no card left - from buyers point of view

soolin

We often get threads that suggest all buyers claiming INR are scammers etc but at the moment I am having an issue where I can see it from the other side.

My OH ordered an item from a shop, not ebay, a place he uses regularly. We have a tracked RM 48 (not quite sure what service that equates to in a non business sense) and parcel tracked as out for delivery on Friday last. waited for postman on Friday who had nothing for us and suggested we waited until Saturday. That evening tracking still showed as 'out for delivery'

On Saturday postman knocked with other parcels and apologised he still had nothing from this shop (we know our current postman quite well). Checked online and tracking shows parcel held at sorting office (but not our local one) and card left.

Have been through the Royal Mail help system (which was not helpful- and kept suggesting all we needed to do was to go to the mail centre with card and collect). Finally managed to talk to a real person at RM who just kept saying we must have a card , but also couldn't explain why the item was at a mail centre some miles away. She suggested we try and claim it without a card , although did finally admit it was unlikely to be handed over).

Eventually RM lady said she would arrange to have it redelivered to us this morning so we are now waiting to see if it arrives.

The point of this is if this had been from an ebay seller who gave the impression they thought I was lying or did not believe we didn't get a card I would now be angry enough to be considering poor feedback. We have no card, we cannot collect without a card and spent over 30 minute son the phone yesterday trying to resolve this- so perhaps we all need to be mindful of buyers when they tell us they haven't got a card, and can't work out how to get a left parcel and don't have the luxury of time trying to chase it up. Incidentally, RM first tried suggesting we went online to have it redelivered, but we needed the card even for that.

bxboards

soolin wrote: »

RM first tried suggesting we went online to have it redelivered, but we needed the card even for that.

Actually you don't, just select 'parcel' / 'too big for letterbox' option rather than the tracked options and choose the day before for the carded date (the date you expected the delivery)

The redelivery will go through fine.

I have done this a few times when my buyers have not been in for delivery, or pretend they didn'r get a card and start talking about refunds.

I do not believe the frequently repeated assertion that postman often do not leave cards.

ballisticbrian

I get quite a few customers report no card left even when signed for data states it is waiting at their mail centre and a card has been left.


And yet on the other hand, when I suggest to a customer on a non-signed item to check the mail centre as often a card is not left, I'm the one who gets called "stupid" for suggesting RM would take parcels back and assume the addressee is psychic.

soolin

bxboards wrote: »

Actually you don't, just select 'parcel' / 'too big for letterbox' option rather than the tracked options and choose the day before for the carded date (the date you expected the delivery)

The redelivery will go through fine.

I have done this a few times when my buyers have not been in for delivery, or pretend they didn'r get a card and start talking about refunds.

I do not believe the frequently repeated assertion that postman often do not leave cards.

Well we have no card, and as yet no parcel (too early for post here).

I cannot think of any conceivable reason why my postman would chat to us on Friday and Saturday and then deliberately with hold the card from us?

ontheup1972

soolin wrote: »

We often get threads that suggest all buyers claiming INR are scammers etc but at the moment I am having an issue where I can see it from the other side.

My OH ordered an item from a shop, not ebay, a place he uses regularly. We have a tracked RM 48 (not quite sure what service that equates to in a non business sense) and parcel tracked as out for delivery on Friday last. waited for postman on Friday who had nothing for us and suggested we waited until Saturday. That evening tracking still showed as 'out for delivery'

On Saturday postman knocked with other parcels and apologised he still had nothing from this shop (we know our current postman quite well). Checked online and tracking shows parcel held at sorting office (but not our local one) and card left.

Have been through the Royal Mail help system (which was not helpful- and kept suggesting all we needed to do was to go to the mail centre with card and collect). Finally managed to talk to a real person at RM who just kept saying we must have a card , but also couldn't explain why the item was at a mail centre some miles away. She suggested we try and claim it without a card , although did finally admit it was unlikely to be handed over).

Eventually RM lady said she would arrange to have it redelivered to us this morning so we are now waiting to see if it arrives.

The point of this is if this had been from an ebay seller who gave the impression they thought I was lying or did not believe we didn't get a card I would now be angry enough to be considering poor feedback. We have no card, we cannot collect without a card and spent over 30 minute son the phone yesterday trying to resolve this- so perhaps we all need to be mindful of buyers when they tell us they haven't got a card, and can't work out how to get a left parcel and don't have the luxury of time trying to chase it up. Incidentally, RM first tried suggesting we went online to have it redelivered, but we needed the card even for that.

