Claiming Royal Mail compensation (international) - any success stories?

insurgente

Hello all,

I've had a few money annoyances recently so maybe this is getting to me more than it should

I sent a parcel to Brazil on august 18th; lots of baby clothes and toys and some stuff for the mum, which I was pretty happy with and spent a bit of cash on. Up to now it STILL hasn't arrived. I know you need to wait 25 working days before claiming but at this stage I've given up on it arriving and am preparing everything (proof of purchase/posting etc).

Not to make wild accusations but I'm fairly sure Brazilian customs/postal services has nicked it. But my claim goes to Royal Mail.

The total contents of the package are just over £41 (the limit of compensation with Airmail). Should I list everything in the parcel, or just claim on things that add up to £41? I don't want to wait for weeks to a response to come back and then say it's not valid as the insurance didnt cover everything.

When I posted the item, the bloke at the post office lead me to believe the £41 covers the contents of the parcel, no mention of the postage fees not being repaid. I've just read on the Royal Mail website that with airmail, you wont get the postage costs back. Do I have a chance of complaining about that? My feeling is that I've paid for a service that they haven't provided. I wouldn't pay £16 for a pizza that never arrived. They can take it up with the Brazilian postal service/customs if they don't feel it was their fault.

So anyone had any success stories getting money out of the Royal Mail? Even if I'm lucky, I don't see me getting anything for 15 weeks.

Last time I sent something to Brazil with Airsure, it took over 3 weeks rather than the advertised 5 days. This time I used bog standard airmail, so I still hold out hope it'll just show up some day. But i'm being realistic

soolin

I've been successful in claiming for lost overseas parcels, ther eis no real difference between claiming for uK and claiming for overseas really. However the maximum they will pay is £41, with or without postage.

Juts one tip though, keep copies of everything you send with the claim as it is not unusual for the claim itself to get lost.

insurgente

nice one, how long did it take out of interest?

well the contents plus postage probably come to about £66....so i'll be down 25 quid then, IF i get anything...doh

cyberbob

insurgente wrote: »

nice one, how long did it take out of interest?

well the contents plus postage probably come to about £66....so i'll be down 25 quid then, IF i get anything...doh

If the item was worth more than £41 there is a high chance you will get nothing as you will have underinsured the item. RM frequently refuse on these grounds as you didn't use the correct postage method.

As soolin i've done a few claims never had any problems.

soolin

Cyberbob is right in that the RM increasingly seem to refuse any claim where the wrong service was used. Standard airmail is for cheaper items, under £41 so they consider it to be the wrong service.

When I have made a claim though for an International loss it has taken up to 10 weeks to get a cheque back.

insurgente

so they see losing stuff as part of the game? ok true that; i just didnt see the point in paying extra postage for items that were about £5 over.... school boy error!

perhaps I'll only include receipts for the stuff up to £40 quid then

:T