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Special Delivery item gone missing - Resolved

melliott1963
Posts: 474 Forumite
Sorry if this goes on a bit!
I bought a video camera from an ebay shop with Special Delivery as the postage method, and was delighted that they posted it the same day (last Thursday).
The item was being delivered to my office.
On Friday lunchtime I thought I'd check the tracking number provided to see if it had been delivered and, according to Royal Mail's track and trace system, it had been signed for in the morning. I was a little worried as my post people are usually very good and, any item that comes tracked they log in a book and get you to sign for it when they give it to you.
I checked with reception and they said they had not received any Special Delivery items. The signature didn't match with anyone who would have signed for it, and the initals also weren't any of our reception or post office staff (or even, anyone who works in the building!). We checked the CCTV footage around the time it was meant to have been delivered and no postman had come in.
I've raised a complaint with Royal Mail and also notified the company I bought the camera from and they too have raised a claim.
Our office is in a normal street, so not some industrial estate where it might be confusing which office is what.
So my question is this. What happens if Royal Mail come back and say that they are satisfied that the parcel was delivered (even though our CCTV footage proves otherwise)? I obviously can't claim through Paypal as the tracking shows that the item has been delivered.
The Video Camera was a top of the range consumer version, worth just over £700, so it's not something I can afford to write off.
Would I be able to take legal action against Royal Mail? Or should the company I bought it from do something?
I'm hoping that is was just wrongly delivered and will turn up, but would like to know my options if not.
Thanks.
I bought a video camera from an ebay shop with Special Delivery as the postage method, and was delighted that they posted it the same day (last Thursday).
The item was being delivered to my office.
On Friday lunchtime I thought I'd check the tracking number provided to see if it had been delivered and, according to Royal Mail's track and trace system, it had been signed for in the morning. I was a little worried as my post people are usually very good and, any item that comes tracked they log in a book and get you to sign for it when they give it to you.
I checked with reception and they said they had not received any Special Delivery items. The signature didn't match with anyone who would have signed for it, and the initals also weren't any of our reception or post office staff (or even, anyone who works in the building!). We checked the CCTV footage around the time it was meant to have been delivered and no postman had come in.
I've raised a complaint with Royal Mail and also notified the company I bought the camera from and they too have raised a claim.
Our office is in a normal street, so not some industrial estate where it might be confusing which office is what.
So my question is this. What happens if Royal Mail come back and say that they are satisfied that the parcel was delivered (even though our CCTV footage proves otherwise)? I obviously can't claim through Paypal as the tracking shows that the item has been delivered.
The Video Camera was a top of the range consumer version, worth just over £700, so it's not something I can afford to write off.
Would I be able to take legal action against Royal Mail? Or should the company I bought it from do something?
I'm hoping that is was just wrongly delivered and will turn up, but would like to know my options if not.
Thanks.
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Comments
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Have you asked if the postman signed for the parcel himself and left it. You should have footage of that, but maybe he left it with a neighbour0
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OK, panic over (sort of)!
I checked the online signature again today, and this had changed from how it was showing on Friday. It also had a delivery date of today.
I rang Royal Mail and it would appear that the postman had delivered it to the wrong address. The company had signed for it before realising it wasn't for them, so gave it back to the postman who, rather than delivering it to the correct address, just took it back to the sorting office and got it returned to the sender, who received it back today.
I rang the company and they read out the address on the package, which was perfect.
So it looks like a case of an incompetant and lazy postman rather than a dishonest one.
They're going to be resending me the parcel, but using a courier this time instead of Royal Mail!0 -
melliott1963 wrote: »OK, panic over (sort of)!
I checked the online signature again today, and this had changed from how it was showing on Friday. It also had a delivery date of today.
I rang Royal Mail and it would appear that the postman had delivered it to the wrong address. The company had signed for it before realising it wasn't for them, so gave it back to the postman who, rather than delivering it to the correct address, just took it back to the sorting office and got it returned to the sender, who received it back today.
I rang the company and they read out the address on the package, which was perfect.
So it looks like a case of an incompetant and lazy postman rather than a dishonest one.
They're going to be resending me the parcel, but using a courier this time instead of Royal Mail!
I know mistakes can happen , but you would have thought the postie upon realising their mistake would have taken the parcel to the correct address instead of returning to sender.0 -
I do hope your seller gets compensation from royal mail for the original postage they paid.
I know mistakes can happen , but you would have thought the postie upon realising their mistake would have taken the parcel to the correct address instead of returning to sender.
That's dependent on whether it was the same postie that it was given back to surely? RM have many different posties covering different walks. It could have been something as simple as a strange/new postie covering that day, but yes, the sender should receive a refund.4 Stones and 0 pounds or 25.4kg lighter :j0 -
I do hope your seller gets compensation from royal mail for the original postage they paid.
I know mistakes can happen , but you would have thought the postie upon realising their mistake would have taken the parcel to the correct address instead of returning to sender.
They probably couldn't since it was already signed for. They have to get a sig, I bet they can't remove the wrong sig once it's signed for so it probably had to go back to the depot.0 -
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I do hope your seller gets compensation from royal mail for the original postage they paid.
I know mistakes can happen , but you would have thought the postie upon realising their mistake would have taken the parcel to the correct address instead of returning to sender.
Having spoke to my seller, and they're definitely pursuing compensation from Royal Mail.
There's no way that, with a perfectly addressed parcel, as it was, that a postman wouldn't know where my office is. It's been here for the past 30 years, is in a normal street (not an industrial area), and has a huge sign at the entrance saying the name of the company and the first line of the address!
I did wonder if, with disgruntled posties over the privatisation of RM, the postie was hoping to take the parcel, but found out that we had CCTV footage, so came up with a story about it being an invalid address/delivered incorrectly.
I'm just glad that I didn't need the video camera for the weekend.0 -
Items get misdelivered. Incompetence is much more likely than what you're alluding to.
My door has my number on, but occasionlly I get my neighbours mail and he gets mine.0 -
But the thing is, the postman must have been given it back at the time he mis-delivered it, or else there was no way the seller could have received it back as quickly as they did. So why didn't he, realising his mistake, try and correct it by delivering it properly?
Perhaps I should just avoid ordering things that might try to be delivered on a Friday the 13th!
Also, a lesson learnt is to always have expensive items delivered to my office where practical. Let's just pretend that it was a case of a crooked postman and the parcel did go completely missing (which of course it didn't). Having it delivered to my office, which has CCTV, could prove it hadn't been delivered, but if it had been going to my home address instead, it would have just been my word against the postman's.0 -
Must be a thief then0
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