Item badly packaged and subsequently lost in transit

athenajm

Hi, I ordered a nail varnish from ebay which the seller sent out recorded delivery but she only put it in a normal envelope, with no evidence of anything to either protect the nail varnish or to strengthen the envelope (eg wrapping it with tape or similar).

It arrived this morning, the postman handed me various items of post and said one needs to be signed for which I did. It wasn't until he left and I went in and sat down that I realised the signed for item was inside one of the Royal Mail 'sorry we damaged your item' bags. The envelope was ripped open and the nail varnish is gone. I would guess that the inadequate packaging has meant that in transit the item has split the envelope as it looks torn as opposed to someone opening it to steal it.

I emailed the seller and asked if she would be able to claim with RM, I was very polite and friendly and didn't mention her (IMO) inadequate packaging. She has sent me back a two line email saying 'Items damaged in transit are not my fault. I suggest you contact Royal Mail and claim from them'. I've looked on the Royal Mail site and it looks like the only compensation is 6*stamps unless you can prove the item's value.

It only cost me £5 but I'm annoyed that she's being so unhelpful when this wouldn't have happened if she'd packaged the thing properly. I've bought nail varnish from ebay loads of times and it's always been packaged in stronger envelopes or a standard envelope with tape wrapped round it to prevent it from splitting open.

Does anyone have any advice or is it just a case of suck it up and deal with it?

hermum

The seller is responsible for getting the item to you. You can open a SNAD case in Paypal, & say that you received an empty envelope inside a RM bag & the contents were missing due to poor packaging by the seller.
You may have to post the envelope back tracked but you will then get your full original payment refunded.

theonlywayisup

Nail varnish is on the list of prohibited goods and cannot be sent by RM unless you are a business account holder with the specific tariff to allow it. Do as hermum suggests. I would however check the online tracking status of the envelope to see if it has updated, if it hasn't, I would be tempted to claim INR.

custardy

theonlywayisup wrote: »

Nail varnish is on the list of prohibited goods and cannot be sent by RM unless you are a business account holder with the specific tariff to allow it. Do as hermum suggests. I would however check the online tracking status of the envelope to see if it has updated, if it hasn't, I would be tempted to claim INR.

and what if the tracking updates?

mazza111

I would advise to open a claim for Item not as described. Take a photo of the packaging, along with the RM bag, and upload it to something like photobucket and include the link in the complaint. It worked for me in the past.

theonlywayisup

custardy wrote: »

and what if the tracking updates?

Well then change the dispute from INR to SNAD.

It just may be a cheaper way for the Op initially. After all, she hasn't received her item.

FWIW recorded status never updates to parcels sent back to us, OP may have the same problem but be able to use it to their advantage.

mazza111

It will update if you've signed for it, it may take a while depending on how it was signed, paper normally takes a lot longer.

SNAD is the way to go.

Crowqueen

I'd be inclined to be honest and use SNAD. At least then it will be neither here nor there if the tracking shows delivery.