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How 'Special Delivery' Lost? Y no refund?
mikesmoney
Posts: 5 Forumite
in Motoring
OK so word to the wise – do NOT trust the postal service’s £6.50 ‘Special Delivery’ of your valuable items ‘insured’ up to £500, as it appears that, sadly, slimy Royal Snail terms & conditions apply…
I posted a car key of approximately £200 value recently; Snail Mail lost it somewhere between depots, and it’s pretty much ruined my Christmas.
Why? Because what Snail won’t tell you, and what a cashier didn’t tell me, on sending, was that compensation is only provided if you hold a receipt that validates the value of the item at the time of ‘purchase, acquisition or manufacture’.
So – warning to small businesses: those valuable custom jeans you crafted from denim? Or that fine tolerance craft ornament you spent six months sculpting from oak? Don’t even think about posting to a customer special delivery; as in the event of loss, you’ll be rewarded with a payment for the canvas or wood (as long as you can provide a valid receipt, naturally !!!)
Where does this leave anyone who urgently needs to securely post a car key? In a world of grief, that’s where.
Apart from parting with just shy of £200 in advance for a key I have no assurance of seeing refunded, I’ve had to spend the last fortnight (Snail generously offer a tight 14 day deadline for compensation claims) begging BMW – who have been brilliant, in contrast – for cash sales invoices: invoices which, however explicit, my business colleagues scoff at, dismissing them out of hand and regaling me with tale after tale of items lost, items unrefunded, and their eventual permanent transition to Collect Plus..
Now it’s true there’s been no final no – but boy, I’ve certainly not had any customer service out Snail yet and I’m certainly not filled with any confidence. Of two complaints sent (the first received no reply), the second reply consists of a pre-formatted demand for postage details of which Snail could easily appraise themselves by simply entering the tracking number, signed by a mysterious ‘Alan Rowlands’ – an apparently senior Snail employee of whom I can find no trace on Linked In or any other social or professional databases. So what do you think everyone? What are the odds old Alan is either a pseudonym, or that Snail spend as much time and money investigating to refuse straight forward compensation claims that dovetail perfectly with their slimy T&Cs as they do dismiss the tens of thousands that they deem to fall short, and our Alan is either a veil for or a real ‘claims investigator?’ It’s certainly the habit of these powerful businesses to add insult to injury to try and bamboozle the hapless customer into meek submission: all I can say in this instance is good luck with the third degree, you can bring your investigation skills to the small claims court and employ them investigating all the damned paperwork I’ve had to ask my helpful car dealership to cough up. My only question is – WHY? Why as ever does a customer have to waste hours into days into potentially weeks if a small claim goes through just in an attempt to be afforded basic consumer rights? Especially by a once respected institution like Royal Mail?
Anyone?
☹ ☹ ☹ :xmassign:
I posted a car key of approximately £200 value recently; Snail Mail lost it somewhere between depots, and it’s pretty much ruined my Christmas.
Why? Because what Snail won’t tell you, and what a cashier didn’t tell me, on sending, was that compensation is only provided if you hold a receipt that validates the value of the item at the time of ‘purchase, acquisition or manufacture’.
So – warning to small businesses: those valuable custom jeans you crafted from denim? Or that fine tolerance craft ornament you spent six months sculpting from oak? Don’t even think about posting to a customer special delivery; as in the event of loss, you’ll be rewarded with a payment for the canvas or wood (as long as you can provide a valid receipt, naturally !!!)
Where does this leave anyone who urgently needs to securely post a car key? In a world of grief, that’s where.
Apart from parting with just shy of £200 in advance for a key I have no assurance of seeing refunded, I’ve had to spend the last fortnight (Snail generously offer a tight 14 day deadline for compensation claims) begging BMW – who have been brilliant, in contrast – for cash sales invoices: invoices which, however explicit, my business colleagues scoff at, dismissing them out of hand and regaling me with tale after tale of items lost, items unrefunded, and their eventual permanent transition to Collect Plus..
Now it’s true there’s been no final no – but boy, I’ve certainly not had any customer service out Snail yet and I’m certainly not filled with any confidence. Of two complaints sent (the first received no reply), the second reply consists of a pre-formatted demand for postage details of which Snail could easily appraise themselves by simply entering the tracking number, signed by a mysterious ‘Alan Rowlands’ – an apparently senior Snail employee of whom I can find no trace on Linked In or any other social or professional databases. So what do you think everyone? What are the odds old Alan is either a pseudonym, or that Snail spend as much time and money investigating to refuse straight forward compensation claims that dovetail perfectly with their slimy T&Cs as they do dismiss the tens of thousands that they deem to fall short, and our Alan is either a veil for or a real ‘claims investigator?’ It’s certainly the habit of these powerful businesses to add insult to injury to try and bamboozle the hapless customer into meek submission: all I can say in this instance is good luck with the third degree, you can bring your investigation skills to the small claims court and employ them investigating all the damned paperwork I’ve had to ask my helpful car dealership to cough up. My only question is – WHY? Why as ever does a customer have to waste hours into days into potentially weeks if a small claim goes through just in an attempt to be afforded basic consumer rights? Especially by a once respected institution like Royal Mail?
Anyone?
☹ ☹ ☹ :xmassign:
0
Comments
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I believe the OP is looking for another sub forum. This clearly isn't the correct place.0
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Been using RM special delivery for multiple parcels a week, up to £20k - £30k total value on occasions, every week for the past 6 years. Never had a problem.
Just saying.0 -
It doesn’t seem particularly unreasonable for them to want some proof of value.0
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Royal Mail have always required proof of value for insurance claims for lost/damaged items. Common sense, really. Imagine what would happen if they didn't. Hint: not everyone is honest.If someone is nice to you but rude to the waiter, they are not a nice person.0
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Dear OP
Thank you for the heads up, appreciated.
ATB and sorry about your situation.0 -
Indeed it doesn't.It doesn’t seem particularly unreasonable for them to want some proof of value.
So this small business wouldn't have any sales documentation for the jeans or ornament, then, showing the value...?mikesmoney wrote: »So – warning to small businesses: those valuable custom jeans you crafted from denim? Or that fine tolerance craft ornament you spent six months sculpting from oak? Don’t even think about posting to a customer special delivery; as in the event of loss, you’ll be rewarded with a payment for the canvas or wood (as long as you can provide a valid receipt, naturally !!!)0
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