High value parcel marked as delivered but not?

kathryn2809

Hi,

I ordered a new phone on the 10/05/18 from envirofone, which was sent via royal mail 24 delivery. It was supposedly delivered on the 14/05/18 and has been signed for at the reception of the student halls I live in.
When asking at reception if there was a parcel for me to collect, I was told there wasn't.
I have been back to ask everyday since (despite them sending out emails when parcels arrive for you to collect) and still, it is not there.
They have said they've looked everywhere for it and there is nothing to be collected.
They said that as there are so many students living here, many parcels are delivered everyday so they just sign for a few big bags of parcels, and not the individual parcels within the bags,
I have contacted royal mail, who have conducted an 'investigation', which I fear is little more than seeing it says it's been signed for at the reception, and said it was delivered.
I fear that it was not in the parcel bag delivered to the reception, and has been sent elsewhere.
As royal mail won't take responsibility for losing it, envirofone have said they cannot help any further than this and that all I can do now is phone the police.
Is this true? Is it really not their responsibility anymore? It was a lot of money for me to spend to get absolutely nothing but a week of immense stress from, so really am looking for a refund.
I paid via PayPal as well, but i'm not sure I can get a refund through them as someone has signed for it.
Any advice would be appreciated

agrinnall

I would suggest that as the student hall reception signed for it they have taken responsibility for it - it's their choice to sign for a batch of parcels rather than each one individually.

its_all_over

I think agrinnall is correct, both envirofone and Royal Mail have done exactly what you asked of them and have not done anything wrong. You asked for the phone to be sent to the reception and they did exactly that. You need to take it up with whoever is in charge of the reception to investigate where it is and where it's gone.

shaun_from_Africa

kathryn2809 wrote: »

I fear that it was not in the parcel bag delivered to the reception, and has been sent elsewhere.
........
Is this true? Is it really not their responsibility anymore?

As there is a signature from one of the receptionists stating that they have accepted the package then if that item was not in the mailbag or has gone missing since then it's the responsibility of the reception staff.

Unless the package specifically stated that it was only to be delivered to you personally and not to reception, then the responsibility of the seller for the loss ended at the point it was signed for.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/29/enacted

Passing of risk
(1)A sales contract is to be treated as including the following provisions as terms.
(2)The goods remain at the trader’s risk until they come into the physical possession of—
(a)the consumer, or
(b)a person identified by the consumer to take possession of the goods.

Fosterdog

If it's had a signature then it must have been in the mailbag as they would have had to scan the barcode on it in order for the PDA to generate the signature screen, if it wasn't in the bag then they would not be able to scan the barcode so would not have a signature.

CardinalWolsey

I would be asking reception how they sign for parcels in bulk. Does the Royal Mail actually have a bulk signing feature - whereby individual consignments are assigned to the bulk (e.g. sack/crate etc), and then the bulk is tracked and linked back to the individual parcel. If it does, then I would suggest the liability actually still lies with Royal Mail - your parcel has not been signed for, and that is the service that has been paid for.

If, on the other hand, reception stand there for 10 minutes as each parcel is scanned, then they sign, then the next parcel is scanned, liability could rest with reception.

Go check with reception and understand that side of things better, and report back.

Fosterdog

CardinalWolsey wrote: »

I would be asking reception how they sign for parcels in bulk. Does the Royal Mail actually have a bulk signing feature - whereby individual consignments are assigned to the bulk (e.g. sack/crate etc), and then the bulk is tracked and linked back to the individual parcel. If it does, then I would suggest the liability actually still lies with Royal Mail - your parcel has not been signed for, and that is the service that has been paid for.

If, on the other hand, reception stand there for 10 minutes as each parcel is scanned, then they sign, then the next parcel is scanned, liability could rest with reception.

Go check with reception and understand that side of things better, and report back.

We get signed for stuff from them in work everyday, it doesn't need each item scanned and signed individually but they will scan every item individually and get a single signature for them all, it does require the item to be physically scanned at the point of obtaining a signature. They don't have a bulk scan code that would assign the signature to them all without them needing to be scanned at the point of delivery.

It doesn't matter if we sign for one item or 50, they are each scanned individually and then one signature added to them all and then it is submitted.

custardy

kathryn2809 wrote: »

Hi,

I ordered a new phone on the 10/05/18 from envirofone, which was sent via royal mail 24 delivery. It was supposedly delivered on the 14/05/18 and has been signed for at the reception of the student halls I live in.
When asking at reception if there was a parcel for me to collect, I was told there wasn't.
I have been back to ask everyday since (despite them sending out emails when parcels arrive for you to collect) and still, it is not there.
They have said they've looked everywhere for it and there is nothing to be collected.
They said that as there are so many students living here, many parcels are delivered everyday so they just sign for a few big bags of parcels, and not the individual parcels within the bags,
I have contacted royal mail, who have conducted an 'investigation', which I fear is little more than seeing it says it's been signed for at the reception, and said it was delivered.
I fear that it was not in the parcel bag delivered to the reception, and has been sent elsewhere.
As royal mail won't take responsibility for losing it, envirofone have said they cannot help any further than this and that all I can do now is phone the police.
Is this true? Is it really not their responsibility anymore? It was a lot of money for me to spend to get absolutely nothing but a week of immense stress from, so really am looking for a refund.
I paid via PayPal as well, but i'm not sure I can get a refund through them as someone has signed for it.
Any advice would be appreciated

You are focusing the wrong way.
So you think the postie scanned the item then delivered it elsewhere?
Then nobody noticed this?

Having delivered to similar set ups,the parcels are delivered and generally the control is very loose/poor.
I'll bet there is no recording system as to who picks up what parcel or what parcels are on hand.
Near 100% the item was in the bag and someone who works/lives there has the item.

jumpedtheshark

Fosterdog's explanation is really helpful to you, OP. The parcel must have arrived at reception and have been scanned there. Then there's a bulk signature, but that doesn't invalidate the individual scan. Given reception have no record of notifying you of the arrival of your parcel, reception lost it after scanning it. Pursue this with reception, then whoever owns the halls (your university, etc.).

custardy

jumpedtheshark wrote: »

Fosterdog's explanation is really helpful to you, OP. The parcel must have arrived at reception and have been scanned there. Then there's a bulk signature, but that doesn't invalidate the individual scan. Given reception have no record of notifying you of the arrival of your parcel, reception lost it after scanning it. Pursue this with reception, then whoever owns the halls (your university, etc.).

Its not a bulk signature as such. Its a signature assigned to each scanned item.
I you track each item it has a signature & name attached to it.

Spender£

Whoever signed for the parcel was the last person to see it, He/She is the problem!