Problem with track48 serial YA Royal Mail

[yourstampsuk]

I bought a track48 label through eBay and this morning a nice lady at the Post Office said that track48 with the YA number is not accepted and that I should contact the seller. does anyone have a similar problem? did ebay uk sell me a fake label?

[crafty_cat_lover]

Yet it also affected labels bought directly from Royal Mail click and drop.

In IT parlance it's more likely to be called doing a Horizon

[eastern-lights]

---

@fashionreborn wrote:

***Update***

I dropped 20 parcels off direct to the main Royal Mail delivery hub there now, and all were scanned without any issue and tracking instantly updated on ebay 

So the issue is 100% with the Post office software being used at the counter, and not ebay or the Royal Mail tracking systems behind the scenes

---

My suspicion is, no one even considered that a change in the prefix of a tracking number would cause any problems anywhere. My further suspicion is that Horizon software has some error checking of tracking numbers, probably written yonks ago, to ensure tracking numbers "look right", and that error checking only accepts certain prefixes.

[fashionreborn]

I wouldn't be surprised if the Post Office managers were emailed late Friday night to update their system,

they didnt see it,

went home for the weekend,

left the part timers who cover the counters at the weekend to deal with the mayhem,

and then when they return to work Monday morning update the software... lol 😂

[goodibags]

No, it's definitely 'doing an Ebay'. We've had a whole series of these so-called 'developments' dating back many months. None of them has been accidental. SD itself was supposed to be compulsory from April, if you can believe that?

Whereas 'doing a Horizon' suggests that Ebay sellers are going to end up in prison, for some arbitrary and entirely made up reason. I genuinely hope THAT doesn't happen. 😉

[barry.110]

I took a parcel to my local Post Office on Saturday with a QR code for them to scan and print the label. They scanned and printed the label but the woman behind the counter said it wasn't printing out the receipts for some reason. When I checked online it didn't show the accepted at parcel shop like normal, however later that evening it showed as received at the mail centre. It is now showing as to be delivered today, so hopefully all should be ok.

I did send another parcel this morning on my way to work at a different Post Office and had the same issue, so it looks like whatever the problem is they haven't resolved it.

[**the_beatles**]

Update ….

I tried to drop off six parcels at a post office at 8.30am today 4th August, all items scanned and not valid on all of them so they could not accept. 

I then went to a Parcel Locker, something I have never used before. It was really simple to use and all parcels scanned and accepted. I have received emails confirming my drop off of the six parcels as you have to enter your email address to receive a confirmation email that parcel has been accepted. 

I hope this helps the many people who are struggling with their parcels 

[magee1976]

Does this work with the barcodes or do you need to have printed out labels? ... something I don't have. Thanks. 

[**the_beatles**]

Sorry I am not sure if it accepts QR codes and prints postage labels. 

there may be information regarding this on the Royal Mail website 

https://www.royalmail.com/sending/parcel-lockers

[cerulean-blue]

Hello, has anyone had the same problem with tracked 24?

Thank you

[magee1976]

24 hour tracked is fine beginning MZ.

My local Post Office just called to say issue still not resolved. They have called Royal Mail and not been given an estimated day or time when it will be.

[hubsteruk]

Tracked 24 went through fine for me on Saturday, 48 didn't

[geoffjbaker]

Seems you were lucky they accepted the parcels my po stopped at the first one because they already had done several on Saturday before me. As a programmer for 35 years struggling to understand how this hasn't been fixed after 48 hours when it is probably a good chunk of their business. Maybe IT don't work weekends. Lol.

[hiney50]

I have just been down to the Post Office to post a parcel with YA tracking number and the system still will not accept these and all I got from the assistant is a shrug of the shoulders. Apparently Royal mail changed the TQ to YA for tracked 48 hour to prevent running out of tracking numbers in the near future but forgot to update their systems with the YA numbering. Where do we go from here? Hopefully not years to resolve like the other RM software issues!!

[hubsteruk]

I'm guessing the POs which don't accept without scanning are thinking we are not making the commission so we'll say puter says no so I'll say no to the customer

[snowylilliput-0]

I tried to drop off 3 parcels at 7.30am , had printed the labels over the weekend . Sames result , post office unable to except them bevause they did not scan so was unable provide proof off posting which means they where not in the system . I was wondering what Ebay will do about the late dispatch if this goes on . Does anybody know if  the royal mail website is providing lables with the YA tracking number 

[magee1976]

Sadly it is ... although 24 hour tracked fine and still doing MZ.

[lazylad2]

Hi, did you print your own labels out or did they get printed at the locker? 

Thanks

[wellingnorth]

---

@crafty_cat_lover wrote:

I am well aware that SD exists and I am using it without any problems as are many others. Yes I am aware of the problem with the tracking numbers over the weekend but, as I and others have already explained, that is a Post Office software problem not an Ebay problem.

But hey, keep trying to blame Ebay.

---

While it's true that this is a Royal Mail / Post Office problem the Simple Delivery system is not set up to cater for this kind of failure. If you had bought your label through RM Click and Drop you could just buy postage again from the Post Office counter and request a refund for your Click and Drop label.

With Simple Delivery I'm not sure what the process would be - as I understand it if you requested a refund for the unused label that would go to the buyer not to you so you'd probably have to go through customer services to get a refund. And if Simple Delivery had underestimated your parcel size there may be a bigger difference than usual in cost (ie if ebay estimated your item to be a small parcel but you had to pay for a medium parcel). As far as I can see in the event of a parcel being refused ebay currently just expect you to try again later or drop off somewhere else. 

For what it's worth I dropped off a mixture of Click and Drop and Simple Delivery tracked 48 YA parcels at a RM delivery office this morning and that worked fine with tracking updated immediately.

[nat_pol]

I use RM click and drop service and had same YA tracking on it, so obviously it is not ebay thing, but Royal Mail. Bit as I send it through post box can not say at the moment is it scanned or no. So this is not about ebay glitch I think, but Royal Mail. 

[goodibags]

Yes, the unstated 'solution' with SD seems to be for sellers to sit this one out or keep trying every few hours (as they have nothing better to do with their time). All the while the Estimated Delivery Dates for their unposted items will be ticking down regardless.

If there's a reason SD is not called Ebay Managed Delivery it may be because there is no apparent 'managing' of anything  going on?