Five Ways Post Office

Just went this morning having an urgent letter to be sent, I'm not lying saying that I had the most embarrassing and rude service ever in my life. I've asked for a quick and secure postage cause I needed those documents sent as quickly as possible for an urgent passport for my son, the answer was "do you want me to drive them for you?!", and no that wasn't a joke just to laugh a bit, she was serious. Also she brought me to the machines, which I never used, after waiting 30m on a queue, telling me to do stuff without showing me how, while she was dealing with another customer. Then, after me doing random things on the machine, just: "done, take your receipts bye." Without even checking what was going on because she was STILL dealing with another customer.

It is a VERY rare event that I post something at the post office so I am not well versed in the process but I had to send a specific set of items and wanted to do so in the most reassuring and easy way possible. I went to the Tunbridge Wells Five Way post office first thing in the morning with the knowledge that I wanted to send my parcel 2nd class and would have to pay something to do so. I was served by a woman at the main desk, I can't exactly remember what till number it was. I asked if I could post post my parcel 2nd class and handed the parcel through. She asked what was in the parcel which I didn't expect, it was just some books, luckily it wasn't anything private. What followed was silence. After a certain point, I asked if I could track the parcel as it was my understanding that you could keep track of a parcel you send, this is going by the numerous deliveries I've received with royal mail tracking numbers. She responded with a bewildered look and a "No" and that tracking was a separate service as if it was an obvious answer and I was an idiot. Again, I am not the post office expert of the universe and it honestly made me feel like I'd asked a stupid question which is not the feeling you want to have when doing something you're unfamiliar with. After this there was more silence and then she put the parcel to one side as if it had all been taken care of, I asked "is that all done?" to which she responded with a "Yes". I obviously got the wrong message but I took this to mean that perhaps my job was done so I prepared to head out but was met with a commanding "Can you pay?" from the woman. Now in my experience, a pleasant "Oh sorry, you still need to pay" would've sufficed rather than the very blunt way I was barked at. At this point I had no qualm about explaining that I was under the impression the transaction had finished and that I was sorry there was a misunderstanding. I received no apology, only that the transaction was complete now and I went on my way. Needless to say, I walked home feeling very flustered and frustrated about my experience. It may seem odd to some that I am an adult who is uneasy or unfamiliar with the process of posting a parcel but again, the last time I did so was maybe three years ago. I was hoping I would go in today and walk out with the confidence and knowledge I was lacking but instead felt like I was an idiot and a seriously undervalued customer. I think somebody needs to have a talk with the staff at this post office about how they communicate to customers because in my experience, a good, smooth transaction shouldn't make me feel like this. I took time out of my morning and got up early to post my parcel and frankly this is not the way I wanted to start off my day, it looks like in future I shall probably head to another post office.

The service is okay but as the staff put the parcel bags to far behind them they regularly drop my packages that has resulted in breakages and disappointment. It's as simple as move the bags closer and I'll give you five stars. Parcels marked fragile should be treated with care. I appreciate you all want to work quickly but please be more careful.

Was my parcel overpriced? 🤔 Bad experience!

Incredible service, fast and polite