Stamp enthusiast left ‘speechless’ vows to never use WHSmith post office in Bath again

A stamp enthusiast has vowed to never use the post office at WHSmith in Bath again and said he was left ‘speechless’ by its alleged poor service.

Dave French, of Quarry Rock Gardens, said ever since the Bath Post Office moved from its old spot in Northgate Street to WHSmith in Union Street last year, the service quality has ‘drastically’ dropped.

The 68-year-old said he buys hundreds of pounds in postage stamps as he writes to people across the globe.

However, he says the WHSmith post office does not provide that to the same standard that he used to enjoy, if it all.

He said he received poor service at WHSmith and said he will ‘not be returning’.

The letter reads: “Mick Ringham writes (Bath Chronicle, February 20) that the drastically downgraded post office facility in Bath will cause the paying public to stop using it. He is right! I no longer go in there.

“I buy hundreds of pounds of postage stamps for correspondence and parcels. I prefer to buy sheets of commemorative stamps the first day they are issued.

“When legibly franked and postmarked they take on a second life. Philatelist (the study of postage stamps) friends buy them at market price and the profit goes to charity.

“Taking bundles of ordinary used stamps to collection boxes left by charities in shops, libraries and other places raises much less money for charity. These are bought for resale to stamp collectors by unit weight.

“So I was disappointed soon after the new post office in WHSmiths opened to be told that they had not received the new stamp issue.

“My usual source, Bath University post office, had been told not to sell newly issued stamps.

“A man would be round later that day to retrieve them. I could have saved him the trouble and bought the lot but no, it wasn’t allowed. How ridiculous was that?

“I returned a few days later to the Smiths post office and bought what was left of the newly issued stamps.

“Very attractive but when I got home I found they had been ripped across and parts of them missing.

“Somebody hadn’t noticed you are meant to use the perforations.

“What kind of staff were they employing? Not the happy lot I remember in Bath’s proper post office. So sad to see them leave.

“On my third and final attempt to get decent service in Smiths, there was the usual long queue, nowhere to sit and the priority was the staff fixing the self-service stamp machines.

“I was told variously to ‘go online’, ‘go off and have a coffee’ and go to another post office in Oldfield Park.

“I have sciatica and walk with a stick. The pain was almost unbearable after 20 minutes waiting for service.

“Speechless, I left and will not be returning. One wonders if this a deliberate ploy to close the ‘post office’ and Royal Mail down.

“This is particularly galling considering Bath’s part in starting and developing the British postal service.

“Ralph Allen will be turning in his mausoleum in Claverton churchyard.”

Mr French said WHSmith should not be involved with matters relating to the Post Office.

“WHSmith and the Post Office are just run by money. They have lost a lot of money off me,” he said.

“The old post office in Bath used to be a very good one. My mum used to work there in her spare time.

“But I won’t go back there.”

What WHSmith said in response:

A WHSmith spokeswoman said it has introduced a number of measures to improve its service.

“WHSmith is committed to providing vital postal services in our store in Bath and, since the Post Office opened within our store, we have listened very carefully to customer feedback,” she said.

“We have introduced a number of measures to improve the Post Office space, including ensuring clearer access and bringing in additional customer seating, and have liaised with local authorities to review how we can best serve the community.

“We see our partnership with Post Office Limited as a complementary offering to our customers, and we take the social responsibilities that come with this very seriously.”

MP has ‘encouraging’ meeting at Post Office:

On Bath MP Wera Hobhouse’s website, it says how she had a positive meeting when she met with workers there in late-February.

It states: “Following up on her first visit late last year, Wera had a very encouraging meeting at Bath’s main Post Office which moved to WH Smith on Union Street a few months ago.

“It’s clear that the team has been listening to service users and adapting to meet their requirements whenever possible.

“For example, the aisle into the shop that leads to the lift has been widened for buggy and wheelchair users. Seating has been added.

“Three new members of staff will be starting within the next three weeks. More people are using the self-service kiosks for simple transactions.”