Item damaged by postman. What should I do?

pennypincher2013

I bought a card making kit for £6.99. It has arrived damaged. By the looks of it the postman folded the envelope in half to fit it through my letterbox. By doing this the card and papers have permanent damage in places and not something I could send to my intended recipient.
The card making kit was sent in a plain brown envelope with no protection and nothing on the envelope of the 'please do not bend' message.
Do I contact the seller for a replacement or refund as item is now unusable or does the fault lie with the postman? I feel they are both at fault, the seller for not packaging the item better and the postman for bending the envelope.

p.s. This is what the seller says about returns:
If you need to return a product purchased from us then you have 14 working days from receipt to do so. If the return is due to missing, damaged or faulty parts, then we will offer a full refund or replacement (whichever you prefer), provided we are aware of the issue within 14 working days of order receipt
For any return that is owing to a product fault or warehouse error, the refund of any original delivery charge and/or delivery return cost will be covered by us

Flyonthewall

Contact the seller and tell them it is damaged and can't be used. They should either offer a refund or replacement.

It is up to the seller if they wish to complain to RM over the postman bending the item and damaging it.

dlusman

pennypincher2013 wrote: »

Do I contact the seller for a replacement or refund as item is now unusable or does the fault lie with the postman? I feel they are both at fault, the seller for not packaging the item better and the postman for bending the envelope.

Postman is certainly NOT at fault. They have no idea what is in every envelope.

Stevie_Palimo

The envelope should had do not bend wrote on it if they were selling an item not to be folded in half.


Sellers fault here for not being on the ball with it.

ni-james

100% sellers fault for shoddy packaging. If it gets damaged when bent then it's not suitable for a standard envelope. Either board backed envelope or padded envelope with cardboard for strength should have been used.

Just tell them it arrived damaged, it's up to them to resolve with no expense to you.

soolin

Come back and ask again if seller expects you to return item at your own cost, or refuses to assist. However, the seller terms seem clear that any item damaged would have the postage covered both ways, so hopefully not going to be a problem.

RFW

soolin wrote: »

Come back and ask again if seller expects you to return item at your own cost, or refuses to assist. However, the seller terms seem clear that any item damaged would have the postage covered both ways, so hopefully not going to be a problem.

A decent seller would just refund and replace if it's damaged, possibly ask for a pic just to make sure. There's not really much point in paying to return (whoever pays) a damaged item.

motorguy

RFW wrote: »

A decent seller would just refund and replace

:eek:

Very generous of you!

alykatz

motorguy wrote: »

:eek:

Very generous of you!

Its not being generous at all, more having decent customer service when its obvious its in no way the customers fault.

pennypincher2013

Thank you all for your help. Seller has asked for me to return item using the prepaid returns label and said will refund upon receiving the item.
I'd be too wary to have a replacement in case the same thing happened.

soolin

RFW wrote: »

A decent seller would just refund and replace if it's damaged, possibly ask for a pic just to make sure. There's not really much point in paying to return (whoever pays) a damaged item.

I'd just refund and replace as well but thought I ought to stick to what is more usual on eBay.