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Thread: Royal Mail versus the little person: Up for the challenge!

  1. #1
    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Royal Mail versus the little person: Up for the challenge!

    Some of you may have read my thread about a bottle of ink that I sold on ebay and mailed to my buyer in the US.

    What you may not know is that this ink bottle sale was not the first one that gave me cause for concern. My previous inky sale was to an ebayer in Belgium who bought two bottles of ink from me. Because we're both in the EU, no customs labels are required, so I packed both bottles and happily mailed them off to Belgium.

    The tracking suddenly showed me that the parcel was being sent to DGRC in the UK. I wasn't sure what that was, so had to spend ages on the phone waiting for Royal Mail to tell me that the parcel had been flagged as containing "Dangerous Goods" and was being returned to the Royal Mail Dangerous Goods Returns Centre.

    I thought this description was a tad harsh for a couple of bottles of ink, so I emailed the Royal Mail CEO to ask about it. She said she was very sorry it had happened and she would get someone to look into it.

    Anyway, long story short, the person operating the scanner had "recognised" these bottles as perfume bottles, so stuck a special warning label on the box confirming they were perfumes and were prohibited from being mailed outside of the UK. Eventually, I received the parcel back and the CEO's office paid me some compensation.

    Meanwhile, "The Writing Desk" was very helpful and sent me details of labels they attach to ink packages, and the bottles were sent again and only took 3 days to get to Belgium.

    Subsequently though I received a standard letter from Dangerous Goods telling me that "all inks were prohibited in Belgium" and referring me to the Royal Mail web-site Countries list for Prohibited and Restricted Goods. Sure enough there is a line confirming that tannins and their derivatives...inks. are on the prohibited items list for Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

    I thought this surely had to be a mistake, so I tried to contact someone from the Royal Mail partner carrier in Belgium, BPost, to ask if they were happy to carry water-based fountain pen inks. Eventually, I received a reply and we had a short email chat that ended with them saying there was no problem with BPost carrying these inks.

    I mailed my guy back in the Royal Mail CEO's office, and sent him this email thread, suggesting that the Royal Mail web-site was wrong to have inks on the prohibited items list for Belgium France and the Netherlands.

    After quite a while, he's come back to me and confirmed that the Royal Mail web-site will be changed to reflect that inks aren't on the prohibited items list.

    So our friends in Belgium, France and the Netherlands, you can now buy inks and fill your fountain pens.
    Last edited by Chrissy; May 12th, 2018 at 04:41 AM.

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    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Royal Mail versus the little person: Up for the challenge!

    Well, thank you Chrissy! Taking on entrenched bureaucrats requires patience, persistence, finesse and irrefutable evidence.

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    Chrissy (May 12th, 2018), Cob (May 12th, 2018)

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    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Royal Mail versus the little person: Up for the challenge!

    Quote Originally Posted by FredRydr View Post
    Well, thank you Chrissy! Taking on entrenched bureaucrats requires patience, persistence, finesse and irrefutable evidence.
    You're welcome. And there are not many more entrenched bureaucrats than Royal Mail

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    ukefan (November 26th, 2018)

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    Default Re: Royal Mail versus the little person: Up for the challenge!

    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    You're welcome. And there are not many more entrenched bureaucrats than Royal Mail
    You're not wrong there. I've had several run ins with their stupidity in the past. Congratulations on the victory. Logic and reason is not usually sufficient to effect any change with those dinosaurs. Very impressive.

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    Default Re: Royal Mail versus the little person: Up for the challenge!

    Wow Chrissy! Now what will be the next thing you take on to change the world?!!

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    Chrissy (May 12th, 2018)

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    Senior Member Deb's Avatar
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    Default Re: Royal Mail versus the little person: Up for the challenge!

    Well done, Chrissy! A memorable victory!
    Regards,
    Deb
    My Blog

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    Chrissy (May 12th, 2018)

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    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Royal Mail versus the little person: Up for the challenge!

    Quote Originally Posted by Wuddus View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    You're welcome. And there are not many more entrenched bureaucrats than Royal Mail
    You're not wrong there. I've had several run ins with their stupidity in the past. Congratulations on the victory. Logic and reason is not usually sufficient to effect any change with those dinosaurs. Very impressive.
    Thank you.

