Royal Mail saying I cancelled labels and re-used them

[wargamebits]

Just this last week I've had 5 Cancelled Label Surcharges with Royal Mail where they are saying I've used a label that I've cancelled.

Previous to this we've had about 1 of these a year so it seems that something funny is going on.

In Click & Drop for the items they are saying we've cancelled it says "dispatched" and "manifested" with the tracking number that they say was cancelled.

Now if that was the case wouldn't the item have had postage reset and re-applied and then either have no tracking number or another next to it? Or if it had been deleted after producing the label they say was cancelled then wouldn't it just not be in Click and Drop anymore? Is there something I don't understand here because it seems to me they have made an error. Thanks.

[padanpcparts]

'Furthermore, we also got moved from a regular 30 day invoice and direct debit to a weekly, fortnight, whenever they like.  - Not just me then? Drove me insane. I'm pretty meticolous with the numbers so I don't like it when companies mess with it. 

[wargamebits]

Yes we got moved from a monthly invoice to now something that looks like weekly or sometimes fortnightly with no warning.

The cancelled barcode surcharges were for when we cancelled a standard airmail item and sent it tracked and they were saying we had cancelled the tracked label. They rejected the appeals until I sent screenshots to prove it and then we got the money back.

With them they operate from a basis that they are always right and yet their software is a shambles which is also evident from the Russian hacking attack at the beginning of the year. There are other bugs in the software that I've pointed out to them. A bank or other company where significant amounts of money are involved would have a better system.

The customer service helpline is hit and miss. I've had people very knowledgeable and helpful and others where I couldn't even understand what they were saying.

If there was another alternative for the large letters I would switch.

[palison_123]

padanpcparts

Did you do the online form ? 

When I  got a surcharge it's not clear which item they are talking about and people on the phone don't seem to know either.

I used the form and requested that they tell me exactly which items the surcharge for for .They have never been able to tell me which items were "wrong" they just gave me a credit .

[wargamebits]

I should show the tracking number on the surcharge form

[palison_123]

My never show the tracking number.

It just has 2 numbers which relate to nothing I could see.

The last surcharge was a few months back so they could have changed it .

[padanpcparts]

I'm sorry, I don't remember how I found which ones they were charging for. I do remember them sending me pictures they had taken of the offending items...Anything that even remotely looks like it might be on the edge of LL goes with EVRI so I don't have to deal with RM again. 

[simplyessential_uk]

also makes it easier now the LL price for over 100g is now £2.30 with RM, for that 30p difference between RM and Evri/yodel = With RM they dont bother scanning on delivery and youll give you a book of stamps compensation when you claim or Evri/yodel online tracking app for buyer, delivery tracking and compensation if lost

[advanced_card_bureau_ltd]

We have had numerous charges for cancelled barcodes recently, we went a whole year with no charges and then all of a sudden we are getting charges left right and centre.

We are fighting this because we have no knowledge how you even cancel a barcode and haven't changed our processes.

We did find on a recent charge (luckily we had an audit trail because of previous charges) we know 100% we didn't cancel this particular barcode but still got charged for it

To date, we have had between 20-30 cancelled barcodes in the last 3 months.

Royal Mail doesnt even notify you of the address/orders that have been affected.

We are in constant chat with account manager (who cant do anything) and are now reaching the point of having to raise this issue with an outside body purely because we keep getting fobbed off by the accounts department.

[mark8101970]

I am still fighting it too with Royal Mail. Really fed up with it- it has
cost us £100's now!

[advanced_card_bureau_ltd]

After some back-and-forth communication, the Royal Mail decided to send an inspector/representative to our location to verify our correct usage of the click-and-drop system. This felt somewhat insulting because we have used their system for a long time with no issues.

During the inspection, the representative provided information about the cancelled barcodes. It's worth mentioning that we had previously struggled to obtain this information from the Royal Mail despite multiple requests. The representative logged into our click-and-drop account to show us the cancelled barcodes, but to his surprise, nothing appeared on our system. Despite trying multiple examples, he couldn't find any trace of the affected cancelled barcodes. He even admitted, "I haven't encountered this situation before; typically, cancelled barcodes are visible, and I can explain why and how they were cancelled."

Following his visit, we couldn't shake the feeling that there might be an internal issue within the Royal Mail's system that they were reluctant to acknowledge. However, after the visit, we received a full refund for all charges related to the cancelled barcodes.

Our concern extends to other companies that use Direct Debit (DD) to pay their charges without questioning them. This experience makes us wonder if the Royal Mail might be getting away with charging potentially incorrect fees generated by their automatic system

From our experience, challenge every charge you get from Royal Mail and ask for the proof relating to the charges, we have received credits for nearly every challenge we have mounted.

[advanced_card_bureau_ltd]

After some back-and-forth communication, the Royal Mail decided to send an inspector/representative to our location to verify our correct usage of the click-and-drop system. This felt somewhat insulting because we have used their system for a long time with no issues.

During the inspection, the representative provided information about the cancelled barcodes. It's worth mentioning that we had previously struggled to obtain this information from the Royal Mail despite multiple requests. The representative logged into our click-and-drop account to show us the cancelled barcodes, but to his surprise, nothing appeared on our system. Despite trying multiple examples, he couldn't find any trace of the affected cancelled barcodes. He even admitted, "I haven't encountered this situation before; typically, cancelled barcodes are visible, and I can explain why and how they were cancelled."

