it check against a data base
thanks :cry :cry :cry :cry
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TrueBlueTerrier
FORUM ADMINISTRATOR
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Joined: 30 Dec 2006, 10:29
Gender: Male
Location: On my couch

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Post by TrueBlueTerrier »

I'll wait until one of our Post Office employees comments on the internal process of postcode verification.

However from a Posties point of view as long as the parcel has the correct address on it there won't be any problems as that's what we go off, we have no access to any database even when working.

In fact, when we get a letter with a house number and postcode, with no street name, we have to manually look it up in a book of local postcodes. :left:
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broncoupe
Posts: 2
Joined: 15 Apr 2018, 10:55
Gender: Male

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Post by broncoupe »

Thanks for that to be fare to parcelforce employees all tried there hardest
the problems all happened at local postoffice
either I said wrong postcode or the lady made an error entering postcode
Im trying to find out what checks are on her VDU screen if any
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97gaz
EX ROYAL MAIL
Posts: 1023
Joined: 17 Dec 2008, 10:15
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Post by 97gaz »

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Last edited by 97gaz on 14 Dec 2019, 15:13, edited 1 time in total.
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Snaggletooth
EX POST OFFICE
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Post by Snaggletooth »

broncoupe wrote:At the local depot they picked up the incorrect address i guess by scanning the barcode then manually reading the hand written address and barcode.
In general, the depot will only check the database if there is a problem with the address on the front of the parcel. Did the address you wrote on the parcel exist and did the postcode match the rest of the address?
broncoupe wrote:So i am trying to understand the previous events at the local post office to apportion blame
It is your responsibility to put the correct address on the front of the parcel. The Post Office records parts of the address on the proof of posting and in some cases checks the address on Royal Mail's Postcode and Address Finder (PAF).
broncoupe wrote:If you give the wrong postcode will her machine reject it... Does the machine just print was is entered or does it check against a data base
That depends.

The Post Office's till system is connected to PAF. This is not a list of addresses, it is a list of postcodes and front doors. To illustrate the difference, my property used to be a big house but was later split into a number of flats. If you look on PAF the individual flats are not listed, only the front door we all share at the front of the building: it is as if the building was still one big house. For this reason, and other limitations, the Post Office do not regard the address check their system does as being anything more than an indication of whether the address is right or not. Anyway, the legal liability rests with the customer.

When I left the PO, clerks just typed in the details for Royal Mail services, only Parcelforce (PFW) Guaranteed services were checked against the PAF. If the postcode on the parcel did not match the PAF then the clerk was supposed to search the database by the address. If the clerk still couldn't find the matching address & postcode then they were supposed to tell the customer that this means the delivery guarantee is invalid then type in the details as per the front of the parcel.

The problem is that the address search function makes it easy to miss small differences in the postcode (e.g. AB1 1BW versus AB1 1DW). This is what I suspect happened in your case. If I am right, then just to the right there will be a letter 'Y' under "Validated?" However, the liability still rests with you as the sender to address the parcel properly in the first place.
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