Has anyone sent a La Poste Mandat Ordinaire overseas?

[nomoss]

I'm wondering if I'm the first person in France ever to do so.

I bought something from a Canadian who lives in a small town in the wilderness. He doesn't have a Paypal account and doesn't want one and the cost of a Bank Transfer is too high for a small amount. I checked online and found I can buy an International Mandat Ordinaire for a charge of €4 - so off to my local PO.

The young man behind the counter said he'd never heard of it, and suggested a Mandat Express. No, I said, a Mandat Ordinaire - I checked the La Poste website, and Mandat Express is not available for Canada. He consulted his computer and said I was right.

A young lady who appeared from the back hunted down the application form from the racks behind the counter. She gave it to me and I completed it.

Ymbtc proceeded to enter the information from the form until an ominous "doing!" came from the computer. "What is the post code" he asked me. "I have put it on the form, but it is printed here" I said, - "KOL 1C0", giving him the invoice.

Ymbtc and Ylwaftb both tried repeatedly to enter the postcode without success. I noticed the page they were completing was headed "Mandat Intenationale Ordinaire", so was apparently correct, but the fields had to be completed in sequence, so there was no way to enter a country first to enable a variation in the postcode field requirement.

After about 10 minutes, to their evident relief, I said I'd try again on Monday. They said maybe whoever is there then may have "experience" of this exercise.

It now occurs to me that they may have been putting the beneficiary's details in the section for the sender....... Maybe I'll see on Monday.

[Doodle]

Hello Nomoss,

Don't know if this is any help but 3 years ago we had to renew our UK passports. We went to the post office and asked for a Mandat Cash as we don't have any credit cards and the UKGov. don't accept cheques. There was a charge of 7 euros for the Mandat Cash.

We asked for the docs to be sent AR but were recommended the Lettre Suivie Documents rather than AR and which was cheaper and that we would be able to track the envelope via the internet. It is signed for at the receiving end so on the recommendation of 'moin cher' I accepted her offer at a cost of 3,90 which I thought was excellent.

Mrs KG

[nomoss]

Thanks for your reply Mrs KG.

La Poste seem to have changed the names of the Mandats since you sent yours.

There is now a Mandat Express International, which is for payments to Pais partenaires , which does not include Canada (nor UK), and a Mandat Ordinaire Internationale, which does -

[url]https://www.labanquepostale.fr/particulier/produits/quotidien/transferts/transfert_international/mandat_ordinaire.moi.html[/url]

I went back to the local PO this morning and a different clerk on duty repeated the performance of Saturday, finally telling me quite firmly that it is not possible to send a Mandat to Canada, and refusing point blank to check the procedure with his head office.

Feeling rather more than miffed I drove to the main PO for our area and recounted my experiences to the nice lady in charge there, who was slightly incredulous and immediately phoned my local PO to give the clerk a mild rollocking.

She eventually managed to issue the Mandat. The problem was that (obviously) the postcode must be entered in the corret format.

The computer refused the first attempt, but I was now able to see the screen, and a message appeared saying the postcode was not in the correct format for the country selected (in the first step). A message appeared simultaneously at the bottom of the screen explaining that the pc should be in the format letter number letter space number letter number.

So the only problem was that the postcode I was given - KOL 1C0 - should have been KzeroL 1Czero. No problem if the operator reads what is on the screen.

Hopefully the money is now on the way.

[Hereford]

I rather suspect that in Canada the letter O is not used in postcodes.  My son lives in Canada and always reminds me that has postcode has zeros! 

[nomoss]

[quote user="Hereford"]I rather suspect that in Canada the letter O is not used in postcodes.  My son lives in Canada and always reminds me that has postcode has zeros! 

[/quote]

Thanks, but I wish you'd told me that yesterday![:D]

[Chancer]

[quote user="nomoss"]
I went back to the local PO this morning and a different clerk on duty repeated the performance of Saturday, finally telling me quite firmly that it is not possible to send a Mandat to Canada, and refusing point blank to check the procedure with his head office.

Feeling rather more than miffed I drove to the main PO for our area and recounted my experiences to the nice lady in charge there, who was slightly incredulous and immediately phoned my local PO to give the clerk a mild rollocking.



[/quote]

 

Things like that make me so so angry with the mentality (of some) in this country, at les bureaux des Poste its exactly as you describe and they take great pleasure in being as rude and unhelpfull as they can, either sending you away without what you have asked for or with a more expensive service that you did not want or need, the only time I got satisfaction was when an area manager was within earshot and he came over and intervened, tore the assitant a 2nd butthole telling her that if I the Customer could take the time to find out how she should do her job then it was reasonable of me to expect her to do the same, problem is that I am really badly treated there now, even worse than the normal.

 

I'moff to Lidl now while the shop is empty, the staff wont be idle though they will be at their busiest filling the shelves yet they wont be annoyed at my shopping there like the greeting I get when going into a restaurant to eat at the same time (13.00) far from it, these hard working girls are the happiest and friendliest of all, far removed from the mentality of those working in the other shops who whilst they are now open at lunchtimes the staff dont like it and consider you an intruder into their gossip or standing outside smoking.

 

And yet the facteurs and factrices could not be more cheerfull and helpfull, I think long gone are the days when they had time on their hands, what is the saying about idle hands and the devils work?

[Hereford]

Sorry, Nomoss - I did not read the thread earlier. It sounds as though your seller was a bit at fault for not making the postcode clear.  Glad you sorted it out.

[Chancer]

With my eyes reading from print or  a computer screen I cannot see the difference between LMNO and LMN0

 

I have often been in the situation of having to ask to look at the assistants computer screen or the card terminal, they all treat it as if its a complete violation of their property and get very angry but every time there has been a message on the screen telling them what to do, I think that they just prefer saying no.

 

Have you ever asked a La Poste counter staff to count the money that you are paying in on the counter in front of them where you can see it and not hidden away on their lap? Around here that really is a way to become their worst enemy, the root of all the problems that I come across is that people judge others by their own morality and I include myself in that but in my case its a positive thing, I want to believe that the other person is open and honest.

 

[nomoss]

[quote user="Chancer"]

With my eyes reading from print or  a computer screen I cannot see the difference between LMNO and LMN0

[/quote]

The only solution is to write "zero" or use Ø (Alt+0216)

[nomoss]

[quote user="Chancer"]  ..................the only time I got satisfaction was when an area manager was within earshot and he came over and intervened, tore the assitant a 2nd butthole telling her that if I the Customer could take the time to find out how she should do her job then it was reasonable of me to expect her to do the same, problem is that I am really badly treated there now, even worse than the normal. ..............

[/quote]

I'm afraid that that sort of reaction from the boss won't get anyone anywhere. We are dealing with people who went to school under a system where you got a sharp clip round the ear if you didn't immediately know the answer. Not surprising that the end products of this wonderful system are loth to admit faults or weaknesses, and are belligerent towards anyone who criticises them.

On top of that, the salaries and conditions offered by La Poste are not likely to attract the top of the class.

I try to be even nicer the next time, as I'm glad I don't have their shitty job..............