Postman says he delivered parcel which has never arrived

[cyberfairy]

Fuming about this and would appreciate any advice on what to do next.

Bought an expensive Desigual coat as a treat to myself and after a week of waiting for it, contacted ebay seller who said that it had been tracked as delivered to me! Looked at tracking information and there was a ludicrous circle marked as my signature and it was meant to have been 'delivered' on a day I was working all day.

I contacted the complaints department of Royal Mail and they said they would investigate but today I received an email saying that they had spoken to the postman and he says he delivered it on that day to the girl with 'curly brown hair' he has delivered to previously!

There was no mention made of the silly scrawl signature or the fact I stated I was at work. I have also had my hair blonde for several months although it has been previously brown (amongst other colours) and vaguely curly.

It have made a further complaint but it seems as if it is his word against mine and the police aren't interested as they say it is a Royal Mail internal matter.

I am furious about this and want either my coat back or at least the money it cost me. What can I do next?

[cyberfairy]

Emails before and after me making an enormous fuss, contacting the police and ombudsman...and I live on street with four houses in (one of which is empty)

Guess the posts before and after I made an enormous fucking fuss...

To deal with this problem, and based on the information you've provided, I have been able to take the following action:


• Logged and reported the full details of your complaint

• Checked our electronic records, which confirm that we delivered your item and obtained a signature on 9/9/13

• Obtained confirmation from the person who made the delivery that we delivered your item to the address you specified


The Delivery Office Manager has questioned the postman with regards to your item; they have confirmed it was delivered as address and was received by woman at the address with brown curly hair; he has also stated that he has seen this person at the address on several occasions.

_


I am pleased to hear that you have now received the coat. I had found that your item had been misdelivered to a nearby address and so I asked the Delivery Office Manager to arrange for this to be recovered from the address and delivered to you

[LovesBeingOnHoliday]

Ok so things I would suggest. Ime either he has singed for it and left it somewhere (anywhere even a bin) or he's nicked it (quite rare with signed for stuff) or he's delivered it to a different address and someone else has signed for and kept (not very rare).

Have you tried your neighbours? No you shouldn't have to but hey you want this sorted.

Is there another street with tge same name? Ive had lots of post for LoveBeing Close when I live on LoveBeing Road.

Can you get hold of a few tracking numbers for previous deliveries (with anyone) to prove not your normal signiture.

Have you advised RM you will be going to the police? Can you get tge local sorting office manager to call you? Advise him you do not have this item and as it was signed for this is a mater of theft by deception and that if tgey are unwilling to help you are going to go to the Police, given them 48 hours to respond.

I think at that point the story may well change. But remember this guy is going to have to admit he forged it and that will probably mean he will lose his job so it's not something's he's going to want to do.

[dolcelatte]

That's great cyberfairy! I wonder if my 'phone will turn up!

[cumfy]

So had it been opened ?

[Optimist1]

Back to detective school for me, Jacques! (Strange, though, that OP put the link on this thread last week?)

[JacqueslePeacock]

I think that's the new signature - i.e. from today.

[Optimist1]

Doesn't the time of delivery on the link you posted say 07:23?? And to my eye, the signature does look like Newton - upside down!

[Purplehonesty]

You are joking!! Where has your coat supposedly been all this time then?
I had the same thing with a courier company, I ordered things for ds's birthday from amazon and the courier told me they had been delivered and signed for (with my initials).
I knew they hadn't been and checked the garages and sheds etc but no parcels.
Eventually courier said the driver left them at my house in a car boot but couldn't remember which one so I check the cars and nothing.
Really suspicious now so I keep on at them and he still insists they were delivered. In the end it turns out he left the parcels in a car boot down the road in a building site. The house didn't even have a roof on! I found them the evening before his birthday after a lot of door knocking and detective work. I basically went to all my neighbours and asked them to look in the cars!
One nearly very unhappy three year old with no birthday presents as all three of his gifts were in the same order!

[cyberfairy]

12345Floris- that is outrageous! Everyone gets some sort of mail to old address, even if junk! What a cheek. I would like to be all passive aggressive and say 'what a shame so many items of post have got lost in the mail', with a sad face and keep saying it to her every time you see her and ask if she has received all hers?
Dolcelatte- pleased you making a fuss-it does make a difference- after being rebufffed twice by different escalations of Royal Mail complaints procedures took it to highest level and had a postman at door at 7am with my coat! All a bit suspicious as he apologised without explaining and knew it was the coat and not another parcel but I have my coat and so will stop making a fuss although will be a lot more suspicious in future...

[dolcelatte]

cyberfairy - you are right. I have just issued proceedings through money claims on line - it was very simple to do - and am seeking compensation from RM for negligence in losing my parcel or otherwise disposing of it instead of delivering it to me! It cost £25 but I am claiming that back as part of my claim.

If RM seriously want to defend the claim, which I doubt, they can send a representative to court to give me a proper explanation instead of fobbing me off!

