Refunds on Postal Orders

[thunderpuss2k]

I know this seems like a silly question, but if I ask the bloke in the post office he'll only get arsey with me as he's a narky sod like that (if he had a petition to close his sub post office I might sign it, alas there's only one to save it!)

 

I'm amassing a little pile of postal orders that have been returned for various DPA requests. Some are because the amount was too low, others because the recipient decided to carry out my DPA request for free.

 

Question is.. what do I do with these? They have the name of the recipient on it, but haven't been crossed or anything. Is there such a thing as a refund system for uncashed postal orders - or can I just go down the post office and cash them myself? If the latter, I did notice that they sometimes ask for proof of ID. (Can imagine it now.. 'yes my name is Harry, er, Sean, Brian, Chris. HSBC are my initials. No, I'm not the same person you had in a few weeks purchasing this from you!)

[lee6370]

I take it you kept the stubs?

[MARTIN3030]

This is something that is new to them as the system is quite new.

I have taken 4 back so far and on each occasionhad a wait while they phone up to check.

 

It seems staff are not very well briefed on this.

Just take in the paper reciept that gives all the details.

Theres no problem getting a refund once they know the procedures.

I found that even the manager did not know and neither did any of the 7 cashiers.

However since I took mine back a couple of them know now lol

 

 

[callumsgran]

If you take them back to the p.o that issued them there should be no problem, if they can see their stamp on it they know it's kosher!! if you've kept the receipts all the better!

[MARTIN3030]

For the benefit of anyone who does not know......the old style postal orders have now been replaced so there are no stubs.

The new style P.O. is like a cheque and is printed by their POS terminal with the amount.

It can be crossed and have the recipients name printed on it.

A big improvement on the old system. a 1.00 one has a fee of 45p whilst a 10.00 one has a fee of 0.88p.

 

[MARTIN3030]

Cillit I was told that any P.O could do the refund since its all electronically on their database...........which is a step Abbey should be looking at instead of their Microfiche lol

 

[callumsgran]

Yeah sorry Martin i was going by the old ones of course!!! the new ones are a lot better!!!

[MARTIN3030]

I dealt with the same woman for the last 2.

 

She said "If you had an idea they might be sent back then why did you not send a cheque and save paying fees ?"

 

I said ..."dont worry love I am not worried about losing 88p for what I will eventually be getting back in return "

 

I am sure tho that by now these Post offices will have lots of internal memos flying around.

 

I wonder if they will attribute all the extra business to more people using e bay?

In my post office half of the queue was e bay punters and the other half bank claimants ha ha

 

[thunderpuss2k]

Thanks gang, will dig out the receipts and take a wander down to the issuing PO later.

[thunderpuss2k]

I knew it was a bad idea to rattle the sub postmaster at my local. He basically refused to refund or cash the POs. I couldn't locate the original receipts, however what I did find was the two letters from the two relevent banks advising that they were sending these POs back. Having spoken to PO Customer Svcs they said that'd be fine. Apparently not.. bloke made a phone call to somewhere or other, and scribbled down an address I should send them to if I wanted a refund.

 

 

Still, I got my two DPA LBAs sent off which was the main purpose of my visit. Pleased him even more as I actually paid for them this time (I've run out of labels for my Dymo machine so no more smart stamp for a few days! )

[callumsgran]

well i got a p.o sent back to me that i sent for something on ebay which was refunded, i had no trouble at my local p.o even tho i'd crossed it and put the recipients name on it!!! i dont understand these inconsistencies at all!!!

[elsinore]

I know how you feel thunderpuss. Our local P.O. is staffed by two escapees from The League of Gentleman!!

 

I wanted a postal order made out to Aktiv Kapital. After four failed attempts at getting the spelling right I gave up and took a blank one!!

 

It's worth the two mile drive to the next village to be served by a guy who is completely up to speed and even tells you when something new is introduced.

 

Ho hum.

[thunderpuss2k]

Took everyones advice and went the extra few minutes down the road to another post office. What a breath of fresh air.. he had no problem with cashing the POs for me, and even did my two recordeds at the same time.

 

Now to start that petition to not save my local sub post office

[MARTIN3030]

I know how you feel thunderpuss. Our local P.O. is staffed by two escapees from The League of Gentleman!!

 

I wanted a postal order made out to Aktiv Kapital. After four failed attempts at getting the spelling right I gave up and took a blank one!!

 

It's worth the two mile drive to the next village to be served by a guy who is completely up to speed and even tells you when something new is introduced.

 

Ho hum.

 

Ha Ha same thing almost with me.........I let the P.O print them and when I gave him the name he went to spell it wrong.......Joking he said "well surely they will cash it its only a minor misspelling " Noooooooo I said these people will use that as an excuse not to reply.

 

By the way is yours for a Barclays ? Aktive Kap appear to be the main one for them.

 

Mine only sent on 5th. so they got a week left.

 

I got the e mail address ready for trading standards in Chester......if they dont reply to you then you should contact them too.

[MARTIN3030]

actually looks like you may need it before me

 

Trading Standards

[nicks2100]

well i got a p.o sent back to me that i sent for something on ebay which was refunded, i had no trouble at my local p.o even tho i'd crossed it and put the recipients name on it!!! i dont understand these inconsistencies at all!!!

 

Good morning. I have just had the same thing happen to me. I had a P/O sent back for something from ebay. I saw your comment and i wanted to know if you needed to take any proof of I/D with you when you took the postal order back for a refund? Thank you.