Sent tracked item to an address confirmed with Paypal but not with Royal Mail HELP

ThriftyShelly

Hi, just wanted to ask a little advice and also make sellers aware of this as I wasn't!
I sent an item about 6 weeks ago tracked delivery and the address was confirmed with paypal. The buyer then informed me she did not received the item, I checked the tracking no and it was showing as "being processed through the system" -I rang Royal Mail for advice and the said the parcel is lost you can claim compensation then refund your buyer or refund them now and cwait for your compensation, it's up to you.
As I didn't want to make the buyer wait I refunded them in full straight away.
I then filled out the forms, sent proof of postage etc and evidence that I had refunded the buyer to RM.
I have just had a letter to state I will not get compensation as the address is not valid within Royal mails records!
I called to question this and pointed out that the address is confirmed and verified with paypal, the lady on the phone said RM have addresses verified with the local council and that I sent the item to a road (which I thought was the house name)
Royal Mail also did not send me back my proof of postage with the tracking no on and I have asked for this to be returned and am hoping I can get my money back from Paypal.
What I wanted to ask was has thus happened to anyone else and did they get their money back from paypal given that paypal have stated it is a verified address?
The lady from Royal mail has said the only way for me as a seller to avoid this in the future is to check every address I send to is registered on their website prior to sending the parcel regardless as to whether paypal say this address is verified or not!!
I wanted to make other sellers aware as I have been selling for about 3 years as a private seller and this is a new one for me!!

soolin

i lost a case in exactly the same situation many years ago-confirmed address of a library for a major UK university. Book failed to arrive and RM refused my claim and I lost my money.

Unfortunately paypal confirmed only means they are happy with it, it is not the same as RM database addresses. One of the addresses in my paypal account is a very strange one basically saying a house on this estate with a red roof with no door number, as once you have one address confirmed anythign else wil also be confirmed.

You can't do anything with paypal as you have not managed to show delivery to the address they gave, whether that address is correct or not is immaterial. There is even a very good chance item has arrived as signed for rarely updates past the 'in transit' message in many areas anyway.

All you can do is check the RM database for yourself, see how wrong the address is and appeal to them and keep appealing.

soolin

To add further, if yours was a missing house number then i think you are onto a loser, mine was a wrong postcode and I still lost although the university had that post code on all their official paperwork.

WE had a thread on here a few weeks back in which sellers commented on how many wrong addresses we were getting. We had one seller who said they had an address that said something like 'Exeter' and that was all- still verified by paypal and when buyer was questioned they said they had removed an old address and completely forgotten to type the new one in .

campdave

I've had a verified address that was an address in the Republic of Ireland but with a fake postcode so they could pay UK postage.

Anything without a house number I check to see if it's complete.

First thing I do when I get an INR is ask buyer to confirm their address, so I can check if I've been given a duff address. It won't win me an INR claim, but I have had buyers admit they have given me incomplete or old addresses and not take things further.

ThriftyShelly

Thanks Dave and Soolin for your replies, looks like I have lost my money!
It is a lesson learned and I will check in the future with the buyer if they have given me the correct address, or might even have to start checking on the royal mail website that the address is listed before sending.
It does make you think again about using e-bay but most people I send to are honest. ( I hope!) Had a lot of claims for INR before I sent tracked delivery and didn't know about this one!!
I am awaiting Royal Mail sending me back my proof of postage and will see if I can get my money back from Paypal (although don't think I will from what Soolin has said)
I have also informed Royal Mail that I am not happy with their decision (as the parcel had my address on the back and they did not return the proof of postage I sent with the claim) and some one is going to call me on Monday about this, will post back if I get my money back- thanks again

Pembroke

Here's something you may like to refer Royal Mail to when you contact them on Monday. On their own website:

http://www.royalmail.com/personal/help-and-support/what-happens-if-you-cant-deliver-something

They say this (my bold):

"We make every effort to make sure your mail arrives safely, so we'll keep it for 18 days. After this, items will be returned to the sender's address on the external cover of the envelope or packet. Contact the sender of the item to see if it has been returned.
Where no external return address is provided and the letter does not have a Printed Postage Impression or franking mark, the item will be forwarded to the National Returns Centre in Belfast and opened to identify a sender. As long as the contents are not newspapers, advertising materials or magazines they may be returned to sender.

If there is no return address available and the contents meet our storage criteria, we may hold the items for up to four months (for 1st Class, 2nd Class. For Royal Mail Signed For™ it’s two months) pending claims via Customer Services. If the item is not claimed within that time, unfortunately we’ll have to dispose of it".

So your 6 weeks is still within their 2 months.

Also I assume you posted it from a post office, so how if they typed the address into the counter system wasn't the flaw in the address highlighted then? I know if any of my addresses aren't correct the postmaster says so. As a last resort you may need to find out the phone number of the sorting office closest to the delivery address and give them a ring to see if they know of any undeliverable parcels hanging around.

Did you enclose any sort of delivery note so if it makes it to Belfast they can return it that way?

Snap-ant

:o

I go one step further and Google Earth walk past the address

I like to see where my things are going to

JAG

Just to add a couple of things:

All the Recorded Delivery items I have sent the 'Address Validated?' on the receipt is always 'N'

Does anyone know what this actually means? I took it that the computer system could not verify the address.

And the other point is make sure you have a note of the house number and postcode and check the recorded delivery receipt, because the PO counter staff can sometimes make a mistake in typing in the details, and if you have to make a claim and failed to notice the error then people have lost a claim for missing items due to this.

ThriftyShelly

Thanks Pembroke, Snap Ant and JAG
You made me laugh Snap Ant but I might try this in the future!
Don't know the answer to your question JAG but will ask at the PO next time I am there
Pembroke, will ask if my parcel can be sent back to me (didn't see that page on the RM website) fingers crossed!!
I think as an e-bay seller you have to factor in that there will be losses along the way but it's annoying when you send tracked and like you say not pointed out at the PO that the address wasn't validated, although lady on the phone said that it would not be picked up at that stage?
Will let u know how I get on x

harveybobbles

Snap-ant wrote: »

:o

I go one step further and Google Earth walk past the address

I like to see where my things are going to

Thought it was just me that did that.. lol.

harveybobbles

JAG wrote: »

Just to add a couple of things:

All the Recorded Delivery items I have sent the 'Address Validated?' on the receipt is always 'N'

Does anyone know what this actually means? I took it that the computer system could not verify the address.

Often wonder what this means.