Warning, Poste Restante and privitisation. (1 Viewer)

Glandwr

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For anyone who uses this service beware. I have used it occasionally for over 40 years all over the world without hassle until this week.

It a system that has worked for well over a hundred years but would now appear broken since Royal Mail was privitised. You could get your mail sent to what was called a poste restante. If a letter was addressed to.

Your Name
Poste Restante (hold until collection)
Central Post Office
Any city
Any country

When you got to that city you would go to the central post office, show your passport and sign for and pick up your mail. Worked for me dozens and dozens of times. More often than not the service is free although I paid a small fee last time I picked something up in France last year.

I am touring Greece at the moment and knew that I would be spending some time in Athens so arranged for my daughter to send some important mail there including my new credit cards to replace the ones running out this week.

Have called in to PO here every other day for a week now, no mail! It should have arrived 3 weeks ago. Phone daughter digs out proof of postage and tracking number. Back to PO still no mail, will they look up proof of postage number? Eventually they did.

Royal Mail, presumably to save pennies, had sent it by courier rather than national postal services across Europe. Eventually I found the courier office on an industrial estate. "We won't deliver to post offices, we will only deliver to the addressee personally and they alone can sign. So we have sent it all to our HQ in Germany for return to sender"

It took all of my self control to smile and back slowly out of the door :)

Dick
 
D

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I don't think you've been able to do it here for quite a few years. Nothing to do with privatisation.

I imagine that couriers would be quicker than national postal services as well as cheaper. Strange that they wouldn't deliver to the post office though if Greece still allows post restante.
 

GJH

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Still extant in the UK Nick. Run by the Post Office rather than the Royal Mail.

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/mail/poste-restante

Dick
First thing on that link is "Choose a Post Office branch to collect your mail from. This can be almost anywhere in the UK and in most larger towns abroad. Check if there’s Post Restante where you’re going." Click the link and Greece isn't listed.

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Glandwr

Glandwr

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First thing on that link is "Choose a Post Office branch to collect your mail from. This can be almost anywhere in the UK and in most larger towns abroad. Check if there’s Post Restante where you’re going." Click the link and Greece isn't listed.
:LOL:Maybe someone should tell the Greeks Graham. They have a special hatch dedicated to just that in the basement of the central post office in Athens. It actually says "poste restante" above it, I've stood at it 3 times this week and watched the woman leaf through mail from every country in the world (out of the pigeon hole with my initial) right in front of me.

Dick
 
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I think it's the courier that the issue is with here rather than either the Royal Mail or the Greek postal service.

Which one was it Dick and have they had anything else to say for themselves?

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Glandwr

Glandwr

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Company called ACS Nick they are adamant that ONLY the addressee can sign for mail before they will release it and that a PO employee cannot act as a proxy and that is the reason they do not deliver to POs.
 
D

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I guess if that's their policy then fair enough.

It seems a strange choice for this type of job though. I wonder if they've just handled the local part on behalf of one of the big networks.

It might be worth a conversation with the Royal Mail to see if they're aware of it.
 
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I think you'll find Royal Mail is using all sorts of old tat for foreign addressed postings as anything from HMRC takes 6 weeks to get here when they use ' Global post' ,only 3 weeks & 3 days using 'Prioritaire' ,obviously because I complained, & the letter that Hmrc sent on 24th January ,that requires an appeal within 30 days (23rd Feb) hasn't arrived yet .:LOL: But when I renewed my 'overseas voter' registration on friday 5th Feb , the letter from Mid Devon council was delivered here on Monday morning , the 8th. If they can do it why can't the others. Obviously because they are trying to get it done for a coupe of pence !

The department of social security use something called 'MaltaPost' ,& yes it does go there, which they will tell you will take 2-4 weeks to arrive.

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Welsh girl

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We had the same in Portugal. They used a courier and they won't deliver to a post office.
We waited weeks more than necessary because of this. Had to arrange a private address to get it sent to.
 

GJH

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:LOL:Maybe someone should tell the Greeks Graham. They have a special hatch dedicated to just that in the basement of the central post office in Athens. It actually says "poste restante" above it, I've stood at it 3 times this week and watched the woman leaf through mail from every country in the world (out of the pigeon hole with my initial) right in front of me.

Dick
They might have a special hatch but if that is not backed by an arrangement (which seems to be the case from the information in the link posted) than it ain't going to work is it? :)
 
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Glandwr

Glandwr

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They might have a special hatch but if that is not backed by an arrangement (which seems to be the case from the information in the link posted) than it ain't going to work is it? :)
What don'the you understand Graham? It is an international system that has worked perfectly for over a hundred years. I have used it dozens of times over the last 40 years in places as diverse as Kabul, Perth and Carcarsonne. It is working as I said for seemingly every other country in the world this week in Athens. It worked for me in Thessilonica (Greece) 2 years ago. And the post office link below includes Greece in the list of countries.

