Renewal
Posted: Tue 23 November, 2004 Filed under: Customer Services, Thoughts 24 Comments »NOTE :If you’ve come here via Google, click here to go to the Royal Mail Renewal page.. This here is a blog entry about the renewal process, which has managed to get to #1 on Google.
Added 4/7/07
At long last, Royal Mail has started realising how useful the internet can be. My mail redirection was up for renewal, the letter came through about it, and yes, now I can do it online.
Simply go to www.royalmail.com/renewal and quote your reference number and PIN details as listed below.
Simple. Well, not quite. In a simple, yet silly, mistake, the form on the website has swapped the two numbers round, so that where the letter has Reference Number then PIN, the site has PIN then Reference Number. That’s just a niggle though, although personally I’d have thought it would be better to aim for consistency and thus making the process even easier. So you enter the numbers and ta-da, the redirection is renewed.
Except actually, no, it’s not. You then have to go through a registration process – email address, password, blah, blah, and when you complete the registration it takes you to a logged-in homepage, but doesn’t remember what else you were doing, so you have to go back and type in the Reference Number and PIN all over again. Another example of “usable, but not as easy as it should be”.
The rest of the process is a breeze, just credit card number etc. But that still doesn’t come down to “simply enter in the reference and PIN numbers”, does it? I know it’s only small niggles and irritances, but it doesn’t take much work to fix them. In fact even simple usability testing would/should have brought these to the attention of the developers.
renew
I am afraid its not even that easy. Typing in the royal mail info on Tur 9/5/06 keeps taking me to a selection of other post office services. Am I just unlucky or are there other computer illiterates that this also happens to ?
No, if you just type http://www.royalmail.com then it comes to the royal mail home page, which is a bundle of links to other services.
Really you just have to read the page, and figure out where you want to go.
However, if you go to http://www.royalmail.com/renewal, it does go to the page for renewing your mail redirection.
It wont even let me register. It refuses to accept any password I try to use.But then I did have to complain that my mail wasn’t even being redirected in the first place.
when i went to http://www.royalmail.com/renewal I got ebay – after 15 minutes of trawling around their ridiculous website I gave up -renew by phone and let them do the work until they employ someone over 11 years old to correct their mistakes.
clivob
Like the last comment,I too got ebay, have now given up and will renew by phone. Please Royal Mail get your act together!
I thought I was the only one having problems! I was trying to contact Royal Mail to let them know what a disaster my redirection was but am still trying to find someone interested. A neighbouring property was sold at a similair time to me moving to my new property. Unfortunately their surname and mine were the same so my re-addressed mail was being redirected to this other persons new address and my properly addressed mail was being “returned to sender” as address unknown. Even the Renewal to extend the Readdressing period was RE-ADDRESSED and sent on!!!!!! Even though the front of the envelope in large red print it states “DO NOT REDIRECT THIS MAIL”
Come on RM at least you should test your on line renewal. I too got ebay. I now remember…………I gave up last time and did it by phone. Rubbish!!
I tried to renew my redirection online, but only got ebay and other comments. Eventually I just rang RM. The guy tried http://www.royalmail.com/renewal and apparently got straight on to the renewal section, but it certainly didn’t appear anywhere on my page! V. annoying.
after reading all these comments I am not even going to try and renew my redirection through their web site – telephones and actual people are the best…bloody computers !!!! Someone please tell Mr Royal Mail to read this site..
Got the postal notification saying put the cheque in the envelope provided…. only no envelope provided, O’K so I use my own….only no address on the notification. OK so I use the telephone….disembodied voices directing me to ‘line busy at the moment’ OK so we go on line….royal mail.com/renewal….and am faced with a load of disgusted entries starting with some fellow surfer calling it a load of bollocks…. How true and so neatly put too!
I think the reason lots of people are getting eBay is because they’re typing http://www.royalmail.com/renewal into google instead of the address bar- that’s really not RM’s fault, that’s just a sponsored ad by eBay trying to sell you everything in the world. Pop it in the address bar and you get the right site.
what a waste of time no wonder this company has problems its quicker by snail mail eh’
This complaint is to do with Paypal.I am trying to find out why the Royal Mail Group deducted £11.99 out of my Paypal account on the 5thDecmber for postage which should have cost £4.99.I have rung Paypal,but they have told me to ring the Royal Mail,but i am fed up of some automated voice on the other end telling me hold the line,when i do and nothing happens,so i thought i’d try this method and see if i actually get anywhere!
such a completely frustrating useless half hour or more,going over the same things only to find out its never going to be of any use and i’m on the other side of the world.hopefully i don’t get to speak to the idiot who ok ayed this or who paid for someone to build this much needed service.aaaaaaaaargh
Having read all these comments I’m not even going to try. The usual cock-up by bureaucrats!!!!!!!!
have had my mail re-directed for 3 months to sunny cyprus with no bother in fact extremely pleased with the service however i am now trying to renew my service to no avail. I’ll make a phone call and let them do the work.
Having read the poor comments was surprisingly delighted and excited to reach the payment section without impediment. HOWEVER, there had to be one didn’t there? it wouldn’t let me continue despite filling everything in correctly, tried more than half a dozen times, gave up and had to make aphone call from Spain to renew it. Was especially p’d off as this supercillious woman kept repeating it was soooooo much easier to renew online, NOT! when I mentioned it to the lovely lady who answered in person she said it was a nightmare system! Waste of blinking time, for me at least.
Ditto other comments PLUS I tried several times to renew by phone each time listened to recorded messages only to be told “try later!!” What a useless bunch they are at RM
Don’t do it! It will be safer to ask a neighbour to handle it. My mail has continued to be redirected, beyond the expiry date and some was waiting for us on our return, having missed the redirection all together. I have had to send a mailbox key to France and ask a neighbour to return the mail. Total cost £22. RM have agreed to refund this, but I am not holding my breath. I have just had a call from someone telling me that mail has been returned to them stating that we have “gone away”. The only good thing is that I got a 20% Homebase voucher as a new homeowner. So, do RM sell our names to Homebase?
well well!!! I suddenly dont feel as thick as I did before I read all these replys!!! yep! its the phone for me, easier by far, dont bother reading on just pick up the phone!!!
thank you
how can something this simple NOT work for so long!! yes it could only happen in the uk!! back to the phone…..
Had good service from royal mail for redirection for a year, however tried to renew and after filling in all details including payment
I entered continue and was promptly put back to starting gate.Tried 3 times same effect and gave up.