Jewellery stolen in Royal Mail post

booey1

Hey, so I'd love some help with this.

Royal Mail told me they had delivered my parcel and it had been signed for 1st class.

Now they have said that it was not signed for and was lost before delivery. Despite various emails they will not tell me why they originally told me it was delivered, they will not tell me who the signiture belongs to that proves it was delivered, they won't tell me if it was lost or stolen because of 'data protection' and they have told me there won't give me any compensation because of some terms and conditions they never told me about.

Any ideas what I can do?

Also, is there anyway I can tell them that I have terms and conditions of my own that they were not aware of either that would require them to pay me £100 if they did not deliver my parcel? I'm happy to take it to small claims if needed as they are being extremely unhelpful and I've already had to sink hours into it.

Caz3121

booey1 wrote: »

Also, is there anyway I can tell them that I have terms and conditions of my own that they were not aware of either that would require them to pay me £100 if they did not deliver my parcel? I'm happy to take it to small claims if needed as they are being extremely unhelpful and I've already had to sink hours into it.

what service did you send it by? 1st class signed for does not cover jewellery. If it was Special Delivery Guaranteed there should be information on the website re compensation
http://www.royalmail.com/personal/help-and-support/signed-for/compensation

wealdroam

booey1 wrote: »

Also, is there anyway I can tell them that I have terms and conditions of my own that they were not aware of either that would require them to pay me £100 if they did not deliver my parcel?

Yes, write to then at:

Freepost ROYAL MAIL CUSTOMER SERVICES

Or send an email to:

customerservice@your.royalmail.com

Of course that doesn't mean that they'll accept your term.

booey1

Caz3121 wrote: »

what service did you send it by?

First class signed for, but there was no information to tell me when I posted the parcel that the jewellery wasn't covered, I specifically sent it by signed for so it would be covered for £50 and need to be signed for.

booey1

wealdroam wrote: »

customerservice@your.royalmail.com

Of course that doesn't mean that they'll accept your term.

I'm already in correspondence with them there and they are just ignoring me basically and saying 'it doesn't matter that you could not have known, it's still not covered.'

Do you think I'll have any look with my own terms and conditions in the small claims court?

wealdroam

booey1 wrote: »

Do you think I'll have any look with my own terms and conditions in the small claims court?

No.

I assume you mean 'luck'.

naedanger

booey1 wrote: »

I'm already in correspondence with them there and they are just ignoring me basically and saying 'it doesn't matter that you could not have known, it's still not covered.'

Do you think I'll have any look with my own terms and conditions in the small claims court?

Unfortunately you have virtually no chance of having success in the small claims court. Under the Postal Service Act 2000, it is not necessary for Royal Mail to have individual contracts with each and every customer purchasing certain products or using certain services.

http://www.royalmail.com/non-contract-terms-and-conditions

And compensation for jewellery is not available under Royal Mail signed for:

http://www.royalmail.com/personal/help-and-support/signed-for/compensation

[Deleted User]

It's up to you to ask when you post an item what is covered for the service you are using. In fact, more often than not the staff will ask you what the contents are and then advise accordingly.

First class items are not tracked through the system, unlike special delivery.

I have empathy for your package being lost but please take some personal responsibility for using the wrong service rather than blaming everyone else.

fleshandbone

Should have used special delivery.

booey1

camelot1971 wrote: »

It's up to you to ask when you post an item what is covered for the service you are using.

I have empathy for your package being lost but please take some personal responsibility for using the wrong service rather than blaming everyone else.

But that's my point, I asked to make sure I was covered for £50 and I was, I checked the signs at the counter to make sure there were no warnings about posting jewellery and there weren't. There was no way I could find out I wasn't covered. I posted specifically with 1st class signed for to make sure I was covered and to make sure that the jewellery had to be signed for.

Only 4 weeks after the item was stolen was I informed that the jewellery was part of a special exception. On returning to the post office where I sent the item, I checked to make sure I hadn't missed anything and they confirmed there is no information on display, but that it used to always say on the receipt, but now it no longer does. After about 15 minutes of talking to staff a lady managed to find a Services booklet in a box in a backroom, but she looked through it and the page detailing 1st class signed for does not say anything about not using the service for jewellery or that it is not covered.

It's impossible to find out that you are not covered until they fake your delivery and then tell you it's not covered, it doesn't matter that you checked all the information at your disposal and asked.

There is nothing you can do, it's effectively a secret terms and conditions that they use to cover themselves after stealing or losing your post.

If you had have been there Camelot you would have asked just like I did and double checked with all the information displayed to make sure jewellery wasn't a special item and you'd have been just as screewed as I am.

I just can't believe this is okay and there is nothing I can do.

Caz3121

booey1 wrote: »

There was no way I could find out I wasn't covered. I posted specifically with 1st class signed for to make sure I was covered and to make sure that the jewellery had to be signed for.

Did you look at the Royal Mail website before going to the post office?
Were you asked whether the package contained jewellery? Did you advise the post office what the contents were? - if so they should have advised you that it was not covered
http://www.postoffice.co.uk/mail/uk-what-can-i-send
https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/91/~/sending-valuables,-money-%26-jewellery-in-the-uk