Sender didn't pay the full fee

[ElderMillennial]

What do you do if you get a card through the post saying you need to pay postage before an item can be delivered?

I got a card through today saying we should go online to pay within 21 days. It is only £1.50 but can't think what this would be and not sure I want to pay without knowing? Not expecting a delivery and if I was I don't think a retailer would do this.

If we don't pay I think it just goes back to sender so they would know they haven't paid enough...

I suppose I'm wondering if there is a way to find out what it is first.

Sounds like a scam to me

It's a common scam!

As in a scam by the sender or as in the note didn't even come from Royal Mail?

It's a scam. Very common at the minute.

There’s a well known scam just like this where you get a text message with the same message, and when you input your payment info you’re actually signing up to a subscription service where you pay then £44 or so a month.

If you’re not expecting anything I’d ignore it and see if anything ever happens. If it’s returned to sender they’ll find out they haven’t paid enough, and presumably try again.

It is a scam. Don’t open the link.

Go onto the Post Office webpage and check the item code number out. Pretty sure you’ll find it doesn’t exist.

they do however send fee to pay cards www.royalmail.com/receiving-mail/pay-a-fee

Probably a scam, we have the same here. I know someone that had 2,000 pounds (the equivalent of) due to this.

www.bbc.com/news/business-56496203#:~:text=The%20page%20requests%20personal%20and,if%20any%20fee%20was%20required.

It's the texts that are a scam.

A card through your door is how RM advise of payment needed.

If it's telling you a correct webpage to access it's not a scam. It could be just some junk mail - you won't know unless you pay.

There is a scam where people put the card through your door but it's not from Royal mail. If your not sure take the card to your post office and double check.

You don't really get the 'not paid enough' situation these days as someone would have had to stick stamps on a package themselves instead of taking it to the post office to post, but it does still happen sometimes (my Aunt used to think if she can wedge it in an envelope she could send it with one stamp). But you should be given the option to go to the sorting office to pay and retrieve it, rather than plug all your bank details into an unknown website :)

I think new customs fees are in place since Brexit. Maybe something to do with that.

There is a scam that comes via text or email - but the cards are possibly legit. Just make sure you are entering the proper RM website. I guess if you asked at the local sorting office if you could see it first they may oblige?

So many scams around like this at the moment. If you don't know what it is, it probably doesn't exist.
I've had a few texts & emails asking for £2.50 (another small amount!) to deliver a parcel. Once you've entered your bank details, you've very little control over what happens next. My texts were said to be from DPD & Royal Mail.
I'd ignore it.

It says to visit royalmail.com/feetopay (which seems legit?) and when I put in the name, date, address and amount due it invites me to pick a delivery day...

I have not paid anything yet obviously

Scam

From Royal Mail?

If it’s pretending to be from Royal Mail, you could go to your local sorting office (the one where you’d go to collect missed deliveries) and show it to them, and ask to pay them for it there, in cash. If it’s genuine they’ll be holding the parcel there for you. That’s the usual process I’ve been through in the past. If they don’t have a parcel for you then you’ll k on it’s a scam, and they will be grateful to know that someone is doing this. As will your local police.

Do you have cctv or a ring doorbell which will have recorded who put it through the door?

Thanks all

I may go to the sorting office and ask to see what it is first before paying

Tweet Royal Mail and ask them if it’s geninue

A Royal Mail card won’t be a scam but another brand will be.

It’s happened to me before when someone has sent a large letter but only paid postage for a normal one, and once someone tried to send me something with a used stamp

You just pay on the Royal Mail site and they re-deliver.

It’s not a scam. Go to the Royal Mail website yourself and the “fee to pay” section then just pay it. It can only be a scam if you’re given a dodgy link to use, and it’s £1.50, not asking for large sums of cash.

I'm a postie, if you get the grey card through the post then it's genuine. Could be a fake stamp, no stamp, used stamp or just underpaid. The address to send the card back to is on the back but you can also just take the card and I'd and go and pick it up. When I work inside I sometimes get people asking to see the item, which I hold up to them and they can see what it is before deciding to pay. You can refuse it if you want!

If it is what you think it is and it's underpaid then you can get a receipt and claim it back from the company/person.

The text messages going about just now are a scam we only send the grey cards.

Yeah what company is it?

It's not necessarily a scam, this happens where the sender has put the wrong stamp on for the type of letter. We've had a number of these with DH's office shut, as there's no franking machine available so people are just sticking documents in A4 envelopes and sending with standard stamps.

Of that fee, £1 is usually a handling fee, so the actual amount underpaid isn't that much. Had to do one last week and it was delivered just fine.