Post office acting the maggot ?

teddyhead

Hello , I have a question regarding welfare payments at the post office .
The situation is that I missed my monthly signing and therefore my payment was delayed . This was supposedly rectified and I was told I could collect today .
However , the lady in the post office said I must wait till monday .
Is there a reason for this ?
My understanding was , that either there is money there for you or there isnt. Yet I find myself in a 'grey area' . My money seems to be in a state of 'limbo'.
Apparently there is a payment there but I must wait till monday .
Does anyone know when payments become 'active' ?
Is there a 'dormant' state , when your money is in the post office , yet you cant collect it ?

Any advice would be welcome . I have a suspicion that the person in the post office was being vindictive and I intend to report them .

snubbleste

Don't wait. Write a letter now to the post office and ask. Don't forget to include you harbour fears of vindictiveness from the staff member.

teddyhead

snubbleste wrote: »

Don't wait. Write a letter now to the post office and ask. Don't forget to include you harbour fears of vindictiveness from the staff member.

I will be seeking clarification from the dept of social welfare first .It was they who suggested that my payment would be today . I was just suspicious about the behaviour of the post office person . They declared that I would not get a payment before even checking the computer .
They then told me that I would be paid Monday. This contradicts what the social welfare people told me .
I suppose the crux of the issue is , why Monday and not today ?
As I understand it , the payment is either there or it isnt .
Why the wait ?

yabadabado

if the payment is in the post office there is no reason that you couldnt collect it.if the lady in the PO didn't even check to see was it there,it looks like she was being a ****.

snubbleste

There could be a very legitimate reason.
Why not write that letter and ensure you mention your reasoning of vindictive post office staff in it.

teddyhead

snubbleste wrote: »

There could be a very legitimate reason.
Why not write that letter and ensure you mention your reasoning of vindictive post office staff in it.

I intend to . I only came on here to see if anyone had any thoughts on the issue or similar experience . It seems very 'improper' and unusual to me .
Im not conducting a vendetta against the post office or anything ,I was hoping someone might be familiar with 'the system' and could explain its workings to me . By 'system ' , I mean the computer system used by the post office .
How does the lady know I am to be paid Monday ? Do payments appear on the system , in advance of when they are due to be paid ?
Seems strange that details of my payment would be in the system but the payment itself is not .
Anyhoo Im not going to get to worked up about it .

Mint Sauce

Could be a case that it takes one working day for it to be processed, if you only got it sorted in the SW office yesterday then it could be monday before its ready as saturday is not generally counted as a working day by most people, and the person in the SW office gave you the wrong information.

littlemuffin26

yes payments do appear on screen sometimes with a payment date...if the person at the post office couldve paid you today she would have paid you today!!:D:D

Sir Oxman

Is Saturday your PO's halfday? I fso, read on.

Having worked in sub offices during the last recession, I can categorically say some PO staff do not want to pay out benefits on a Saturday.
They see it as if they pay one it'll open the floodgates on what is their half day.

AFAIK, if the payment was entered on the SW system, it appears on the PO system - they are linked.

tenchi-fan

Perhaps they don't pay out on saturday because it's not considered a business day. I think it's reasonable to be honest, why should they have to employ more staff just to deal with people who wish to collect their dole on the weekend?

Sir Oxman

tenchi-fan wrote: »

Perhaps they don't pay out on saturday because it's not considered a business day. I think it's reasonable to be honest, why should they have to employ more staff just to deal with people who wish to collect their dole on the weekend?

It may not be a case of 'wishing' to collect payments on a Saturday but necessity (As the OP's case illustrates)

It's actually hit and miss depending on the particular PO and it's staff which is not the correct way of running a business IMO.
The big plus of a PO is it's longer working week hence extended opening hours for the public, SW recipients are also customers and the business they transact results in profits for teh PO.

PS The PO's I worked in paid on a Saturday once the payment was valid.

I know that in the case of monthly Child Benefit payments, (paid on the first Tuesday of each month) that if the payment falls due on a Tuesday following a bank or public holiday, then it is available to those who opt to be paid into a bank account on the Friday/Saturday before the bank holiday. But it is definitely still dated for the following Tuesday.

However, those who collect their CB via the post office, still have to wait until Tuesday to go to the post office to collect it.

So it may be that there is a "payable from" date that applies to collecting a payment in the Post office.