Royal Mail complaint

Yvoh

I sold an item on EBay for £280 back in March and paid £11 for next day delivery with £300 insurance compensation. It took 5 days to be delivered due to snow, ice and arrived broken. I refunded buyer and made a claim to Royal Mail. This was refused as they said the packaging was insufficient. This is total nonsense, there was so much bubble wrap and shredded paper, in a cardboard box marked Fragile handle with care. Buyer also agreed it was really packed. I forwarded my claim to the Escalated Resolution Team, also refused, then to the POSTRS, Postal Redress Service, which are supposed to be independent, also refused. So nowhere to go now unless I pay to go to court. This has been going on since March so 6 months down the line I am £291 out of pocket. Shocking service, I will never pay extra for better service again, it doesn't exist. Rant over.

Fosterdog

Was the box damaged at all when it arrived with the buyer? You'll have an easy case if you have photos to show that it was manhandled in their care.

wesleyad

Seems an odd one "insufficient packaging" is such a subjective term. If you believe it was well packed and so does the buyer, then I don't see how they can turn it down, unless they have specific guidelines on the matter.

I'd say this comes under unfair terms.. Otherwise they can just reject every single claim they wish on their own subjective opinion.

The only thing I'm thinking. what was the item and how was it broken? If it was say a phone that arrived with a smashed screen, then clearly you have a case. But say there's no actually physical damage, it just wont turn on. Then they could be arguing you sent it broken (although they don't seem to be saying that as you have mentioned they already said about the packaging)

Fosterdog

In twist to the events here, I'm a member of a group on Facebook where OP has also happened to post their complaint, it actually turns out (with the extra snippets of information he has given there amongst insults towards other users who disagree with him) that the item sent was a laptop, there was no damage at all to the packaging but the packaging used did fail to meet the requirements RM set out for minimum requirements when sending electrical items. They recommend a minimum of 5cm of packing material all around the device and for it to be secured inside a rigid box, the laptop was not packed sufficiently and three separate investigations (two by Royal Mail and one independent) have all come to the same conclusion.

He still hasn't said exactly what the nature of the broken laptop was, whether it just fails to turn on, whether it has a cracked screen, damaged casing, or something else altogether, but what is clear is that the outer packaging has no sign of it being mishandled in any way. Over the years working in IT repairs I have come across numerous laptops damaged in transit and the two most common causes are either insufficeint packaging, to poor placement of accessories. The number of people who place the power adapter on top of the laptop before wrapping in bubble wrap, or even with just a thin layer between them is astounding and strangely due to the laws of physics even careful handling can cause the adapter to damage the screen from outside the laptop.

Personally when packaging a laptop to send I use the recommended amount of bubble wrap (depending on what the specific courier service recommends), put the wrapped laptop inside a box, then put that box inside a bigger rigid box with further packing material, and in the cavity between the two boxes and mixed in with the packing material is where I would place any bubble wrapped accessories. It may seem OTT but in almost 15 years I've never had a laptop I've packaged damaged in transit, even with signs of damage to the outer box if it's been dropped there has been no damage to the actual laptop.

mattyprice4004

Who would send a laptop with less than 5cm all round, AND in a rigid box? They're both absolutely common sense - it's a fragile piece of electrical equipment.

I used to retail laptops, and would post them in a 60 x 30 x 18cm box, absolutely packed with bubble wrap, bubble bags and shredded cardboard.

mattyprice4004

Fosterdog wrote: »

In twist to the events here, I'm a member of a group on Facebook where OP has also happened to post their complaint

Got a link? Nothing more amusing than when someone throws their toys out of the pram because they're not being told what they want to hear! I need a giggle

Fosterdog

mattyprice4004 wrote: »

Got a link? Nothing more amusing than when someone throws their toys out of the pram because they're not being told what they want to hear! I need a giggle

Facebook Group

It does look like some comments have been deleted but it still makes for entertaining reading

custardy

Yvoh wrote: »

I sold an item on EBay for £280 back in March and paid £11 for next day delivery with £300 insurance compensation. It took 5 days to be delivered due to snow, ice and arrived broken. I refunded buyer and made a claim to Royal Mail. This was refused as they said the packaging was insufficient. This is total nonsense, there was so much bubble wrap and shredded paper, in a cardboard box marked Fragile handle with care. Buyer also agreed it was really packed. I forwarded my claim to the Escalated Resolution Team, also refused, then to the POSTRS, Postal Redress Service, which are supposed to be independent, also refused. So nowhere to go now unless I pay to go to court. This has been going on since March so 6 months down the line I am £291 out of pocket. Shocking service, I will never pay extra for better service again, it doesn't exist. Rant over.

supposedly independent doesnt mean they are required to agree with you.
£11 for next day delivery & £300 compensation?
So you mean Parcelforce,not Royal Mail?
Contrary to popular belief,fragile markings dont activate parcel force field mode.
If as posted the packaging wasnt damaged,then what has the carrier done that stops it working?

custardy

Fosterdog wrote: »

Facebook Group

It does look like some comments have been deleted but it still makes for entertaining reading

Don't think I should join that group

Fosterdog

custardy wrote: »

Don't think I should join that group

There's actually a lot of current and ex posties on there, I didn't join with a complaint, it was recommended to me by someone because the RM and PO staff on there are actually very helpful and I was trying to trace a parcel coming to the U.K. from the US, I knew it hadn't yet been handed over to RM but it was lost. The members of the group that have access to the systems in work managed to find out a bit more info for me.

Some of the complaints are hilarious, every time it rains people post photos of wet envelopes complaining :rotfl:

custardy

Fosterdog wrote: »

There's actually a lot of current and ex posties on there, I didn't join with a complaint, it was recommended to me by someone because the RM and PO staff on there are actually very helpful and I was trying to trace a parcel coming to the U.K. from the US, I knew it hadn't yet been handed over to RM but it was lost. The members of the group that have access to the systems in work managed to find out a bit more info for me.

Some of the complaints are hilarious, every time it rains people post photos of wet envelopes complaining :rotfl:

Nah, Ive skimmed it.
Same old same old.
Top post being about stopping all the leaflets with someone saying they get 10 leaflets a day from RM............