Parcel delivered to old address, they’re saying they didn’t receive it

[Elsiebear90]

My fiancée ordered some jewellery from Etsy for me for Christmas, as soon as she ordered it she realised the delivery address was our old house that we rented two years ago. She immediately contacted the seller to inform them and ask to change the address, but they didn’t reply for a few days and when they did they said the package had already been dispatched.

It has been sent via Royal Mail tracked delivery and shows as being delivered on the 15th at 11:42, my fiancée went to our old address today to apologise and ask for the package and they said they never received it. It would have been small enough to fit through their letter box (it’s earrings) so unlikely to have been left anywhere or with neighbours if they were out. I’m not saying they are definitely lying, but I’ve never had an issue with Royal Mail tracked delivery before and with it fitting through a letter box I think on balance of probability it’s more likely that they’ve decided to just keep it rather than Royal Mail messing up, but obviously we can’t be 100% sure.

Is there anything we can do or should we just write it off as a loss?

This happened to me recently. I put a note through the door with my number, apologising and asking them to text me if they had the parcel.

Thankfully they did.
Honestly though I was prepared to wrote it off as a loss.

They may just have thrown it away

I'd go back and tell them it appears to have been stolen, probably by the postman and you're reporting it to the police. Ask if they'd be happy to give a statement to the police saying it wasn't delivered.

I bet they discover it was delivered after all.

Urgh, this happened to me many years ago. The new tenants insisted it hadn’t arrived even though it had been marked ‘handed to resident’ it was a huge wholesale pack of nappies and some baby things too, I wished miserable times on them for sure!

@Twentypast

I'd go back and tell them it appears to have been stolen, probably by the postman and you're reporting it to the police. Ask if they'd be happy to give a statement to the police saying it wasn't delivered.

I bet they discover it was delivered after all.

I would also stir things up by posting on the local Facebook groups. " Does anyone live in X road who has received an unexpected parcel or ever had problems with delivery services? The residents of my old address never received it, so I'm wondering if it's been delivered to a neighbour by mistake." Be very willing to offer the house number when asked.

Check tracking number on Internet. It gives details of the package's movement and will say when it was delivered.

Then report to Royal Mail. If payment was by PayPal, they have some guarantees which come with using their service. Report to them with full details - tracking number. In my experience, PayPal are really good at sorting things out.