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/mail/international-confirmed

This is an unintended consquence of Royal Mail privatisation I believe, and I wanted to warn others who also use the service and might be, as I was, seriously inconvenienced.

I didn't want to get into an argument with you.

Dick

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sdc77

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Thanks for the warning ..
Never used it and will avoid it now.
Seems like a consequence of companies such as the post office saving costs.
(Which is fine)
Acs are a big company .. you'd think they would be able to cope with something like this.
 

DBK

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First thing on that link is "Choose a Post Office branch to collect your mail from. This can be almost anywhere in the UK and in most larger towns abroad. Check if there’s Post Restante where you’re going." Click the link and Greece isn't listed.
The link is just to a Wikipedia page and it clearly isn't a very complete entry. Denmark aren't listed either but I suspect they know what it is.
 

GJH

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The link is just to a Wikipedia page and it clearly isn't a very complete entry. Denmark aren't listed either but I suspect they know what it is.
It may be a Wikipedia page but it is a page linked to from the (only) Poste Restante page on the Post Office web site, a page which was quoted as providing a description of what Poste Restante facilities are available.
What don'the you understand Graham? It is an international system that has worked perfectly for over a hundred years. I have used it dozens of times over the last 40 years in places as diverse as Kabul, Perth and Carcarsonne. It is working as I said for seemingly every other country in the world this week in Athens. It worked for me in Thessilonica (Greece) 2 years ago. And the post office link below includes Greece in the list of countries.

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/mail/international-confirmed

This is an unintended consquence of Royal Mail privatisation I believe, and I wanted to warn others who also use the service and might be, as I was, seriously inconvenienced.

I didn't want to get into an argument with you.

Dick
I do understand what Poste Restante is and I also understand that the page you now point us to is nothing to do with Poste Restante, so the fact that it includes Greece is immaterial.

What I don't understand is why "This is an unintended consequence of Royal Mail privatisation" because I have seen no evidence put forward of that. Indeed, as explained Broken Link Removed, the only responsibility that Royal Mail has for Poste Restante items is to deliver them to the nominated UK post office or (in common with any other outgoing international mail) to deliver items to a delivery service in the destination country. Is is actually the Post Office (which is not, of course, privatised) which is responsible for holding items.

I would suggest that, rather than just making an assumption that the reason fits a preconception, the proper course of action would be to enquire of the Royal Mail and the Post Office as to what the current situation is and why it does not work as it did 2 years ago.

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D

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This is true now I think about it.

How can you sensibly blame Royal Mail, either before or after privatisation, for the actions of a Greek courier company? I wasn't aware that they are responsible for delivery in foreign countries.
 

Minxy

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This is true now I think about it.

How can you sensibly blame Royal Mail, either before or after privatisation, for the actions of a Greek courier company? I wasn't aware that they are responsible for delivery in foreign countries.
I think there is confusion between the Royal Mail and Post Office.

The fault lies with the Post Office because they are using the courier for this service whose terms (apparently) state that they won't deliver to post offices in other countries, just to a specific person's address - as they PO are using them then they are at fault for not letting customers know this when 'contracting' to post mail to them.
 

Minxy

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Dick - have you contacted the HQ of the courier to see if you can get it sent to the campsite address instead?

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We had the same in Portugal. They used a courier and they won't deliver to a post office.
We waited weeks more than necessary because of this. Had to arrange a private address to get it sent to.

Hi.
We had the same trouble,Courier,first said they could not find us,we were 30kms from their depot ,so we suggested leaving it at the Post office in Santa Comba Dao,called in on and off over a fortnight,rang the Couriers main office in Spain.... "We do not deliver to Post Offices,only addresses"
Did get the parcel later on,from a "Subby",who could not have been more helpfull,result.
Tea Bag
 

GJH

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I think there is confusion between the Royal Mail and Post Office.

The fault lies with the Post Office because they are using the courier for this service whose terms (apparently) state that they won't deliver to post offices in other countries, just to a specific person's address - as they PO are using them then they are at fault for not letting customers know this when 'contracting' to post mail to them.
Definitely confusion Mel :) The Post Office only collects mail which is taken to its branches then passes it on to Royal Mail or Parcel Force (both of which are parts of the Royal Mail Group) for delivery. Royal Mail and Parcel Force also deliver mail taken to their offices or collected from post boxes/businesses (neither of which involves The Post Office).

