How long do Royal Mail take to compensate for lost parcels?

PugLady_2

I had a buyer who said their item had'nt turned up 3 weeks after I posted it 1st class.
I thought 3 weeks was a long time to wait before telling me, but she said she'd had family problems and had forgot all about it.
Anyway I refunded her and sent a form off to the Post Office to claim for it, but that was well over 2 weeks ago now and I've not heard anything from them. The item only cost £11.00 but it cost over £5.00 to post and that annoys me, as they don't refund you the postage charge.
My question is how long do the Post Office normally take to compensate for lost parcels?

~cleo~

took 4 weeks for me to get my claim paid out i phoned them an apparently there was a backlog

soolin

Same here, usually about 3 weeks plus...I'm always told 'there is a backlog'.

One day I am going to forget myself and point out that if they didn't blooming well lose the stuff in the first place then they wouldn't have any claims, let alone a backlog.

Soo

PugLady_2

Sue_Hart wrote:

I had a buyer who said their item had'nt turned up 3 weeks after I posted it 1st class.
I thought 3 weeks was a long time to wait before telling me, but she said she'd had family problems and had forgot all about it.
Anyway I refunded her and sent a form off to the Post Office to claim for it, but that was well over 2 weeks ago now and I've not heard anything from them. The item only cost £11.00 but it cost over £5.00 to post and that annoys me, as they don't refund you the postage charge.
My question is how long do the Post Office normally take to compensate for lost parcels?

I've just had this item returned to me . It had a red sticker on it saying when they had attempted to deliver it and another sticker saying not collected.
So I assume the buyer just could'nt be bothered to pick it up after they missed the delivery.
Anyway I thought there might have been a note stuck to it referring to the claim I put in for it.
Is it it normal for the Post Office to find and return things this way, or will the claim still be going through for it, as the parcel did have my return address on it already.

gromituk

If you read the Royal Mail website then it tells you that undelivered things are returned, being sent somewhere for them to be opened if there is no address on the outside.

However, I have very little time for this incompetent organisation.

The website says you have to wait "15 days" before claiming - what it should say is 15 working days. The customer service advisor told me frankly that there was little chance of correcting the wording, as everything would have to be signed in triplicate, buried in soft peat for three months and then stuck in a basement toilet with a sign on the door saying "Beware of the Leopard" before anything would happen.

I recently had a card through the door for something that couldn't be delivered. The number given was an 0845 (grrr) which rang for seven minutes and then cut off. The local delivery manager (contacted using a proper geographical number) said their phone system had been broken for over a month - the second time I called, after no-one called me back the first time. The website says you can post the card back for re-delivery - you couldn't with the card they gave me. But then when I called customer services I got through to an automated redelivery system which the local delivery manager hadn't even heard of!

So, it is hardly surprising that your claim hasn't been matched with the returned item, and very likely you will get your claim as well as the item.

VeryStressedMummy

Sue_Hart wrote:

I've just had this item returned to me . It had a red sticker on it saying when they had attempted to deliver it and another sticker saying not collected.
So I assume the buyer just could'nt be bothered to pick it up after they missed the delivery.
QUOTE]

Or the postie didn't bother putting a card through the door. Ours has been known to do that, and we only found out because we had something else to collect from the depot. We've also had parcels left at our door (flat in a communual stair) which is annoying.

rose_sparky

I can't understand why they don't refund postage charges as well as the missing/damaged item. After all you have to refund your customer the whole amount.

I am in the middle of a claim with them and today I had a letter asking me to return the damaged item and the packaging. How am I supposed to do that when they delivered it about 200 miles from me!! (It's another way of getting more postal charges from you I suppose).

gromituk

Absolutely. You make a contract with them to deliver the goods, they don't deliver, and yet they keep the money! All t leads to is "fraudulent" claims, inflating the value of the goods to cover the postage charges.