Item not received - Advice needed

catmiaow

ludovico wrote: »

Anyway I go to my mail centre most days as I send my parcels from there, but if i had to phone them about a parcel I would get nowhere as they don't answer their phones- ever.

Then you would have to complain about this to Royal Mail and go to the delivery office in person. As above by dealing with normal people on eBay this type of situation is going to occur, it's obvious seller is misguided if they sent a £76 parcel with no tracking.

The moment a seller makes a lost parcel 'my ' responsibility I stop being helpful. The seller has shown their hand, so I would stop bothering at that point.

You was gunning for a dispute from the word go.

I did try and sort things out with the seller but she has left me no choice in going to a dispute. I purchased the item, it is not my responsibility how they post it, I just want the item I bought.

I have complained to Royal Mail about it, like I have about a number of my own letters I sent recorded not getting a signature but I guess they don't really care.:mad:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

My comments weren't particularly aimed at you just the advice you've been offered.

I've been told to wait for a claim before and politely informed the seller of the rules and got an apology and a very quick refund. Having dealt with nearly 100,000 people on eBay and Amazon I've learnt reasonable discussion is the best way to go rather than the advice thrown about on community forums where someone usually jumps in with the word 'dispute' from the off.

DuckEggGingham

ludovico wrote: »

Great, so no one has checked the delivery office and we're all off to a dispute, no wonder there is so much animosity between buyers and sellers. The seller appears misguided rather dishonest and an explaination of the rules may fair better than a dispute. As above it should be a last resort.

Its easy to tell from communication if a seller is going to work with you to fix a problem. All the buyer got was "Its down to Royal Mail I am afraid" What is the buyer meant to do with that? Sit around and hope it turns up? The seller offers no other advice to work with the buyer.

Its an expensive item, the buyer is edgey the seller could easily of placated him/her with the right email. I suspect this seller is about to get their first lesson that "once in the hands of the RM I am not responsible" is utter tosh!

The buyer does NOT have to wait for the 15 days, the buyer is more then entitled to a refund and not have to wait around for the seller to put in a claim etc, even though the seller did not even offer that!

I would of started a chargeback to! If the seller had replied with advice and asked me to wait for a little longer and not to worry if it doesn't turn up that they will make it right but to at least give it some more time then I would be more then willing to work with them.

I can't believe I still see in sellers terms "Once I have posted, my job is done, if lost I will forward you a receipt" They are just making themselves targets for unscrupulous buyers! So this will be a valuable lesson to this seller!

hermum

Oh dear, the seller should not have sent a £76 item via ordinary parcel post. Let's hope for their sake it can be located as if this is lost they will have lost big time unless they're a business seller who paid less than £46 for it.

Obviously_the_best

i think when they said parcelforce they must have mean royal mail parcels!

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

The point is all we knew at the start of this thread was a parcel sent by Parcel Force (this has now changed but we didn't know to start with) hadn't arrived and instead of a sensible suggestion like 'track the parcel' the advice was to open a dispute.

The buyer does NOT have to wait for the 15 days,

That's debatable, if you don't want to wait 15 working days for parcels to arrive don't shop online with people that use Royal Mail, if you do then accept your parcel may randomly be delayed and that a certain time is required before it will be classed as lost. If eBay were a more trusting place you could refund and then rely on buyers to pay if it arrives and in some cases you can but in my case it's a shame to say I wouldn't trust that.

I wouldn't ask a customer to wait the full 3 weeks but I have seen plenty of parcels take 8, 10 or 12 days to arrive and feel that upto 2 weeks is a fair time to class something as delayed rather than lost.

DuckEggGingham

ludovico wrote: »

I wouldn't ask a customer to wait the full 3 weeks but I have seen plenty of parcels take 8, 10 or 12 days to arrive and feel that upto 2 weeks is a fair time to class something as delayed rather than lost.

I agree with you but the fact is the buyer does not have to wait that long. Some people will shop with the hopes of having the item for a "do" next week etc...if the item does not arrive then they have to look elsewhere and not a lot of people can afford to have money tied up for an item they don't have when looking for a replica.

I do actually feel as a buyer and (sometimes) seller that it would be good if a dispute could not be started until 15 days are up to give everyone a "fair chance" but then that does not help buyers that are relying on their item coming in a few days and read a listing properly and saw no reason that the item would not be with them in a few days.

This could have been avoided if the seller had been more amicable, that is the first port of call for the buyer and if the seller comes back with a muddled story or does not sound as if they are going to help then I, to would go straight to chargeback.

Luckily in many, many years on ebay I have only had to do this twice!

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

I do actually feel as a buyer and (sometimes) seller that it would be good if a dispute could not be started until 15 days

I believe an eBay dispute can't be opened until a few days after the estimated delivery date to allow time for delivery (a positive move by eBay)

but then that does not help buyers that are relying on their item coming in a few days and read a listing properly and saw no reason that the item would not be with them in a few days.

To be frank their unrealistic expectations aren't of my concern, my level of service is very high and I genuinely care about my customers but people who expect delivery in a few days and a refund if that doesn't happen will be waiting on a decision from Paypal or eBay if they open a dispute, either way they'll wait the 2 weeks!

soolin

ludovico wrote: »

I do actually feel as a buyer and (sometimes) seller that it would be good if a dispute could not be started until 15 days

I believe an eBay dispute can't be opened until a few days after the estimated delivery date to allow time for delivery (a positive move by eBay)

but then that does not help buyers that are relying on their item coming in a few days and read a listing properly and saw no reason that the item would not be with them in a few days.

To be frank their unrealistic expectations aren't of my concern, my level of service is very high and I genuinely care about my customers but people who expect delivery in a few days and a refund if that doesn't happen will be waiting on a decision from Paypal or eBay if they open a dispute, either way they'll wait the 2 weeks!

The longer I wait for an unreasonable seller to refund me the more likely I am to neg them and hit their stars. They would definitely get a neg if I had to wait the 10 days for a paypal refund.

It is rare that a seller gets a neg for a lost item, but get difficult or tell me it is my problem and not theirs and they will end up with less than positive feedback. It is a poor seller that ignores th efact that buyers now have a great deal of power.

DuckEggGingham

ludovico wrote: »

To be frank their unrealistic expectations aren't of my concern, my level of service is very high and I genuinely care about my customers but people who expect delivery in a few days and a refund if that doesn't happen will be waiting on a decision from Paypal or eBay if they open a dispute, either way they'll wait the 2 weeks!

They are of your concern as they are your customers. That is the attitude I talk of when I would go through other channels rather then work with a seller with such an attitude as that. Sorry.

Not everyone is educated about how the Royal Mail and ebay works. A computer savvy granny or aunty Rose parting with cash may not have the slightest notion of how it should work. They spend their money, wait a few days, no item so they contact their seller. That is YOUR concern

If as a seller you made me wait for paypal or ebay when its obvious the item is lost, I would ding your stars and leave you a red. That to would get concerning if you kept encouraging that in buyers. As the above poster said, I would never neg for a lost item, I would neg for how a seller dealt with it.