I sent three parcels containing Christmas gifts, two to my girlfriend in Hohhot, China and one to a friend in Chengdu, China.
I had previously sent gifts to my girlfriend via my local post office (Not this post office), but had a very negative experience; being told that it was odd to spend so much money sending chocolates to my girlfriend for Chinese valentines day (Even after explaining who they were for and why they werent just 'chocolates' for, they were foreign chocolates, to which I was asked 'Are you sure its worth it?'
I was reluctant to try to send something again via that post office and, as I also needed to buy some boxes to post the gifts in, I decided to use the Birkenhead post office instead. Upon arrival I saw that, not only were ques quite long due to the Christmas rush, signs were up explaining that they were short staffed. I imagine the two staff members working had had a long and tiring day, although they didnt show it.
Whilst queing, holding the boxes I wanted to send the gifts in, a memeber of staff kindly told me that it would be much quicker to pay for my boxes first at the WHSmiths, and then return to send the boxes.
I was served by Becky, who was extremley helpful throughout. She explained the cheapest way to send the boxes and saved me over £50 by reccomending I split the larger parcel into two smaller parcels as it was over 2kg. This was despite the fact it was almost closing time and doing so would keep her past her finishing time. She was patient and understanding whilst I tried to move things from one parcel to the other, and despite the fact I kept her there untill 15 minutes past closing time on an already difficult day, she still made conversation with me and offered advice, and certainly didnt speak to me condesendingly or make me feel stupid for sending the parcels
I really cant thank her and the rest of the staff enough. Thanks to their help, my girlfriend will get her christmas presents on time and I'm not paying a ridiculous fee for it. Excellent service.