This is a bit of "comfort blanket confessional" right?
Sold an item out of UK, let's say it's going to France.
Royal Mail website and logged in. Did you know that buying Royal Mail postage online is cheaper than doing it in your local post office?
Found the service I wanted, confirmed the compensation, paid online.
Up pops Customs Declaration CN23 (not CN22 due to the value involved) which I then print off along with the addressed postage label. Only it's not very clear what's to be done with the CN23 Customs Declaration which is A4 in size.
So ten minutes of diligent search establishes that I take it to the post office where they'll stuff it into a clear plastic wallet which they need to attach next to the stamped address label.
Off I trot to the local post office where two other packages are dealt with, ahem, expeditiously.
Then it's "This one to France please" and the helpful and interested lassie looks at the CN23 and asks "what's this?" so in my best patient grandpa voice I explain that it's the CN23 Customs Declaration which Royal Mail's website tells me that she's going to stuff it in a clear plastic wallet and attach to the parcel. "Oh right, okay."
Then she looks at the 'puter. "I can't accept your parcel" and takes a bit of coaxing to get her to explain that I chose the one day when Royal Mail was having a system upgrade/change for Post to France and there's a glitch (my word. She says it's not working.)
"So what do I do please? When will service be available again?"
"We don't know and there's no information on the website for me to give you: they don't tell me what to tell you. I'm sorry."
I say it's clearly a problem I do not blame her for and say I'll try again tomorrow and resolve to phone first.
So this morning I phone the post office, get a different member of staff. Let's call her Ken's wife
"Good morning will you be accepting items for delivery to France today please?"
"How do you mean lovey?"
"I mean I have an item to send to France, you couldn't accept it yesterday because of a system problem and I'd like to post it today if possible."
"I can't tell you over the phone, you'll have to come in lovey and I'll try to send it and then I'll know if the system's working."
"So has yesterday's problem been fixed please because you seem to be saying that I've got to get the car out and drive over and maybe be sent home again if the problem is still there?"
"Wait, I'll ask someone"
HALLELUJAH!
"No, it's been fixed."
"Great I'll see you shortly."
We drive over.
Another different member of counter staff. Let's call her Black Hair.
"So would you like me to tell you what options you've got for your parcel to France?"
"I've already paid the postage as you can see. What I need you to do please is scan the barcode please, give me a proof of posting and this (pointing to the customs declaration CN23) you shove into a clear plastic wallet and affix to the parcel and I know this 'cos your website tells me that's what's going to happen."
Black Hair says "Oh, I'd better ask" and turns to Ken (that's right, it's a small community and Ken and his wife both have shifts in the post office. )
Ken asks me to tell him again please and makes a passable job of searching about and saying "I've never seen any clear plastic wallets in here" and I know he's worked there at least ten years. Black Hair looks lost.
Ken goes out the back to get Ken's wife who appears rattled. "Oh hello darlin, are you the gentleman I phoned earlier?" and I say "Well I don't know about gentleman and the matter of who phoned who is incidental but yes, we spoke on the phone earlier" and gave her my best kindly old man smile.
Then she says "What's this?" picking up the CN23 like it's been dipped in something sticky.
So I go back to "Royal Mail website.... blah.... you.... clear plastic wallet....blah" still smiling my best.
"No you want a CN22 lovey, it's a small self-adhesive customs declaration: here, lovey, you can fill one out now if you want?"
So I revert to explaining that when I bought the postage online at Royal Mail's website on Monday morning it took me to the CN23 and filled it out automatically and I performed my due diligence and spent 10 minutes trawling through the website to find out what to do with the CN23 (though by now I can envisage an alternative use which I don't mention
).
"No my love, that's what the change was about yesterday. Besides we don't have any clear plastic wallets here."
Right now I'm smelling BS and play my masterstroke:
"I might be wrong but isn't the CN23 for higher value items? And this was just yesterday. I accept that you believe that you're right and that the Royal Mail's website is wrong. What's going to happen if this reaches French Customs and they reject it just because it's not got the correct customs declaration attached and it comes bouncing straight back to me about fifteen minutes before I march back in here not looking at all happy. What do you suggest Ken's wife?"
So with a freshly completed CN22 and an online automatically generated CN23 taped to the outside off it went.
Until the buyer reports safe delivery I'm just going to fear the worst on this one: I can't help it. If something looks like a pigeon with a broken wing experience shows that it most likely is an injured bird which won't fly properly.