Following his visit, we couldn't shake the feeling that there might be an internal issue within the Royal Mail's system that they were reluctant to acknowledge. However, after the visit, we received a full refund for all charges related to the cancelled barcodes.

Our concern extends to other companies that use Direct Debit (DD) to pay their charges without questioning them. This experience makes us wonder if the Royal Mail might be getting away with charging potentially incorrect fees generated by their automatic system

From our experience, challenge every charge you get from Royal Mail and ask for the proof relating to the charges, we have received credits for nearly every challenge we have mounted.

[mark8101970]

can I ask who you are contacting to challenge these charges? We have been challenging them for months and not getting anywhere!

[boltonbearings]

Today I received an invoice which shows 202 duplciated label used. 

I upload via click and drop desktop and would know if they had been duplicated

The docket number which is on my invoice is not visible on e invoicing to show the dicrepency

[wargamebits]

You know the worst thing about this is that it's the same as the Horizon scandal in that people are accused of fraud ( cancelling labels and re-using them ) and then when they query it RM come back and say "no the system is right" WITHOUT checking it. Only after a signifcant effort is made to prove otherwise then do they check and say "oh yes it's the system".

I get a feeling that the IT systems and the way in which they are managed and the way customers are treated is very similar here to what was going on with Horizon. I think if journalists picked up on this they could write an article and questions get asked about how they are still doing things.

[truly-sweet-candy]

Same thing has happened to me.  I was told to email royalmail.com/forms/contactfinance choosing the option "Query Surcharge".  Did this and received an email this morning to say the following:

"Following an investigation of the charges queried, we have identified an issue which resulted in charges being incorrectly applied to your account for the use duplicate barcodes. We have now resolved the issue and have requested a credit to your account for charges applied in error."

Hope this helps.

[1stmobileuk]

I haven't had time to read all of this thread yet, but I've had the same problem as the OP. I've completed the form 4 times now, the first two didn't even get a response, 3 emails were ignored and several phone calls were not replied to after not being able to get past the receptionist. For a communications-related company they are appalling. All I ever eventually got was a letter confirming the surcharges and two appeal rejections. Everything else have been letters from their accounts departments, each of which has been replied to and each of which has been ignored. 

What happened was back in November I was surcharged £100 for ten "cancelled" second class labels using the Click and Drop OBA online software. I only send out something between 10-20 a day via Royal Mail so obviously I'd know if I'd cancelled 10. What I think happened is that I applied the postage for 10 second class items then cancelled one of them, which the buyer had asked to cancel. 

I was using the new "beta" version of the software - as invited to by Royal Mail (RM) - and used the drop-down list next to the order I wanted to cancel in order to cancel it. What seems to have happened is that it cancelled all ten instead of just the one. Now if you clicked "Apply Postage" to one order, would you expect it to apply postage to all ten? 

What happens is, if you select one of your orders within the RM software, a drop down list appears, with options like "Apply Postage", Delete", "Mark As Dispatched" etc. So looking at the screenshot below, if you click the three dots next to order 1074 you'll get that drop down list. So if you click "Delete" on the drop-down, it will delete that order. As each order entry has it's own drop-down list you wouldn't expect it to cancel the other ten order on your list, yet that's what seems to have happened. 

I had 4 other items that day to send via RM, so 14 in total but when I looked back at the manifest there were only 4, which would indicate that 10 had been cancelled. I'd already posted the items by this time. However, no matter where I looked I could not find any of the 10 cancelled orders anywhere in the OBA portal. 

I originally posted this on a private business forum and others have pointed out that they have been unable to find any cancelled orders on the system. This is clearly a bug in the system, but it's what happened next that's the problem. RM suspended my account without warning. After several phone calls I managed to establish that it was because I had cancelled the direct debit - but I hadn't. Anyway, I reinstated this over the phone and was told that the account had been reinstated, but it hadn't and never has been.  This being the cae I've never been able to test what I believe actually happened. 

I have appealed the surcharge sevral times and had my appeal rejected. No specific  information has been provided, they simply said it has been investigated, that it was user error and therefore the surcharges stood. I've refused to pay and advised them that as the account was suspended I have suspended payment pending a review and proper, thorough investigation into the matter. Note that at the time the account was suspended there were no payments due and no payments have ever been missed. It was done without any warning and no explanation has been given since. In fact I've never even received any confirmation that the account has been suspended. At no time did I cancel the direct debit, even after it had (supposedly) been set up again over the phone, so I have no clue whether that's related or something different. 

Ironic that the Post Office Horizon scandal is being shown in a documentary series at the moment because the way RM have handled it, totally ignoring everything I've said, not even ackowledged it, and rejected appeals then suspended the account without any warning or explanation is so similar to what happned with the post office, which was of course owned by RM at that time, is uncanny. If they want to take it to court that's fine, bring it on. 

[1stmobileuk]

How often did you have surcharges added to your account? I recently looked back at all our invoices rom 2020 and just ONE didn't have any surcharge on it. We only use two sizes (we use different carriers for everything else), so you would expect all the charges to be similar, but over the four years not a single one of the 47 in total are the same. Most are between £2 and £4. 

There's no way we have made that many mistakes, resulting in different amounts every time. 

[1stmobileuk]

Ditto. We're only postaing sim cards, typically weigh around 15g and until recently we had a max. 2 per person rule. Parcels go via a different carrier. 47 surchages in 48 months, no two were the same.