Advice Please! Non-delivery Refund Request by buyer

jstyles

I sent the auction winner ('Buyer') their item (money-off Daily Telegraph vouchers!) by Royal Mail (RM) 1st class Recorded Delivery last Saturday, March 5. He declined to take up the optional 'Postage Insurance'.

The Buyer e-mailed me last night saying item not yet delivered and asking for immediate refund.

I checked RM website and, sure enough, nothing showed up for the item (though two other items I sent Recoded Delivery elsewhere DID show up as delivered).

I'm more than happy to refund the guy so long as I get compensated by RM! However, RM won't consider a claim until after 15 working days (I think). And the buyer, I guess, rightly wants his money back now.

I've emailed him saying that I'll refund him if a compensation claim to RM is successful. But this will not be initiated until 15 working hays have elapsed. I pointed out that he declined the optional 'Postage Insurance'!

Questions:

1) Am I liable for the non-delivery and do you think I should refund immediately and sort out the compo claim myself?
2) Should I wait and see what RM say after a claim is sublitted? After all - it may turn up in a week or whatever!!
3) Offer him half his money back to forget about it so long as he ,eaves +ve feedback (though I'm not a feedback snob or worried about a neg if I'm in the right!).

Oh - we're not talk megabucks here, either! A few quid - it's just the principle! Don't really know what do for the best and what is ethically correct as the guy's clearly lost out so far as it goes at the moment! Any takers?

Advice wanted, please!

biblejohn

I think you have the right idea. If the guy wanted to ensure the items werent lost he should have gone for postal insurance. As it was you sent them recorded delivery which was lucky. As you only sent them on the 5th, really he should wait at least 7days or so as sometimes royal mail is very slow. Then, its upto you if you pay him and claim from RM sepeately or wait until you get compensation from royal mail.

averagepunter

The onus is on you to get the item to the seller. This whole nonsense about declining postal insurance is really misleading. Not getting at you personally, but a lot of people seem to think that if the buyer declines to take out insurance then the seller can deny responsibility if it gets lost in the post. Not So.

In this instance, the item was technically insured to the value of £28. Looking at the listings for telegraph vouchers I assume we are taking about less than fiver. So I would do this.....

1) Ask the buyer to e-mail you on Monday if still not received. You can of course verify with RM website.
2) AS we are only talking a few quid, I would refund seller immediately as a gesture of goodwill and then pursue the RM for compensation.

Of course, you would probably be within your rights to tell the seller that you will refund once you have received the refund from RM - thats up to you.

At least you sent it recorded so you know the buyer isn't trying to pull a fast one.

soolin

Hi There, the seller is responsible for getting the goods to the buyer regardless of whether they take 'optional' insurance or not, the insurance is to protect the seller not the buyer. Anyway, assuming the 'cost' of the item was less than £28 you are covered by the recorded slip so I'm not sure what other insurance you were actually offering. However, I would definately stall your buyer if possible as my last lot of recorded delivery items took a week to arrive, and the POst Office didn't seem at all surprised when I complained.

The RM are usually very good about dealing with claims once the time frame for 'late delivery' has passed so you will be able to reclaim the cost. I usually complete the online form (you have to print it out and send it off though) and send it with the original Recorded delivery slip (don't forget to keep a copy) and also a copy of the ebay invoice to prove the value of the loss. The only thing I am not sure about is whether vouchers are treated as cash and therefore not covered by the Recorded delivery slip, maybe someone else on here can help with that? Once you submit your claim to the PO it can take another 2 weeks, sometimes more before you receive your refund cheque so hang on in there!

I would suggest writing back politely and asking the buyer to wait a short while longer, don't however tell him that his refund is dependent on you getting a refund from the PO. Stall the buyer as long as you can before making a refund, if he paid by cheque just reimburse him the same way.

Obviously though if he has paid by paypal then he can start a claim for non delivery against you regardless of what you want.

You say you don't mind getting a neg if it comes to it, but a neg saying that seller never sent the goods, or whatever, will put a lot of buyers off and probably isn't worth taking the risk over.

Soo

jstyles

Thanks for all the good advice with regard to where I stand. Much appreciated.

jstyles

May I ask you to look at this (non-referral, I hasten to add) link and post your comments? Does this change anyone's viewpoint (apart from responsibility re. delivery, which I accept).

http://www.rpoints.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=93130

Bargainbabe_2

Well i think you should give it a little while longer. Afterall, it has only been 4 working days. Why don't you ask your buyer to contact his local sorting office just in case its sitting there. Maybe the postperson tried to deliver and forgot to put a note through the door. It could be just delayed. I would ask your buyer to give it until the middle of next week. That way you've given RM a fair chance to deliver. If it hasn't arrived by then, then I would refund and claim back your money from RM.

Bargainbabe_2

jstyles wrote:

May I ask you to look at this (non-referral, I hasten to add) link and post your comments? Does this change anyone's viewpoint (apart from responsibility re. delivery, which I accept).

http://www.rpoints.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=93130

Well that throws a complete different light on the situation! Your buyers sounds like a bit of scammer. It appears you're not the only one thats had this experience with quick.deal...Have you seen how many Daily Telegraph vouchers he's bidded on!?

Very dodgy indeed....

stavros_2

Have you tried calling RM about the non-delivery by the way? (Sometimes they are a bit slow in putting the details online)

EDIT: just read the rpoints link...what a jerk! surely if you point this out to ebay (ie. he's buying several of the same item - of which more than one is pointless) then they'll realise what he's doing?!?! (on second thoughts it is ebay so they probably won't even care!)

jstyles

stavros wrote:

(on second thoughts it is ebay so they probably won't even care!)

I think you nailed that one!!

RACHIE77

Looks like he is trying to pull a fast one on this one but his feedback aint bad, why would he risk it all over some telegraph vouchers??? [puzzled look]