Buyer has returned item to wrong address

Tyrone_Black

Hi all,

I sold a tablet on Amazon a month or so ago which the buyer wanted to return it for reasons I accepted. I asked them to use Collect+.

They messed it up and just sent it by Collect+ to the shop, with my name as the addressee. They didn't give Collect+ any of my information. Collect+ has recorded it as "delivered to customer".

The shop claims not to have it. Where do I stand here? This is the error of the sender in not using the service properly, and the shop in presumably allowing one of their staff to take advantage and pinch it.

Seems like I'm going to be the one out of pocket here.

Tyrone_Black

Should clarify: Because the buyer messed up, the shop IS the recipient as far as Collect+ are concerned (albeit with my name on it).

cookie365

Look at this from the buyer's point of view (without knowing any other detail).

To send stuff to someone, you write their name on the front of the package, and below that write the address it needs to go to. The buyer it seems has done exactly that.

You - not the buyer - have chosen some complicated alternative, and are now trying to transfer the risks of that unneccessary complexity onto them.

Tyrone_Black

No, the buyer has written the address of the shop I wished to collect it from and not the clearly stated return address. In fact, I didn't even give them the full address of the shop - they googled it.

Collect+ is a pretty simple service and they should have either refused or asked for instruction if they couldn't work it out.

But anyway, what of the shop? I can prove they received the parcel. Any recourse that way?

naedanger

Tyrone_Black wrote: »

But anyway, what of the shop? I can prove they received the parcel. Any recourse that way?

I would have thought so, provided you can indeed prove that the parcel was received by the shop. (I suspect you may need more than just Collect+ saying it was delivered.)

I suggest you show the shop your proof and demand the item is refunded. If they refuse to do so then I suspect you may need to sue them.

cookie365

Tyrone_Black wrote: »

No, the buyer has written the address of the shop I wished to collect it from and not the clearly stated return address. In fact, I didn't even give them the full address of the shop - they googled it.

So they've written your name and the place you wanted them to send it on the package? That's kind of how sending parcels works!

Tyrone_Black wrote: »

Collect+ is a pretty simple service and they should have either refused or asked for instruction if they couldn't work it out.

It's not their responsibility to work out how your chosen method of sending works. It's your responsibility to make it clear to them. Did you not provide them with an address label they could print out?

Tyrone_Black wrote: »

But anyway, what of the shop? I can prove they received the parcel. Any recourse that way?

No doubt they'll say that they received a parcel addressed to somebody they'd never heard of, so they marked it return to sender and gave it back to the postie the next day. And that might even be true.

Exile_geordie

cookie365 wrote: »

So they've written your name and the place you wanted them to send it on the package? That's kind of how sending parcels works!

It's not their responsibility to work out how your chosen method of sending works. It's your responsibility to make it clear to them. Did you not provide them with an address label they could print out?

No doubt they'll say that they received a parcel addressed to somebody they'd never heard of, so they marked it return to sender and gave it back to the postie the next day. And that might even be true.

You have totally misunderstood how something like Collect+ works.


Just for brevity(and a bit of education for you) - you write the addressee name and HOME address on the parcel but it gets sent to the Collect+ shop where the receiver can pick it up. This is not complicated - you have just got yourself confused, like the buyer of the OPs item.


What has happened is not the above but the buyer has mistakenly written the shops address as the receiver of the parcel and not the OPs address so they were wrong and now the shop is saying they haven't received it.


OP - get proof of delivery from Collect+, them saying so wont help you.

photome

cookie365 wrote: »

So they've written your name and the place you wanted them to send it on the package? That's kind of how sending parcels works!

It's not their responsibility to work out how your chosen method of sending works. It's your responsibility to make it clear to them. Did you not provide them with an address label they could print out?

No doubt they'll say that they received a parcel addressed to somebody they'd never heard of, so they marked it return to sender and gave it back to the postie the next day. And that might even be true.

The buyer writes the wrong return address on the parcel and you think its the senders fault!!!

Having said that not sure what the OP does next

bod1467

Have you already refunded the buyer?

SnowTiger

Who paid for the postage and created the returns label? I'm guess it was the customer.

It appears they've addressed the parcel to:

Tyrone Black
Local shop
...

instead of:

Tyrone Black
Acacia Avenue
...

And that the tracking information shows the parcel was successfully delivered to:

Tyrone Black
Local shop
...

I think the Collect+ stuff is just a red herring and that the customer has simply sent the parcel to the wrong address. Getting Amazon to understand this might be a problem.

DCFC79

cookie365 wrote: »

Look at this from the buyer's point of view (without knowing any other detail).

To send stuff to someone, you write their name on the front of the package, and below that write the address it needs to go to. The buyer it seems has done exactly that.

You - not the buyer - have chosen some complicated alternative, and are now trying to transfer the risks of that unneccessary complexity onto them.

When you use the Collect+ service you choose a dropoff point eg a local shop.

You can even hand write the senders address on the label.

In the OP's case the sender has for some reason decided to address the parcel incorrect.