Bloody Post Office - whose responsibility is this??

[hellsBells246]

Sold some stuff on eBay before Xmas. Bought postage with Packlink. Went for Evri as it was cheap. Dropped off parcel at my local post office - which now accepts Evri parcels.

Then a few days later I got a message from the buyer. ROYAL MAIL has delivered the Evri parcel!!! So the guy in the post office had clearly put my parcel in the wrong bag, and RM didn't notice (how??).

And they asked the buyer to pay £7 to collect it as there wasn't enough postage on it (because I'd paid Evri, not RM). So I refunded her the £7 then went back to the post office to say what had happened and ask them to reimburse me the £7. The guy admitted it has been his mistake but said I had to contact the post office to ask for my money. 🙄

I contacted RM - they said to contact the PO. I contacted the PO. They said to contact Packlink, as I bought the postage from them. I said why??? It wasn't Packlink's fault. They have not been able to say why, just keep repeating 'contact Packlink'.

Am I going mad here? Whose fault is this? Who should reimburse me?

He admitted his mistake, he should pay.

But he won't. And I can't make him.

The post office is at fault here. I would be asking them why they think packlink are any way involved, maybe if they have to try to explain it they will see how ridiculous it is to suggest contacting them.

The post office have admitted fault, packlink and evri can do nothing to resolve the issue of a human error at royal mail. Continue to push with royal mail as they are the ones who need to refund the money.

No advice I'm afraid but this happened to me with an Evri return that I'm 99% sure the woman put in the post office bag not the Evri one because the tracking never moved from me having dropped it off at the post office. Fortunately I got my refund from the retailer anyway but I won't use Evri at the post office now. Hope you find a way to get sorted.

Royal Mail and Post Office are separate companies.

RM has already said to contact PO.

Feels like they're all just trying to push responsibility on to someone else. Pathetic.

I have asked PO three times why I should contact Packlink, but they haven't been able to say.

So frustrating! I know it's only £7, but that was my eBay profit wiped out, and I'm out of pocket.

My regular Evri courier has said the same happened to her with this post office. It's a corner shop, and they just don't have room behind the counter to keep all the mail bags and piles of post separate. Not my fault, though!

Apologies no idea why I wrote royal mail in the second part of the paragraph. You definitely need the refund from the post office. To be honest the amount wouldn't stop me digging my heels in I'd be so pissed off with the computer says no attitude I'd be tempted to go and stand in the post office and refuse to move until I got a bloody refund.

is this your buyer?
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4980401-vinted-buy-got-a-fee-to-pay-grey-card-through-the-door?page=2&reply=132102056

Why would you think it was the ops buyer? She clearly states she sold on eBay?

I was thinking the same thing

Sometimes people change minor details.

IANAL but I think in this case your contract is with Packlink because you paid them to provide a service, so you need to get the refund from them and it would be for Packlink to make any claim against the post office.

Yes but packlink provided the service. The fault here lies with the post office

Or two people have two different problems which is much more likely. The topics are similar but it's weird to think it's the buyer who started the other thread based on minor similarities such as using a delivery service.

Aha, I see. Why couldn't the PO have said this?

Packlink didn't provide the service because of a failure by their contractor the post office, against whom they would therefore have a claim.

No! My buyer received the parcel before Xmas and paid the RM fee.

But the same bloody situation. I guess this will happen more and more if post offices also accept Evri parcels.

Yes to prevent being identified. So why would you try and "out" them

Isn't the purpose of packlink to simply compare prices though? The OP selected to use evri via packlink because it was cheaper she dropped it off with the post office who then made the error. Is there a way for you to actually contact packlink OP?

Yeah, emailed Packlink yesterday and they have been v helpful. They are investigating. I've told them what's happened. Only problem is, you have 30 days to open a claim and that expired yesterday. Before that, I don't contact them cuz I thought there was no point, they weren't at fault!!

If it's happening often at this post office, I'd consider whether they were doing it on purpose. I've had the horrible misfortune of being screwed over by a post office making intentional changes (in my case, they calibrated their scales fraudulently) to stop buyers paying for postage outside the specific post office branch and making them do work fulfilling that. Some people pull this sort of thing because (unless this has now changed) they don't get paid for the work if you don't buy the postage directly from them.
Time to find another PO.

Have you contacted Post Office customer services or have you just dealt with counter staff at the office you went to?

Twitter DM to their customer services, plus made a complaint via their website.

Oh, definitely, I won't go back. I just want this sorted!

Ah ok, sometimes the counter staff will fob customers off.