Suing Royal Mail for breach of contract?

gromituk

I may be being a bit premature here, because I haven't got the form yet (due to huge queues at the PO - not available on line, of course!), but I've read here many times that if RM fails to deliver then it will not refund the cost of postage. I've been stung fairly viciously by this because someone sent something first class rather than standard parcels on my behalf, costing me £15 - more than the goods were worth. And, of course, it didn't arrive. I thought you entered into a contract with RM to deliver to a known address for the agreed sum, so I don't see how they can still charge you that sum if they fail to fulfil their obligation.

Would there be a legal leg to stand on, I wonder?

Emms

I think for first class you need to have a certificate of posting to prove that you posted something in the first place. Royal mail site says....

Compensation of up to £32 for loss or damage, with your free certificate of posting (available from your local Post Office™ when you post your mail)

Emma

gromituk

Thanks Emma. I do have a printed receipt, which says it's a proof of posting, but which has nothing filled in under "DESTINATION ADDRESS" or "Val?". The person who posted it asked about a CoP and was told that this was it.

I am presuming that this £32 cannot include the cost of posting the item. If it can, then I don't have a problem any more.

soolin

You are correct in that in the case of a RM claim they will only pay the item cost and not the post and packing element if you send your ebay or paypal invoice as proof of cost. However, some people have reported back that on rare occasions they have received the full amount back, but that is rare and is usually put down to new staff at the enquiry office.

The matter of not repaying the postage element is something that annoys me a lot, I am actually getting cross thinking about it while I sit here and type. We have had users say they would going to persue the RM for as long as it took, but we have never had a person report back successfully yet, although that is not to say they didn't succeed and just didn't come back and say so.

I have written to postwatch as well as RM senior management about the problem and have received back responses that all basically say the same, that is in their t and cs and they stick with it.

However, as you were the person receiving the parcel you need the sender to make the claim, although there is of course nothing to stop you making a complaint at the same time. If this was an ebay purchase and you paid by paypal then you can chargeback the full amount from the seller, if you paid by any other means and are covered by ebay protection then you only get the item cost back from the seller anyway in the case of a dispute.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on

Soo

soolin

gromituk wrote:

I am presuming that this £32 cannot include the cost of posting the item. If it can, then I don't have a problem any more.

You are correct that the £32 is item cost, not total cost.

Soo

frivolous_fay

I understand that when RM don't refund the postage paid, they consider it the 'excess' payment on your claim against their insurance.

Frankly it sucks.

gromituk

soolin wrote:

I have written to postwatch as well as RM senior management about the problem and have received back responses that all basically say the same, that is in their t and cs and they stick with it.

It is possible that this will not stand up unless one is drawn to these T&Cs at the time the contract is made. After all, they are not obvious. Wasn't there a thing about people not seeing the disclaimer about liability for loss/damage in car parks at the time they took their ticket from the barrier on entry?

However, as you were the person receiving the parcel you need the sender to make the claim

No, I was actually the sender - I just got someone else to post it, whom I'd told to say "standard parcels" but instead asked "which is cheaper - first or second class?" and first class was the only option because of the weight. Sorry, I should have made that clearer.

I've already tried to refund the buyer by PayPal but that threw up another set of problems. PayPal wanted details of a bank account and then refused to accept them, saying the only way I could do it was to fax statements from that account showing amounts paid into it by Paypal, plus photo ID, to a number which was obviously in America but which did not have the international access code. And it also gave an example of the format of the account holder's name field showing initials with full stops, and then refused to accept full stops in the name field! Very poor, but luckily the buyer was happy to give me bank details for a transfer.

gromituk

frivolous_fay wrote:

I understand that when RM don't refund the postage paid, they consider it the 'excess' payment on your claim against their insurance.

I see. Well perhaps the Insurance Ombudsman would have something to say about the level of excess?

frivolous_fay

It's certainly 'excessive'! Boom, boom!

Apple_2

Sorry for jumping on someone else's thread ... but I don't understand the RM compensation.
Letter 1 recorded 1st class undelivered. Comp up to £ 30 BUT you have to prove goods value. No goods - bank app forms, proof of ID ( certified ), took days to put together. No value to claim.
Letter 2 recorded 1st class. Comp up to £ 32 in theory. SARN to bank for 6 years statements incl £ 10 P.O. Per RM 'complaints' the PO of £ 10 will be claimable IF they check and it's uncashed. Scuse me - if it's cashed it means someone in their business has nicked it !

And no postage cost refunds - even though ( in my mind ) I paid for a service ( get letter from A to B ) and RM failed to provide that service ?

gromituk

RM appears to have some sort of web enquiry facility for lost items. http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/jump3?catId=400144&mediaId=15500181 -> "Provide more details".

Then, the stupid thing is that I enter the date of posting (4th April) and it says "Your item is still in transit and will hopefully be with you within the next day or so. If you still haven’t received your item after 15 days (from the date of posting) please contact us again."

What is means is 15 working days - how can they make such a basic mistake? And what it should also do is calculate for you when the item is considered lost. The CS operator was able to do that easily. Anyway, she took my details and promised someone would contact me about this.

I bet it's sitting at the recipient's sorting office, RM having failed to put a card through, but I can't check that until 26th by which time I'm sure they'll have chucked it. (I'm not sure if it had a return address, unfortunately.)