Recorded question.

jasmineswhiskers

I had a parcel to post last week which was had sold for £45. I decided to send it recorded, mainly so the buyer wouldn't have chance to claim not received. As it was fairly light I decided not to bother with special delivery as it would have worked out a few quid more. My thought being that as compensation is up to £39 i'd take a chance, believing that should I need to claim then i'd only be losing £6. At the post office I was informed that I can not do this. If the item is worth more than £39 and I needed to claim it would be invalidated and I would receive nothing! Is this correct as I can't find anything on the Royal Mail website stating this or was it just the woman in the PO trying to get more money out of me?
(ps. - I sent it recorded anyway and it arrived fine.)

cyberbob

Yes that is correct as i understand it

chaotic_j

No they are wrong and trying to get more money out of you - if the value of what you are sending is above £39 you would only get a maximum of £39 compensation for loss or damage plus postage cost back.

They will not pay you anything if you send cash, jewellery etc valuables by standard post and so special delivery is recommended for cash, jewellery etc.

appleblossom

I have put in a claim once for more then £39 pound and had a letter back stating that they would not pay anything as I had not sent it by a correct postal method so strictly speaking Chaotic the OP could have been informed correctly - if you need to make a claim and you have not used the special, then just claim for £39.

jasmineswhiskers

appleblossom wrote: »

... if you need to make a claim and you have not used the special, then just claim for £39.

But if it's an ebay claim you have to send details of the item and therefore its sale price. So if they see it was more than £39 then I presume they won't pay.

NeilJung

jasmineswhiskers wrote: »

But if it's an ebay claim you have to send details of the item and therefore its sale price. So if they see it was more than £39 then I presume they won't pay.

If that was the value of the item to you (not what you sold it for) then it certainly looks that way.

chaotic_j wrote: »

No they are wrong and trying to get more money out of you - if the value of what you are sending is above £39 you would only get a maximum of £39 compensation for loss or damage plus postage cost back.

For the benefit of not only the thread starter, but the people who in future will be looking for advice on this, it's only courtesy to check your "facts" before throwing your opinions out there as gospel. If you don't know something then it's best to qualify your statements in some way when you make them.

soolin

It is my understanding that items up to £39 are covered by standard mail, items above £39 are not. Therefore there is no standard cover for items over £39 unless an enhanced service is used.

However, although the RM do say that only items up to £39 are covered by using standard mail I found this hidden away:

For lost or damaged items that have an intrinsic value, with evidence of posting with Royal Mail (such as a certificate of posting) and evidence of value (such as an invoice or receipt) customers will be entitled to a postage refund plus compensation for actual loss up to the value of the item, or 100 x 1st class stamps at the first weight step, whichever is the lowest;

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content3?mediaId=50800721&catId=400029

However, there is a very good chance it has been delivered and just not tracked online as has been my experience with recorded generally.

Premier_2

chaotic_j wrote: »

No they are wrong and trying to get more money out of you - if the value of what you are sending is above £39 you would only get a maximum of £39 compensation for loss or damage plus postage cost back....

I've made a claim previously where an item value exceeds the limit and so I reduced the claim to the limit. Royal Mail paid out. :beer:

Edit: On the claim form it says:

You can claim the actual cost of the item to you i.e. what it cost you to aquire, purchase or manufacture the item (or repair in the case of damage) up to the maximum of the market value or the compensation payable for the service used, whichever is the lower.

NeilJung wrote: »

...For the benefit of not only the thread starter, but the people who in future will be looking for advice on this, it's only courtesy to check your "facts" before throwing your opinions out there as gospel. If you don't know something then it's best to qualify your statements in some way when you make them.

Hopefully my link fully satisfies your requirements to back up the "facts" chaotic_j kindly posted earlier

yeslek

I was given the offer recently, to either risk the loss of losing anything over the £39 or paying an extra £5.95 to cover it - As it was a £50 item, I said I'd take the risk so should there be any problems, I'll only get £39 off RM

I'm getting the feeling that RM will try it on if an item is worth more but sent standard - they dont want to be paying out £39 if they can help it.
I've never been told I cannot send anything a certain way, it's always been advice, or more a warning that I'd be risking a loss should anything go wrong.

soolin

There are specific exceptions though to be careful of as has been mentioned. Jewellery and anything capable of being treated as cash (so tickets vouchers etc) are not covered standard mail anyway.

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/customerservice2?catId=69800729&mediaId=70200728

1. Make sure you use the correct service when sending money, jewellery or valuable items. If you send money, jewellery or valuables using any other Royal Mail service except Special Delivery™ you will not be able to claim any compensation in the event of loss or damage.
2. Some countries do not let you send cash or valuable items through the post, so make sure you check the country in our A-Z pages first.

jasmineswhiskers

Thanks to posts 8, 9 & 10. This is how I always thought it worked.