Royal Mail failed delivery

eurmalian

Hi everyone

Sorry in advance about the length of this.

I don't know too much about how Royal Mail work, so I'm looking for a bit of advice here. I bought a DVD from ebay recently and the seller posted it to me using Recorded Signed For delivery. Unfortunately I was away at the time as they hadn't stated as part of the sale that it would be sent recorded, so I came back to a card about 10 days old saying I had a week to collect it. This part is not Royal Mails fault at all, but it shows that the package was being sent to the correct address.

I contacted the seller, explained what had happened and they re-sent the package, again Recorded Signed for, the day before the Royal Wedding. Due to the timing, when it did not arrive after a few days I wasn't too concerned as I expected them to have a backlog after two weeks of holidays (Easter and the wedding), especially as the recorded delivery tracking website showed it as still being in transit.

I then recieved an email from the seller stating that it had been returned as they had again tried to deliver it, failed and I had not collected it within the 7 days allowed for recorded delivery. They refunded me the cost of the item, minus delivery charges and put it back up for sale, which is fair enough given they'd tried twice now.

I raised a query about the second delivery through the Royal Mail website as the tracking page had still said it was in transit the day before it was returned and there had been no failed delivery card left. The first reply I recieved failed to mention the website at all and just stated that occasionally the delivery people forget to post cards. I replied to this asking again about the website and have now recieved an email which is mainly apologies and this:

"I contacted the manager of Leith delivery office about this item. He confirms that the reason for the lack of information on the tracking website and the failure to leave a card at your address is that they have never received or handled this item at their delivery office.

Of the huge volumes of letters and packets we handle, very few encounter a problem along their way - but we take every single failure seriously, so I'm really sorry that you have had cause to contact us."

I intend to persue them over this for at the least the charges that the ebay seller kept for delivery (which are probably at least 3 times the actual delivery cost knowing ebay). As not only have they failed to deliver the package and provide the service that I paid for, but they've failed to even try.

Would it also be sensible to try to get something to cover my time and frustration over it all and the fact that their first advisor got everything completely wrong and ignored half of my complaint? Or am I likely to have more luck if I just stick to the delivery charges?

bris

You can complain to Royal mail and go through all the procedures but the bottom line is if they say you have no grounds for complaint then there is nothing more you can do. They certainly won't compensate you for your time and frustration.
If you want your postage back for non delivery then you can open an item not received case in Ebay and they will make the seller refund you. This would be unfair though as the seller has done all he can.

PZH

eurmalian wrote: »

I intend to persue them over this for at the least the charges that the ebay seller kept for delivery (which are probably at least 3 times the actual delivery cost knowing ebay). As not only have they failed to deliver the package and provide the service that I paid for, but they've failed to even try.

Would it also be sensible to try to get something to cover my time and frustration over it all and the fact that their first advisor got everything completely wrong and ignored half of my complaint? Or am I likely to have more luck if I just stick to the delivery charges?

Who are "They" ?

You have no contract with Royal Mail.

eurmalian

Yeah, the seller has been fairly accommodating through all of this and it's not their fault that it's gone wrong so I don't want to claim it from them.

As for who has the contract with Royal Mail, the delivery chage is a separate payment to the cost of the item as that's how eBay runs it. I paid the fee and the seller sent the package on my behalf. Plus, asking the seller to go though what is no doubt going to a really awkward process isn't really fair.

And if you can't work out who 'they' are from the phrase 'not only have they failed to deliver the package' and the title of the post then you're basically just looking for some kind of way to pick an argument rather than having any interest in helping or clarifying things.

PZH

eurmalian wrote: »

And if you can't work out who 'they' are from the phrase 'not only have they failed to deliver the package' and the title of the post then you're basically just looking for some kind of way to pick an argument rather than having any interest in helping or clarifying things.

No - I just wanted to clarify.

And I stick with my original statement - it is the seller who entered into a contract with Royal Mail.

eurmalian

phoodless wrote: »

And I stick with my original statement - it is the seller who entered into a contract with Royal Mail.

What would you suggest doing then? I can't really ask the seller to take it up on my behalf, but I don't want to just sit back and ignore Royal Mail charging to deliver a parcel but then deciding not to (and implicitly blaming me for the failure, at least until my second complaint)...

PZH

eurmalian wrote: »

What would you suggest doing then? I can't really ask the seller to take it up on my behalf, but I don't want to just sit back and ignore Royal Mail charging to deliver a parcel but then deciding not to (and implicitly blaming me for the failure, at least until my second complaint)...

All I'm trying to do is set your expectations.

You can certainly write and complain to Royal Mail, but what I am trying to get at it is the fact that you have not paid any monies to Royal Mail for their services (the seller did that; albeit on your behalf).

The best that you can hope for, in my opinion, is that the RM conduct an enquiry and try to determine why you were not left a card. I personally do not think Royal Mail will pay anything to you unless it is in the form of Goodwill - and even then I doubt they will - but, stranger things have happened so who knows.


For reference (and I think I'm right in stating this) - recorded delivery is not a full tracking service - i.e. it does not show where the package is or even if it has been delivered (unless the RM decide to update their information - but this is hit and miss). Full tracking service would be Special Delivery.

arcon5

eurmalian wrote: »

What would you suggest doing then? I can't really ask the seller to take it up on my behalf, but I don't want to just sit back and ignore Royal Mail charging to deliver a parcel but then deciding not to (and implicitly blaming me for the failure, at least until my second complaint)...

The seller is responsible for delivery issues, the seller has the contract with RoyalMail -- not you. As correctly already stated above, so...

Ask the seller to refund your postage and let the seller deal with royalmail -- although it will most likely not be worth the hassle for the sake of a few quid.

OR

Let it go and move on as you will get no where with RoyalMail and just wasting your time.

neilmcl

eurmalian wrote: »

What would you suggest doing then? I can't really ask the seller to take it up on my behalf, but I don't want to just sit back and ignore Royal Mail charging to deliver a parcel but then deciding not to (and implicitly blaming me for the failure, at least until my second complaint)...

How about moving on with your life.

eurmalian

phoodless wrote: »

The best that you can hope for, in my opinion, is that the RM conduct an enquiry and try to determine why you were not left a card. I personally do not think Royal Mail will pay anything to you unless it is in the form of Goodwill - and even then I doubt they will - but, stranger things have happened so who knows.

They've done the enquiry, it's in the quote from their email. That's the reason that I want to try to do something with this really. If they'd just stuck to 'we forgot to leave a card and forgot to update the website' then I'd give it up as pointless. Because they've admitted that it didn't even make it to the local delivery office I'm hoping it might go a bit better. I could well still be wrong though...

arcon5

I don't think anybody would disagree the service royalmail provided is ridiculous and should be reimbursed. But this is for the seller to take up.

Problems like this and 'forgetting to leave a card' has been a problem thats been going on for years and will continue going on for years to come. It doesn't matter what you do, it won't change. The only thing that will force change will be if sellers stopped using them -- but if you sending small packets, light weight items, letter items out then where else do you go other than royalmail? Its only if your sending larger items or items >1kg you can start finding alternate suppliers at similar prices.