Can anyone help with a Post Office issue (parcel related)?

[PostmanPatAndALoadOfCrap]

I wonder if anyone can give advice on this issue.

I posted a small parcel second class to a relative about 10 days ago. I took it to the post office counter, the assistant weighed it and stuck a label on it (charged me £4.45 as 'small parcel).

It hadn't arrived and we were wondering if it might have gone to a neighbour but my relative has today received an 'insufficient postage' card saying £7 is owed!

If relevant, it was wrapped in parcel paper that was bought at the Post Office.

We have the 'certificate of postage' for it.

How best to address this? My relative is mindful also this might be a scam and will be checking, but on the assumption it relates to the missing parcel, what should we do?

Really annoyed by this! They weighed it, they labelled it, and it was wrapped in their paper.

Thanks for reading!

A £7 fee charge for a small parcel is usually when there has been no postage paid at all, or a counterfeit stamp has been used. Due to you actually going into a post office and them putting the postage label on, I would rule out counterfeit stamps. So the only other explanation I can think of is that the postage label has been torn off the parcel, or damaged in some way in transit.

Likely the label has fallen off or been damaged (happens a lot)

Thank you @Andawayyy @nowaynohowz - given that they stuck it on and I used parcel paper bought there, any thoughts on how we can get them to waive this unfair £7 fee?

Can you send a pic of your certificate of posting to your relative to show at the sorting office? It shows the weight and postage paid.

The Royal Mail insufficient postage grey cards are quite distinctive so get a picture of it and check the layout etc with an image online. There will also be contact details for the sorting office it is being held at so you could call them to check before paying. But basically, it’s as the first PPs said, £7.00 is the standard fee when no postage has been paid (so either counterfeit stamps or label has become detached or unreadable). You can’t get Royal Mail to waive the fee - it’s not their fault and they’re nothing to do with the Post Office. But if you have both the RM grey card (get your relative to send it to you) and prof of postage/payment from when you sent it, you could take it back to the PO and ask for redress.

Thank you both. I've sent a photo of the postage certificate to my relative and I will ask her to send me one of the card. Hopefully one of us will be able to get the fee waived or worst case scenario if they refunded my postage costs it would be better than nothing, I will give my relative the £7 back regardless.

Really annoyed, value of item wasn't much more than postage hence not sending it signed for, it was just a little 'saw this and thought of you' thing that I hoped would cheer my relative up as they've been going through a difficult time, and now it's all gone wrong.

Thank you all for helpful replies.

Just an update if anyone is interested. RM wouldn't accept the cert of postage so my relative had to pay. The parcel has now been delivered (at least we know it wasn't a scam). I've got a copy of the receipt for relative's payment so I'll take it with the cert of postage into the post office and see what happens. I'll update if and when I get anywhere with this.

Hopefully you'll be able to get some compensation or refund. Was the postage label on the parcel damaged?

It seems it came off! But the PO assistant stuck it on and the parcel was wrapped in parcel paper we purchased there, so I don't believe we are at fault there. It was not in any way an awkwardly shaped parcel, it was square.

I've had this happen. You'll get nowhere unless the post office owner is feeling particularly generous. In my case, the PO blames Royal Mail, Royal Mail blames the PO and neither will deal directly with the other, so the customer ends up piggy in the middle with neither party wanting to compensate.

There is no chance of getting any sort of refund from RM.☹️

I got a card through the door saying a fee was payable and I needed to go to the sorting office (SO) in a town some 10-miles away to collect it. When I got there the parcel was not there but was traced to a SO in the opposite direction. Drove there, paid the fee and collected the parcel.
When I mentioned to the staff member that I had been told it was to be collected from the other SO they replied that it would NEVER have been taken there, I should have realised this(?!?!?!?) and gone straight to the correct location (because, yes OF COURSE I know the workings of RM and ALWAYS disregard printed instructions put through my letterbox!).
Wrote to RM and received a reply saying they do not pay or compensate for this type of issue, regardless of the fact they caused the whole issue by putting the wrong card through my door.