I’ve recently moved house and being a sensible adult I followed advice and purchased the Royal Mail redirection service for a year. This cost me around £70 for 12 months and redirects all the mail addressed to me from my old home to my new one 230 miles away!
What is the problem?
To put it simply, not all my mail is being redirected!
Due to my house sale falling through (bloke buying my house changed his mind 7 weeks into the legal process – W*nker!) I ended up living between my old house and new while another buyer was found!
This is how I spotted that Royal Mail was failing me!
Now, I should note that most of my mail has been redirected to my new address. However, around 20% has slipped through the net and gone to my old address.
This hasn’t been a problem all the while I still had the keys but now my house sale has final completed to new buyers I’m sat here wondering what else is now being delivered.
This could of ended badly!
To make things worse, a new credit card which was sent by my bank to my old address a week after I changed my address with them was one of the items that didn’t get redirected.
It goes without saying that this could have lead to lots of issues that would have been a real pain to have got sorted!
Phoning Royal Mail to report the issue
I gave RM a call to report the problem of not all my mail getting redirected and was surprised by the response I got.
In short, they told me no system is 100% accurate and I should expect one or two items to accidentally slip through the net.
I’m sorry but this is a piss poor reply. Quite simply, if you are charging for a service then that should be what you are providing.
It is all computerised so you can’t even blame human error here.
I’m not alone it seems!
After speaking with friends, family and a local estate agent, this seems to be a big problem that most people have come across.
A quick Google search also reveals lots of complaints too.
It needs either sorting out fast by Royal Mail or reporting higher up as this could leave home movers with an increased risk of ID theft.
Maybe BBC Watchdog or Joe Lycett should dig a bit deeper!
Update November 2019
That’s all folks! Well, it is for me regarding this shambles of a service! My redirection service has just expired and I’ve politely declined Royal Mails kind offer to renew it for a further 12 months!
Would I use it again when I move home? Not sure if I’m honest. I’ve set most of my stuff to paperless now but I will make my mind up if and when the time comes.
Thankfully, I’m happy in my new home! So, moving is not on my mind at the moment and that is cool with me!