If any UK organisation were at fault in this case (of which we have so far seen no evidence of course) then it would be the Royal Mail not the Post Office.
 

Minxy

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That's your fault GJH :D ... I was going by what you were saying in an earlier posting that the Royal Mail wasn't responsible ... hence assumed you meant it was the Post Office's fault ... you need to be CLEARER with your meanings chucky!!! :LOL:

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MattR

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I think that Royal Mail will cease to exist soon - they are raising stamp prices yet again and it costs a fortune to send a card to Europe. I don't know how much is down to privatisation but I don't think that it will be long until physical postage of letters will be obsolete and the only items posted will be parcels. Furthermore, I can see post restante becoming a paid for service.
 
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Glandwr

Glandwr

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Dick - have you contacted the HQ of the courier to see if you can get it sent to the campsite address instead?
Thank you Minxgirl but I tend not to use campsites or have a planned itinerary when touring. Especially in Greece where campsites open in the winter are like hen’s teeth. Those that I find I only stay a night, dump do, the washing and move on. We have two spare cassettes for the Thetford so manage with wild camping and staying on the car parks of tavernas that we patronise.
Even in Athens I was on a guarded car park in Pireaus (at the end of the metro line) that would have been impossible to mail to. But if this is what we are reduced to I will have some how to make alternative arrangements for the future.
Dick

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Glandwr

Glandwr

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Update, today I got 2 items out of the 6 posted, and can see what happened.
What I expected to happen, in fact what had happened every time I have the poste restante for the last 40 years. Was that my daughter would post at a PO in the UK, the Post Office would transfer to the Hellenic PO they then would hold it for at least a month for me to collect in Athens.

What happened was that the Post Office handed the mail to the Royal Mail company.
The Royal Mail then handed it on to a company called General Logistics Systems that are based in Germany. They are in a place called Nuesenstein they then stuck an A5 size adhesive label over the envelopes, totally covering the original address and UK post office stamp. It had bar codes and advertising on it and in small type my name (retyped) and the street address of the post office that I wanted to collect from. All references to Poste Restante, hold until collection or central post office were totally covered.

They then handed it to a company called ACS couriers who also stuck their sticker on it covering the sender address. Then it went to the street address by private courier who couldn’t find someone with my name to sign for it. They twice and then it was held in the office on the industrial estate for 5 days and then returned to Germany with no visible sender address . A total shambolic farce. What used to take two agencies now took 4, 5 if it had have worked all wanting their cut.

There are two posts on this tread saying that the same thing is happening in Portugal. I also posted my original post on another motorhoming forum a reply on the forum said the same thing had happened to them in Germany.

So sadly I have to repeat my assertion that since the Royal Mail was privatised the poste restante service might be reliable from other countries but not the UK.

Dick
 

sdc77

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That's a mad system isn't it.
Does sound though that the fault started with the German company who seemed unaware (probably through incompetence) that the original address information should be preserved.
As for the royal mail being privatised.
Best thing that ever happened to it imho.
I used to drive past the sorting office at Mount pleasant every day... there used to regularly people outside striking for some daft reason or other.
 

GJH

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Update, today I got 2 items out of the 6 posted, and can see what happened.
What I expected to happen, in fact what had happened every time I have the poste restante for the last 40 years. Was that my daughter would post at a PO in the UK, the Post Office would transfer to the Hellenic PO they then would hold it for at least a month for me to collect in Athens.

What happened was that the Post Office handed the mail to the Royal Mail company.
The Royal Mail then handed it on to a company called General Logistics Systems that are based in Germany. They are in a place called Nuesenstein they then stuck an A5 size adhesive label over the envelopes, totally covering the original address and UK post office stamp. It had bar codes and advertising on it and in small type my name (retyped) and the street address of the post office that I wanted to collect from. All references to Poste Restante, hold until collection or central post office were totally covered.

They then handed it to a company called ACS couriers who also stuck their sticker on it covering the sender address. Then it went to the street address by private courier who couldn’t find someone with my name to sign for it. They twice and then it was held in the office on the industrial estate for 5 days and then returned to Germany with no visible sender address . A total shambolic farce. What used to take two agencies now took 4, 5 if it had have worked all wanting their cut.

There are two posts on this tread saying that the same thing is happening in Portugal. I also posted my original post on another motorhoming forum a reply on the forum said the same thing had happened to them in Germany.

So sadly I have to repeat my assertion that since the Royal Mail was privatised the poste restante service might be reliable from other countries but not the UK.

Dick
So it was the fault of the two courier companies then, not the Royal Mail - and absolutely nothing to do with the privatisation.

Still, why let the facts get in the way of an unfounded pop at the government?

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