I got banned from the Post Office!

[doobyooby]

Took a fat A4 envelope to the post office today, have been there loads and have ebayed thousands of items in my time so have seen a lot of bad service at post offices over the years, including them not listening to what you ask for.

Asked for "first class large letter signed for"...£4.45 says he.

I said "that's expensive, it should be two pound something".

No, £4.45 says he and he prints out the label and sticks it on while I am trying to work it out.

I'm thinking about it and I ask him if that's the large letter rate and he says "no it's the small parcel rate".

So I ask him to cancel it....and he refuses. Says he can't. "The system won't allow it."

So I replied, calmly, that "I asked for large letter rate and yes, the system does allow a cancellation as I've seen it done many times before and please can he cancel it". I take my parcel back to look at it and to check it is no bigger than the large letter slot,.....and he demands I give my parcel back to him as he can't cancel it and therefore I should pay the £4.45 or he's keeping the parcel. The parcel has the only copy of my signed Will in there so I'm not having him just keep it and not send it off!

So I said, "well yes you can cancel it, I've seen it done before, you made a mistake as I did say large letter, and you just need the label to do it", and I peeled it off (plastic envelope jiffy so easy to peel off without damage) , but he demands I give the whole envelope back so he can keep it.

I replied that no, "the envelope is my property, not your property, I hadn't asked for small parcel rate and I wasn't going to pay it and therefore he should cancel it on his system using the label I had just given back to him" (undamaged)

.....and he told me "to get out of his shop and never come back!!!"

Which is a pain because it's my local. So, AiBU? It's only a couple of quid but I hate the post office and it's upselling and the way they don't listen to you when you say large letter, it happens regularly. Being told to never go back to his shop like I'm some sort of thug or criminal. I never even raised my voice let alone swore. I know I could complain but the post office authorities will do f all. This why I usually use one of their competitors but wanted the signed for thing today. Ffs,

Is he the manager of the branch?

Not that it helps but I’ve had stuff cancelled and changed before when they got it wrong (postage for Newcastle Australia instead of up north).

Does he have the authority to ban you?

Don't know why you'd even want to go back, go somewhere else for sure. I am from a postie family, some are arseholes same in any industry. PO has a lot of regulations for staff to follow so he probably wasn't far off regarding the stamp etc as he'd need to cancel it, but if you were genuinely not being brash then he was rude.

I would have twatted him on the head with said envelope on my way out. He can’t just keep your property because he wasn’t listening and he probably couldn’t be asked to sort out the cancellation. What an idiot!

He sounds like a complete nob,
Our local post office staff are lovely though, they all will find the cheapest way for me to send something.

He was being arsey not cancelling. Whether or not you were also being arsey would depend upon whether your envelope was thinner than 2.5cm, and lighter than 750g.

@Longdistance I definitely got the impression he simply couldn't be arsed to sort out the cancellation.

It's one of those rural shops with a post office attached and he is the manager of the shop as well as walking the one metre to the left to the post office counter when he needs to. No other staff. I'd like to carry on using it as the next nearest one always has a 15 minute queue whereas he never has a queue at all.

You can print your own post office labels at home

I have to because our post office is horrible

@nocoolnamesleft yes it was. It fit through the large letter slot and weighs 110g

Yes and now you know why

@Thehop including signed for ones? How does it work? Do I then have to take the signed for one to the post office counter though?

whereas he never has a queue at all. Maybe you've just found out why

the next nearest one always has a 15 minute queue whereas he never has a queue at all.

Wonder why? Maybe he doesn't want any customers. Maybe he's part of the asset stripping department, deliberately running down the place so Royal Mail can close the branch.

Well, we all know why he doesn’t have a queue 🤷🏼‍♀️ He’s scared his customers away.

@Stressedout10 it's been fine for a couple of years. I've seen some right arses behind other post office counters (Feltham in West London, I'm looking at you) but he is usually ok.

doobyooby yes you still have to get the certificate of posting.

Can you pay online/print and then get someone to take them in for you?

Some of the staff at post offices are great. But others are just awful.

What I hate most of all is them selling you first class when you've said second class three times.

Oh, and when they try to upsell to the little old ladies who are sending a little birthday gift to their grand child "oh do you want to ensure it definitely gets there? Yes? That'll be £8.90 for the parcel that should really cost a quarter of that." Grrrr

@Rememberyourhat what a pain. I just want to be able to use the closest post office and know my parcels have gone off. Ffs.

I write 2nd in marker under where the sticker will go. That seems to help.

No customer service there then. DO it at home and print off and get someone else to pop it in for you. Write down exactly what you want and get friend to ask price before they buy.

In that case he was being completely unreasonable, and you were not being unreasonable/arsey at all.

Sorry to hijack but this reminds me of Boswell

We have a twat post office near us too. The Large letter rate seems to fox them completely for some reason.

I go to the one further down the road or the on in the next village to save my sanity.

You can just buy large letter stamps and then stick them on yourself when you need them.

Yeah franchised POs are shit for this.

I always go to an actual PO if I'm sending something important (e.g. a passport.)

That said, IME the Coop tends to have good staff at their PO counters, plus if you deposit cash it goes in immediately.