Proof of delivery - customer put wrong address!

Tea3

This is a sale from a website but as the ebayers on here are very up on deliveries etc I thought it was the best place to post this.

I have online proof of delivery for a special delivery order (signature, date of delivery, time etc) but it turns out now that the customer entered the wrong address on the order putting an address they moved from months ago. They have made various excuses and accusations as to why this is everyone's fault but theirs and their latest is someone senior in royal mail said the parcel is now back with us!! This is obviously rubbish as we dont have the parcel and online tracking shows it was delivered and signed for 3 weeks ago. So the customer does not have their order yet we can provide proof it was delivered to the address they requested on their order (they have a copy of their order and dont deny they entered the wrong address although say it is everyone else's fault), so who's liable for this if we delvered to the address they asked for and have online proof of delivery?

Should point out for a lower value order (was £43) or if the customer was not so nasty about all this we would have bit the bullet and just sent a replacement for goodwill but they have been very rude, phoned and emailed constantly, accused us more or less of theft etc. I am phoning Royal Mail in the morning for more info on the delivery and to confirm exactly where it is/was delivered to but have no reason to doubt it was delivered and accepted by the occupants of the old address. Customer is unwilling to contact new occupants of this address to ask about this order and as these were sent to that address 'unsolicited' we cannot ask for them back and to be honest are fed up of 4 weeks of this non-stop and have aleady spent hours explaining same things and trying to help but getting nothing but accusations back in return.

1984ReturnsForReal_2

I would ask them what they have done to try to recover their goods from their old address & have they notified the Police that the residents of their old house are in receipt of goods illegally, unless of course they are holding on to them for safe keeping

Tell them to p off....

What is the worst that can happen? You could end up refunding but you say you would probably of bit the bullet anyway....

Tea3

Once I have received confirmation from RM that delivery was made to the address on the parcel I will contact the customer again with this proof but I dont think they can call the police as I think the goods are regarded as being sent unsolicited to the address on the parcel and therefore they can keep them without paying (morally wrong but not legally wrong) - if however I am wrong on this please let me know as letting customer know they can contact police and me helping them with this may make then believe us finally and the parcel may eventually get to them or back to us so we can refund.

soolin

How did they make payment? If it was paypal you are covered if the address you used was the one that paypal said was 'OK to send to'.

Tea3

They paid by card.
I have spoken to royal mail customer services earlier and they have confirmed the parcel was collected on 2nd July by the person named online on RM's website and this persons MUST have had the id for the delivery address on the parcel i.e. the customers old address. I left a message at the actual sorting office just now for them to call me back as the customer claims this sorting office told them they returned the parcel to us weeks ago and apparently now keep telling them we have it here (and are lying)!

I will contact the buyer with this info and suggest that we can maybe write a letter to this address explaining what has happened and asking them to contact our buyer direct to perhaps forward the order onto them but apart from that I think we have done all we can. I doubt this will suffice but I will contact them today asking for permission to forward their contact info to the people at the delivery address.

oldagetraveller

I know this is hindsight and pretty useless for the problem at hand but on the odd occasion I sell on Ebay I always cover my backside (psychologically!) by telling the buyer prior to despatch, in a thanks for buying etc. message, that the item will be sent to the address registered with Ebay/Paypal unless advised to the contrary.
Good luck.