Royal Mail Standard Parcel claim

Mr_Gordon_2

I've recently had to make a claim for a Standard Parcel item I posted which has apparently gone missing, however I'm not having much luck.

I purchased an item from eBay which arrived in bits, totally unusable, and not as described. Seller agreed to take it back but has been difficult to deal with since (this was over a month ago).

I returned it by standard parcel at his request, (before he became difficult), covered for £41 I believed at the time. I now realise not having tracking isn't a good idea.

Seller claimed he was then on holiday etc.. couldn't collect it. Eventually checking the sorting office almost three weeks later saying there was no parcel.

I eventually accepted a partial refund via a PayPal dispute believing I could claim Royal Mail for the loss of the item as I had lots of evidence to provide them. They got back to me stating the address was invalid so wouldn't pay. Turns out the seller had mistyped the final letter in his postcode (I presume unintentionally). If I'd had this reply from Royal Mail earlier, perhaps I could have provided it to PayPal to help with the dispute.

I do agree, the item should be correctly addressed when sending, but I had no reason not to believe this address was incorrect as I'd already checked on google maps and saw it existed. The final letter of the postcode being the only error.

They informed me my address should have been on the parcel for return, which it was, and it hasn't been returned.

When posting over the counter, should I be informed of an address problem as it's all entered into the computer. On closer inspection the receipt showed the address wasn't verified.

Not sure I can do much more about this, other than learn for next time.

bubblegum26

Hi,

Address isn't checked by post office staff so it is up to the seller to make sure the right address in on the parcel. I can't believe they are not paying out just because one letter is wrong on the postcode thats silly I would argue that point with royal mail seems very unfair to me if the rest of the address was correct.

Mr_Gordon_2

I'm glad I'm not alone in feeling it's a bit unfair.

macfly

The address certainly is checked at the PO counter. I've done hundreds of them. I don't understand the not verified bit.

soolin

I've had a recorded delivery claim refused for the same reason, admittedly it was a while ago.

PO counters accepted it, parcel went missing, RM refused to pay as post code was apaprently wrong and/or not as per their data base. This incidentally was a book going to the library of one of the best known unis in the UK, and the post code was as per their headed paper.

Mr_Gordon_2

macfly wrote: »

The address certainly is checked at the PO counter. I've done hundreds of them. I don't understand the not verified bit.

I don't think I explained that bit well. I was referring to the "Address verified: N" bit on the receipt.

I'm guessing if the information they've entered matches their database this will be marked "Y".

I think this is the extent of which Royal Mail have looked at my claim. I doubt they've read the rest of it and noticed there was one letter wrong, not the whole address.

bubblegum26

macfly wrote: »

The address certainly is checked at the PO counter. I've done hundreds of them. I don't understand the not verified bit.

On our system it doesn't check that the postcode is valid anymore it did used to ore and for recorded the address doesn't have to put in now. Supoosedly for speed at the counter

martindow

I agree that post codes are not checked by my PO so receipts always say address verified N.

OP I would pursue your claim as if the street and town are correct and the post code only adrift with the final letter it should certainly have arrived at the correct sorting office. Post is regularly delivered with incorrect codes or no post code at all.

There is a long and convoluted complaints procedure here

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=400144&mediaId=84400738

macfly

How strange. Got one in front of me from Tuesday, postcode, house number and validated. You used to be able to type the address in manually, so not verified, if the database didn't recocgnise the postcode. Thought this had been stopped.

Mr_Gordon_2

Thanks for the comments, I'm certainly going to pursue this as surely if every other part of the address is correct surely it should have got there, if not it is presumed lost.

iieee

Even if the address was completely fictional, common sense would suggest that it should have been returned to sender.