[12345Floris]

I had a parcel derived to my old address by mistake. Bizarrely enough,my daughter had a party there some months later where I spoke to the new tenant. No, she hasn't had a parcel delivered, no, she's never received any birthday or Xmas parcels (which always contained cash in the cards from an elderly Aunt), no, she's never had any mail whatsoever for me. She's a barefaced liar, but what are you supposed to do, tell them that? :(

I see he at the school gates every day. It's a small village. I'm astounded at her dishonesty.

[cyberfairy]

I didn't know if was the same delivery man though as we have a few come to the street and I am often out and thus just go to parcel office thus did not ask. Not heard anything as yet from appeal and will look up ombudsman. Cheers. I would continue to fight dolcalette for the pure principle of it!

[Merrylegs]

Why didn't you ask him when he knocked on the door? Have a conversation with him about it. Start off by saying something like 'I'm really confused about this parcel you said I'd signed for.' Keep it low key. Don't accuse him. Just be kind of puzzled.

[isisisis]

There's some form of ombudsman service for Royal Mail that you can go to once you've exhausted there complaints system.
We used it last year when we got a little red card through the door but when we went to collect from the delivery office they couldn't find it. We gave them ages to try & find it but they couldn't & customer services couldn't do anything as I didn't know what was in the parcel ( its the first question on there form and they couldn't possibly go any further without filling it out)
I took lots of letters but eventually the ombudsman awarded us £50. Still don't know what was in the parcel.

[dolcelatte]

I have thought of making a claim in the small claims court, but RM don't have a contract like other suppliers, so it is more difficult. I did ask the regular postie who suggested the gardener might have signed for it - he didn't! I haven't decided whether to take it further because it is just more aggravation. My missing item cost £166.

[cyberfairy]

Thanks for replies- scary to hear how many other cases there have been which have not been resolved even though the facts and evidence don't match up. No, MrsJaqenHgar, a small backyard is all we have and postman says he delivered it to 'a person fitting my description' -despite the fact it was not my description.
FluffyDucky- postman certainly fairly regular and familiar looking but I am often out or working at posty times so not often around. He knocked on door the day after I had begin complaints procedure with a parcel and swear he did a double take when he saw my hair colour but can't rely on this as it just might be me being overly suspicious.
thereinmadnesslies- what a crappy thing- it is utterly a joke and amazed at how police are not interested. I work in public sector too but if something goes missing, the police are ring, end of story.

[FluffyDucky]

Is your postie a regular one? Is it worth trying to 'catch him' to have a chat?

[MrsJaqenHgar]

Just another thought....have you any outhouses, sheds, garages, boiler houses etc? A friend preferred some trainers which were apparently signed for while he was out at work. He got the same response from
RM as you....there's a signature so bog off, basically. Eventually, the company he ordered from replaced the missing and the matter was forgotten about. Until about a year later when a plumber went to service his heating boiler....and found a very dusty parcel containing the missing trainers in the boiler house.

[thereinmadnesslies]

We had similar - we got a 'missed delivery' card from RM but the reference, name of postie and date where all just a scrawl. Predicably there was no sign of the parcel at the delivery office, nor were RM interested in checking who the postie was that day and trying to work it out. The parcel was an Adidas London 2012 branded bench coat, for DH who was working with a team. The packaging said Adidas so it would have been pretty obvious what it was - I'm sure the postie stole it. RM just seem to turn a blind eye to theft and the police don't help either.

[cyberfairy]

Sorry to hear that pyrrah. I guess I should count my blessings it was just a coat. It seems unlikely postman delivered to another house as only a couple on my street but not impossible I suppose even though he has said he has delivered to my house on numerous occasions.
Definitely doing the Twitter thing. Thanks MrsJaqenHgar

[MrsJaqenHgar]

If you use Twitter, tweet @RoyalMail. Repeatedly. I've had much better response to complaints via twitter than through customer services.

[SkodaLabia]

I've never lost anything this way, but my next door neighbour was reunited with something after a guy down the street had it delivered to him. He signed for it without reading the name or address, but was honest enough to bring it to her.

Could this have happened to you? Perhaps he thinks he delivered it because he gave it to the wrong house? Know anyone with those initials locally?

[pyrrah]

I'm having the exact same issues - after 2 hours battling away with USPS, Parcel Farce and Royal Fail, the latter have told me that they will be able to identify the actual postman who supposedly delivered my parcel last Friday at a time that I can prove I wasn't at home.

Unfortunately I have to get the person who sent the parcel from the USA to open the claim for me and then wait the blasted 30 days.

Just so frustrating and the items are also irreplaceable - pieces of silver designed by my great grandfather, worth very little to someone else even as scrap metal, but worth an enormous amount to me.

[JacqueslePeacock]

I meant more, are those your actual initials in the signature? It looks like S then maybe J something...? If they are your initials, it's clear that someone has deliberately impersonated you to take your parcel. If those aren't even your initials, it's possible the parcel was given to someone else altogether to sign for (eg at another house).

[cyberfairy]

And thanks xJadex. Will keep you informed but have gone from being confident to utterly shocked and jaded.