Does anyone know what happens to unstamped letters posted in Spain but going to another country within Europe.

Rosemary

I received a letter the other day, posted in UK with 2nd class stamp on, it was delivered to me here no extra charge, although took its time in arriving.If posted here to say the UK would Royal Mail deliver ??? I doubt it.

Some numpty in the UK posted a letter to me with the address Alicante, Spain & my phone number, I actually had a call from the 'Alicante' post office for my full address How's that for service

I now know the answer to my question. I inadvertantly put a small envelope in the post box with no stamp on it yesterday at 1.30 pm. This morning at 10.30 am it was put in my postbox with a post-it on it saying that it had no stamp. I am so pleased that it did not get to the UK because I feel sure that this would have cost the receiver a lot. Last week I received a Christmas card with a 1st class stamp on it instead of the stamp for Europian post, it had a note on it from UK post office saying that it had been held back due to lack of sufficient postage, correos did not charge anything.

Rosemary

I got a postcard in August that was posted in Madrid in March on a first class stamp.

Yep, it confirms exactly what I said in an earlier post about the post, the UK may have been the best at one time, but not anymore, they have taken quite a few steps backwards, unfortunately it's not just in the post department.

I send things to the UK very regularly and am always amazed at the speed in which it arrives. Yet the opposite way around it takes twice as long which is unexplainable.


Rosemary

Not really, think about it, take a look back, the UK is now going backwards and useless at almost every thing they used to lead in.

Surely I'm not the only one who can see it?

Completely disagree. I posted two parcels via Correos to USA on the same date in November. One was registered and one was not. The registered one arrived early February, the non registered one arrived on Monday. Three months for them both to get to their destination and they cost an arm and a leg to send. So no, I prefer Royal Mail.

Hang on a minute there is something wrong with your logic as the Royal Mail is involved with both the mail going to UK from Spain and the mail coming to Spain from the UK. This is why I said it is unexplainable.

Rosemary

Sorry for the confusion,
My experience of the post in the UK is that they were once brilliant, I could post a letter in the morning and it would be received in the afternoon.

Does this still happen?

Last time I was in the UK I didn't even know how to post a letter as they had some gadget they had to pass it through before they could even give me a price, letters with second class stamp were deliberately held up, Is that progress or greed?.

Things sent here from the UK sometimes don't get to us at all and sometimes take weeks.

We regularly send things to the UK and they take a few days.

Cards and so on sent to a relative in Madrid can take a month or more.

It's not difficult to work out where the problem is.

Ah, now your talking about the Spanish system being worse than the British system, and you may well be right, but if the Uk keeps stepping backwards like it has done over the last few years, it may only be a short time before the Spanish system overtakes the Uk system.

The Madrid postcard was from Madrid to Valencia area, so we're not talking the UK.

When I post stuff to the UK it arrives in a few days. When it comes back it can take a few days or it can take a week. Who knows the mysteries of the postal system

Uhhhhh I don´t think so. To post a letter in our local Correos takes up to 40 minutes waiting time. Next you will be suggesting that Telefonica is the bees knees!