If you were charged £2 for a TOMCC Membership Letter following Royal Mail splitting open a package and distributing the contents with a charge rather than gathering them all up with the split package, then Royal Mail have asked for each individual who has paid the fee to contact them directly for reimbursement.
This is what Royal Mail said:
I’m sorry an item arrived open with some of the contents missing and can fully understand your concerns. Every item of mail is important to us and we typically pride ourselves on high levels of service, so I’m very sorry we appear to have let you down on this occasion.
It’s most likely the damage occurred as your item passed through our sorting machinery. On the rare occasions this happens, we try to match up loose contents to their packaging; though I’m afraid we’re not always able to do so.
In regards to the items which incurred a surcharge. I would like to explain that when an underpaid item displays the recipient’s full and correct postal address, we’ll still do all we can to get it to the recipient. However, we request payment of a 'surcharge fee' from the recipient to pay for the cost of doing so. The following flat-rate surcharge fees are applied:
• £1.50 for a letter or large letter with insufficient postage
• £2 for a letter or large letter with no postage at all
• £3.50 for a small parcel with insufficient or no postage
• A £1.50 handling fee for a Special Delivery Guarantee item or a medium parcel with insufficient or no postage, plus postage to nearest 10p.
When a surcharge fee is due, the recipient will receive a card informing them an underpaid item of mail is being held at their local delivery office. The card also provides instructions on how to pay the surcharge fee and receive the item of mail. For more information on our surcharges and how to pay, visit www.royalmail.com/fee2pay.
I'm sure you’ll appreciate we need to cover all costs of delivering mail. Surcharging underpaid items also highlights the error and prevents similar mistakes being made in the future.
With the above in mind, we'd advise that each recipient who have paid the fee contacts us directly so we can reimburse them accordingly.
Enquiry Reference # 220407-006362
