Jewellery stolen in Royal Mail post

booey1

No, I didn't look through the Royal Mail website before going to the post office as I thought all the information I would need would be accessible in the main post office in a large city.

Yes you have to tell them what's in the parcel before they post it, I told them it was jewellery and that was the point where I checked to make sure First Class Signed For covered for £50. I was told it does.

Fluffybunny80

Sounds like the post office have misinformed you but human error here cannot be proved as they will just state their terms and conditions are on their website.
think you will have to take the hit here unfortunately and put it down to experience for the future.

Rappa

booey1 wrote: »

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.

booey1 wrote: »

No, I didn't look through the Royal Mail website before going to the post office as I thought all the information I would need would be accessible in the main post office in a large city.

Yes you have to tell them what's in the parcel before they post it, I told them it was jewellery and that was the point where I checked to make sure First Class Signed For covered for £50. I was told it does.

Your thread title alarmingly suggests that the jewelry was actually stolen. Do you have any evidence of this allegation? If not, you really should be careful about posting unjustified allegations - you can get into serious trouble for that.

If you do have evidence to support the allegation (which you could still get into trouble for unless those allegations are eventually proven in your favour) then I suggest you inform the police asap and allow them to investigate.

Otherwise I suggest that you accept they have simply gone missing.

In regards to terms you were not advised about, I think that really should be terms you never bothered to read, as it is obvious so many other people here know where to find them.

With regards to what you claim you were told, what evidence do you have to support this? If none, it will be down to your word against the post office worker, and RM will as you have been advised, simply point you to their written terms & conditions as published anyway. (Remember, RM and PO are not the same company in any event)

In regards to you making up new terms (or as you put it using established terms that you never tell anyone) then I'm afarid that simply does not wash in regards to a contract. Seek indepnedent legal advice about your terms and the validity or otherwsie of them if you are hoping to hold people to them.
But no, terms can only apply if they are agreed by all parties before the event ; they cannot, by definition, be agreed if you have not disclosed them.

Having said all that, if an item of post you have paid to be delivered is not delivered (and that is easy to establish when you have purchased a signature on delivery service - no signature then the burdon of proof will lie firmly with RM to to prove it was nonetheless delivered, you are usually entitled to some compensation.

As per the link, compensation is not available for jewellry using the psotal service you elected to use. Having said that, if you put in a claim, RM will probably send you 6 first class stamps as compo (unless they try to deny all responsibility as you used an inappropriate postal service). Even if, following your claim, RM prove the item was delivered despite not obtaining the signature you requested, then you will receive a refund of the price you paid compared to the price you would have paid for that service without the signature on delivery. i.e. a difference of £1.10, I believe

Rappa

booey1 wrote: »

But that's my point, I asked to make sure I was covered for £50 and I was, ....

RM first class usually does cover items up to £50 (providing you can prove that was the value of the contents), but valuables (such as money & jewellery) are explicity excluded.

Sounds like you didn't actually say there was jewellery included (despite what you later posted/claim)

But whatever you or I think is the truth is irrelevant - what matters is what you can now prove (and I suspect nothing). Remember as I also said, RM and PO are not the same company, so your claim would not be against RM in any event (save for as I suggested above)

maninthestreet

Does Registered Delivery/Post still exist, or has that been phased out?

Money_maker

Special Delivery covers valuables now which is probably what you are calling Registered. Or do you mean signed for which is just standard delivery with a signature?