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Original poster

To be upset with Royal Mail? I've lost £350!

233 replies

ALittleCrisp · 05/01/2019 09:21

I purchase a phone on eBay but it hasn't arrived. I know the seller is a good one because he has 1000 of positive reviews and it's PayPal so my money is secure if things go wrong.

However, Royal Mail say they've delivered my phone when they have not. They sent an email to say they'd be delivering, and then they never delivered. But, I got another email that same evening saying it had been delivered Confused

What do I do?

Royal Mail website says to contact the seller but this is obviously not the sellers fault. I don't want to cause a rift with someone on eBay for £350, it's a lot of money and I feel terrible since it wasn't there fault.

AIBU to be annoyed at Royal Mail?

OP posts:
TatianaLarina · 06/01/2019 23:04

Btw OP I sent out a dress by eBay last week - chose Tracked 48 but with signature - it’s hardly much more than without signature. But afair insurance is only up to £100.

Your seller was a total cheapskate not to send it Special Delivery Guaranteed.

DaysOfCurlySpencer · 06/01/2019 23:16

For several years our postman has delivered all my packages, signed for as well to a safe place. I knew I was taking a chance by letting him sign for them but it would have been my loss. It worked fine until this year when local gardeners and builders began pinching anything people left outside. It eased off when I posted on the local FB page and found out who they worked for.

However, just before Christmas a very harassed postie knocked on the door and said he could still enter the signature for me but had to had the parcels over because people in van had been going round taking the parcels that had been left in safe places etc.

It may be that your phone was left somewhere considered 'safe' and stolen.

It may also have been lifted at the sorting office or mis-delivered. You need to report it to Royal Mail in case it is something they are ware of and watching. Also report to the seller so that they can deal with it.

RockYourSocksOff · 06/01/2019 23:29

I’d definitely try your sorting office as a last resort. Show them the email which states it was delivered and go from there.

If they can’t give you any further information add this to the reply back to your seller with details of what the sorting office have said.

I once ordered a pair of sandals from China. Went beyond the date expected, contacted the seller who was lovely and refunded me. Weeks later I had a RM card pushed through my door stating that there was a package for me at the sorting office! Turns out they’d had temps who hadn’t been posting the ‘tried to deliver’ through so I never knew they HAD TRIED TO DELIVER Angry!

I did contact the seller and paid her for the sandals which although stated were size 6 felt more like a 5 so have never been worn! Grin

So the moral of this looooong post is always check with your sorting office first! Wink

PolarBearkshire · 07/01/2019 00:01

First of all - you can BUY positive feedback on ebay and amazon - I even know where you can do that earning money or goodies. Many chinese no brand stuff on Amazon has BOUGHT feedback.
Second- its sender’s problem. They should have sent it insured and special delivery. They can take it up with Royal Mail. Not your fault.

strawberrisc · 07/01/2019 05:20

Mobile phones are the last thing I’d ever buy or sell on eBay. If you go to their community forums it’s eye opening the clever lengths scammers go to when it comes to mobiles.

AGHHHH · 07/01/2019 05:29

Why on earth wouldn't they send it tracked!

Aeroflotgirl · 07/01/2019 07:45

Check with your sorting office, and local post office, if not contact the seller, if no joy and they are being difficult, go through Paypal or E bay. Even if it is a fake, it is still worth £350 as that is what the item cost op.

IceRebel · 07/01/2019 07:55

Why on earth wouldn't they send it tracked!

It was sent tracked Confused there's a tacking number which shows it was delivered. If there was no tracking the OP would have a much easier job of getting her money back.

Aeroflotgirl · 07/01/2019 08:11

It wasen't signed for. Anyway, the crux of it is, op has not got her item. There are incidences where RM have cocked up and delivered to the wrong address which might have happened here. Not op fault, the seller has to take that up with RM.

ManOfKent · 07/01/2019 10:34

I've worked for Royal Mail parcels and I can tell you that there is a HUGE problem with eBay parcels 'not arriving', and the eBayer then has to resend the item at their cost. This is mostly due to the recipient not being honest about having received it and getting another one for free. Clearly that's not the case here, but it happens often enough that RM and sellers become wary.
Regardless of their record the seller should take responsibility - if you order something from John Lewis/Tesco/Next they are responsible for ensuring delivery, not you.
Royal Mail should be able to tell you who they delivered it to or where they left it. They can take pictures of the parcel in the 'safe place' where they left it on their hand held terminals. If they claim it was delivered to your door then I would consider contacting the seller to demand a refund. Repeat that until you can push through a CCJ if they don't respond.
And certainly knock their 100% record with a scathing review!