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    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Royal Mail versus the little person: Up for the challenge!

    Quote Originally Posted by countrydirt View Post
    Wow Chrissy! Now what will be the next thing you take on to change the world?!!
    One small step for man.......

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    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Royal Mail versus the little person: Up for the challenge!

    Quote Originally Posted by Deb View Post
    Well done, Chrissy! A memorable victory!
    Thank you. This Executive office guy and I have actually become reasonably friendly. He says if I ever need anything I should contact him. Wished me a great weekend

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    Default Re: Royal Mail versus the little person: Up for the challenge!

    After spending a week in London trying to navigate the streets and addresses I’m amazed how any mail gets delivered in the city.

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    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Royal Mail versus the little person: Up for the challenge!

    Quote Originally Posted by mulrich View Post
    After spending a week in London trying to navigate the streets and addresses I’m amazed how any mail gets delivered in the city.
    I know what you mean and hope you had a great time.

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    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Royal Mail versus the little person: Up for the challenge!

    Just in case anyone is looking, the web-site had not been changed the last time I looked.

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    Default Re: Royal Mail versus the little person: Up for the challenge!

    Quote Originally Posted by mulrich View Post
    After spending a week in London trying to navigate the streets and addresses I’m amazed how any mail gets delivered in the city.
    Try Venice. Houses are numbered - for their sestiere (neighbourhood), and numbers don't necessarily run in any order at all. And the streets are full of water, too :-)

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    Default Re: Royal Mail versus the little person: Up for the challenge!

    Quote Originally Posted by amk View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by mulrich View Post
    After spending a week in London trying to navigate the streets and addresses I’m amazed how any mail gets delivered in the city.
    Try Venice. Houses are numbered - for their sestiere (neighbourhood), and numbers don't necessarily run in any order at all. And the streets are full of water, too :-)

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    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Royal Mail versus the little person: Up for the challenge!

    Costa Rica doesn't have numbered addresses at all, or they're finally working on it. You address someone by distance from a landmark, e.g.: 150 metros al oeste del puente de Coronado (150 meters west of the Coronado River bridge).

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    Default Re: Royal Mail versus the little person: Up for the challenge!


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    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Royal Mail versus the little person: Up for the challenge!

    That's very interesting. Thank you for posting it.

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    FPG Donor ♕ Chrissy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Royal Mail versus the little person: Up for the challenge!

    The offending word is still there at the moment.

    • Tanning or dyeing extracts; tannins and their derivatives; dyes, pigments and other colouring matter; paints and varnishes; putty and other mastics; inks

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    Senior Member SIR's Avatar
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    Default Re: Royal Mail versus the little person: Up for the challenge!

    Something so-called 'Royal Mail' really need to be taken to task over is their brazen extortion racket charging for paying a recipient's VAT and duty on imported post without asking the recipient's permission or giving them the opportunity to pay the charges themselves.

    So far, with UPS and Fedex they have delivered the item first then sent a bill, to which I have replied confirming and including payment for VAT and duty but notably omitting their 'admin' charge - simple contract law, i have no agreement with them for them to pay my charges so have no obligation to pay them for doing so. The difference with so-called 'Royal Mail' is they won't release the item until all charges (including their kidnap/'admin' fee) are paid - which actually puts them in breach of contract with the sender who has paid them to deliver the item... I have heard of folks going to the sorting office in person and refusing to pay the 'admin' charge and offering to pay only the VAT/import duty, however, I have not attempted this tactic myself, yet...

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    Senior Member calamus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Royal Mail versus the little person: Up for the challenge!

    Quote Originally Posted by FredRydr View Post
    Costa Rica doesn't have numbered addresses at all, or they're finally working on it. You address someone by distance from a landmark, e.g.: 150 metros al oeste del puente de Coronado (150 meters west of the Coronado River bridge).
    About 20 years ago I lived on a road in rural Northern California whose name was "Dirt road running north from Hwy. 299 about 150 yards east of Trinity Dam Blvd." Mail was delivered to PO boxes; there was no home delivery. If we ordered something online or from a catalogue that wouldn't deliver to a PO box, we had to have it dropped off at the "Plug and Jug," a convenience store on Trinity Dam Blvd. that had a "real" street address.
    Last edited by calamus; January 7th, 2019 at 03:25 PM.
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