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UK households have been warned after dozens were hit with mystery Post Office fines. Dozens have complained about being charged for supposedly “counterfeit” stamps from the Royal Mail, which is hiking stamp prices from April in another Cost of Living blow.
The trend involves a surge in ‘counterfeit’ stamps and a hefty £5 penalty for those who receive (and accept) mail posted using one. Tony Marcella, a 54-year-old business strategist from Rugby, Warwickshire, was charged £5 by the Royal Mail to receive a card from an old friend after a ‘fee to pay’ card came through his letterbox.
The yellow sticker on the envelope had a box ticked with ‘counterfeit stamp’ and Tony was told the stamp was one of 103 she had received from the Royal Mail after exchanging £95.69 worth of nonbarcoded stamps through the Stamp Swap Out scheme.
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“I’m very angry,” Tony fumed. “I looked at the surface of the stamp really closely and compared it with other stamps I had at home and I am convinced the stamp marked counterfeit was genuine.” He went on: “The fee used to be £1 for a letter with incorrect postage but now it’s gone up to £5”
A Royal Mail spokesman said in a statement: “It is vital we can investigate any instance where a person believes their stamps have been incorrectly identified as counterfeit or pre-used. To do this, we require any customer who believes they have been incorrectly surcharged to send the envelope with the barcoded stamp attached to us, along with the exact location of where the stamp was purchased.
“We have a robust, multi-stage process in place when assessing whether barcoded stamps are genuine.” It added: “We will always happily review individual cases and if an error has been made then we will of course correct it.”