PattiStanger · 07/01/2019 11:58

They can take pictures of the parcel in the 'safe place' where they left it on their hand held terminals

Manofkent - is this done routinely, I lost out on an ebay transaction as someone forged a delivery signature, it would be too late now for me to go back to the PO but I'd be very interested in knowing in case of future problems

BarbaraofSevillle · 07/01/2019 12:18

The seller is an IDIOT for not sending it guaranteed signed for

^^This. It's quite hard to get decent insurance for a sensible price to post/courier things, but if your package is light enough, Royal Mail Special Delivery includes insurance up to £500 and is a bargain at about £7/8 and also includes next day signed for delivery.

Other services might be a couple of quid cheaper, but don't offer anywhere near the protection, as in no signature, or insufficient insurance.

Obviously there is a difficulty that Royal Mail says the item has been delivered but cannot prove it actually has been, or where it ended up. I can only suggest trying to speak to someone at the local delivery office so see if there is any chance that the postal worker remembers delivering the package as to whether it went to the right address (any chance of a close/road/crescent type mix up in the area. We live on one of those estates where the streets are all X Close, Road, Avenue etc so there is often confusion as the same street often goes round a corner and changes from Avenue to Road halfway along a straight section Hmm).

From eBay's point of view, there's probably as many dishonest sellers as there are buyers, and they often don't have clear information which is which, and in this case, it's made harder by the fact that the delivery company don't appear to have fulfilled their end of the bargain either.

If you don't get anywhere with that I'd then try a formal complaint to eBay/paypal, to try and get your money back.

If you exhaust everything without resolution, this sort of thing is often featured in the consumer sections of the weekend papers, so that's another avenue to pursue.

IceRebel · 07/01/2019 19:13

Any update on this @ALittleCrisp, did you manage to get any information from the sorting office?

Original poster
ALittleCrisp · 07/01/2019 20:13

Ice I do, although it's not much I'm afraid.

I called local sorting office after waiting a day and a half to get through and no joy. It shows as delivered on their system. Nothing there for me waiting.

I asked what the GPS said and the reply was "I don't think we do that to be honest" Blush

OP posts:
ChrisjenAvasarala · 07/01/2019 21:43

Have you actually asked your postman? They're the ones who will have delivered it and most routes have a regular person. Ask them!

IceRebel · 08/01/2019 07:36

I'm surprised about the GPS response, I thought that was standard these days.

nauticant · 08/01/2019 07:49

It's possible the response can be translated into "we might have that information, I'm not sure, but it would be a right faff for me to investigate".

Aeroflotgirl · 08/01/2019 07:56

Then the seller has to investigate with RM, as they bought the service from them. I would also contact e bay or Paypal to investigate.

NotANotMan · 08/01/2019 07:57

Have you opened a case with eBay??
You must do that and stop running around trying to find it. It's the seller's responsibility to do that.

Flamingchips · 08/01/2019 08:09

Notaman

The tracking is saying it’s delivered - as far as the seller is concerned she has it.

KnobJockey · 08/01/2019 08:13

Why have you waited from the 28th December for 10 days to see this as an issue? I've got to say, if I sold an expensive item, could see by the tracking that it had been delivered, and the seller told me that actually it hadn't 10 days later, I would be very suspicious. It's not like it's a pair of jeans, I don't know anybody who isn't watching the mail when they are expecting a parcel like that!

KnobJockey · 08/01/2019 08:15

Regardless, you need to open a case with eBay or PayPal ASAP. The seller doesn't have to deal with anything unless there is a case open.

NotANotMan · 08/01/2019 08:17

It's not signed for so that doesn't mean anything

HJWT · 08/01/2019 08:20

@ALittleCrisp royal mail said they delivered a parcel to me yesterday there was nothing, not even a slip through the door!! Luckily my neighbour isn't a thief and she had it but i wouldn't of known otherwise !!

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