Well obviously first of all if it was an ebay seller who had sent it tracked 48, then they would be able to access the tracking data and see that your item was at the mail centre so they would not have to disbelieve that you had a card or not.

As for cards not being left, for most experienced ebay sellers, it is well known that RM sometimes attempt to deliver an item and don't leave a card (or maybe the card got thrown out with junk mail). The first thing I would say to a buyer would be something along the lines of "Have you tried your local delivery office? Often the cause of missing mail is that the postman tried to deliver and the postie forgot to leave a card, or the card has been lost amongst your junk mail" (which is true) That's always the first thing I ask.

As for picking orders up from the DO, yes it's very difficult to get your item without a card, in fact one day I was stood in the queue behind a man kicking off for this exact reason - the lady serving was saying "you can go online and re-arrange delivery and we'll bring it back out to you" which made him even angrier.

One point about re-delivery is that you can arrange it yourself online and just leave the card number blank. With no card you would also need to guess the day that delivery was attempted, but RM will still re-deliver.

soolin

Well, the parcel is on the move again, it currently shows:

28-NOV-2016
14:32
Forwarded - MISSORTS

theoretica

I have twice not had a card that I know about - once was tracked and when I went to see where it was it showed a card had supposedly been left a few days before. I rang up and rearranged delivery without problems.

The other time was odder. I went to the sorting office with one card and got two items, but knew they hadn't been delivered on the same day (ordered the second about the time I got the card) and further the second was small enough to fit through the letterbox and not tracked or anything.

mrcol1000

I had the opposite. A card was left but when I went to collect it no parcel. First they claimed I had asked for it to be redelivered and it had been delivered. Then that I had already collected it. Complained to Royal Mail customer services who said the sorting office manager had searched and not found my parcel. Questioned why the postman left a card when there was no parcel and just brushed off. Wasn't a parcel that I was expecting so can only assume it was a return. Never was resolved.

custardy

soolin wrote: »

We often get threads that suggest all buyers claiming INR are scammers etc but at the moment I am having an issue where I can see it from the other side.

My OH ordered an item from a shop, not ebay, a place he uses regularly. We have a tracked RM 48 (not quite sure what service that equates to in a non business sense) and parcel tracked as out for delivery on Friday last. waited for postman on Friday who had nothing for us and suggested we waited until Saturday. That evening tracking still showed as 'out for delivery'

On Saturday postman knocked with other parcels and apologised he still had nothing from this shop (we know our current postman quite well). Checked online and tracking shows parcel held at sorting office (but not our local one) and card left.

Have been through the Royal Mail help system (which was not helpful- and kept suggesting all we needed to do was to go to the mail centre with card and collect). Finally managed to talk to a real person at RM who just kept saying we must have a card , but also couldn't explain why the item was at a mail centre some miles away. She suggested we try and claim it without a card , although did finally admit it was unlikely to be handed over).

Eventually RM lady said she would arrange to have it redelivered to us this morning so we are now waiting to see if it arrives.

The point of this is if this had been from an ebay seller who gave the impression they thought I was lying or did not believe we didn't get a card I would now be angry enough to be considering poor feedback. We have no card, we cannot collect without a card and spent over 30 minute son the phone yesterday trying to resolve this- so perhaps we all need to be mindful of buyers when they tell us they haven't got a card, and can't work out how to get a left parcel and don't have the luxury of time trying to chase it up. Incidentally, RM first tried suggesting we went online to have it redelivered, but we needed the card even for that.

Is it tracking to your local delivery office?

custardy

mrcol1000 wrote: »

I had the opposite. A card was left but when I went to collect it no parcel. First they claimed I had asked for it to be redelivered and it had been delivered. Then that I had already collected it. Complained to Royal Mail customer services who said the sorting office manager had searched and not found my parcel. Questioned why the postman left a card when there was no parcel and just brushed off. Wasn't a parcel that I was expecting so can only assume it was a return. Never was resolved.

Can be many reasons. Common one is a misdelivery.
Once noticed and corrected you are left with a customer for a card for a packet that was never theirs.

custardy

soolin wrote: »

Well, the parcel is on the move again, it currently shows:

28-NOV-2016
14:32
Forwarded - MISSORTS

So its gone to the wrong office.
Likely it was mistakenly scanned as ready for delivery in the 'wrong' office.
THe process is its scanned as a missort. However,to muddy the waters. When an tracked item is scanned as a missort,its starts the 'clock' running for the delivery window.
So the correct DO gets hit with a late delivery,even though they didnt have the item at that point.