Zara refund lost in transit...What are my rights as a customer?

kelly_bryan1

Hello!
I made four large returns via my post office on the 30th January. All the parcels are tracked and I used the Drop & Go service, writing on my manifest I request they keep the receipt (proof of postage). There has been no update on the tracking information and it still states the items are with the courier. I have contacted the post office (both via phone and visiting) and they stated they have sent the parcel. I have been in contact with Zara multiple times and they are extremely unhelpful. They just keep telling me to wait and that they only issue refunds for items that reach their warehouse. They have recently requested a proof of postage (despite the proof being available on the tracking). I visited the post office to claim this and they have somehow lost it? I have tried contacting Royal Mail who state that it is in fact Zara who need to make the claim with them, but Zara seem to be doing nothing other thanr refusing a refund. 
On an additional note, all these purchases were made through PayPal (connected to my bank) - I wondered if they could help, although I have send them a message and I'm yet to recieve a reply. 

I am wondering what are my rights as a customer in this situation. I feel let down by Zara and Royal Mail...
Is it possible I won't receieve my refund, despite returning the items via the method provided?
What should be my next steps?
Thank you so much in advance! I am starting to panic a little as the refund was quite a large sum of money.

MattMattMattUK

Who paid for the return postage/courier, you or Zara?
Does the tracking show that the item was received by Royal Mail, or does it show the service has been booked but RM are awaiting receipt of the packages? 

theonlywayisup

As above, who paid for the return, but also to add, what was the reason for return?
I am a bit confused that you say your POP is lost by the Post Office.  The PO give you the POP.

Paypal will only help if your return was for SNAD (significantly not as described and NOT a change of mind return). 

bris

All 4 parcels went missing? On or two maybe but all, is something they will be very dubious about.

A tracking number alone is not something that would be good enough for POP, but the receipt with the weights and postcode would.

You post office excuse also doesn't make sense, why would they keep your POP?, You get it after the transaction in the form of a receipt.

kelly_bryan1

MattMattMattUK said:

Who paid for the return postage/courier, you or Zara?
Does the tracking show that the item was received by Royal Mail, or does it show the service has been booked but RM are awaiting receipt of the packages? 

As a response to the comments above (thank you by the way, I appreciate your information), I just went to check the tracking to quote what it stated at it appears the parcels have FINALLY moved! I have a feeling the post office had not in fact posted them, and me visiting and querying this, spurred things along...

In response to the POP questions; I used the Drop and Go service. I drop the parcels off at the post office without speaking to the post office staff and they process the returns the same day once they are less busy (it's a method Royal Mail introduced to reduce queueing etc.). As I am not there when the items are being processed, you request they keep your receipt and you can pick it up at a later date if required. However, this time, they seem to have lost my POP.  

Hopefully this is now resolved as the parcels seem to be moving, rather than lost. I was very suspicious, as Bris mentioned, it is very unlikely for all four parcels to have gone missing so I believed there had been some human error somewhere. That seems to have been the case. Fingers crossed this is now resolved!

Thank you to everyone that responded

Flight3287462

OP still didn't answer the question.

MattMattMattUK

kelly_bryan1 said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Who paid for the return postage/courier, you or Zara?
Does the tracking show that the item was received by Royal Mail, or does it show the service has been booked but RM are awaiting receipt of the packages? 

As a response to the comments above (thank you by the way, I appreciate your information), I just went to check the tracking to quote what it stated at it appears the parcels have FINALLY moved! I have a feeling the post office had not in fact posted them, and me visiting and querying this, spurred things along...

It is good that you have some progress, things are slow in a lot of ways at the moment.

kelly_bryan1 said:

In response to the POP questions; I used the Drop and Go service. I drop the parcels off at the post office without speaking to the post office staff and they process the returns the same day once they are less busy (it's a method Royal Mail introduced to reduce queueing etc.). As I am not there when the items are being processed, you request they keep your receipt and you can pick it up at a later date if required. However, this time, they seem to have lost my POP.  

With the Drop and Go service, despite the name, you are supposed to wait for the staff to weigh and scan the parcels, then issue you with the receipt. If you leave them, they go missing and you have no receipt you have no comeback.

kelly_bryan1 said:

Hopefully this is now resolved as the parcels seem to be moving, rather than lost. I was very suspicious, as Bris mentioned, it is very unlikely for all four parcels to have gone missing so I believed there had been some human error somewhere. That seems to have been the case. Fingers crossed this is now resolved!

The amount of packages going through Post Offices at the moment it would not surprise me if they had been chucked in a corner and forgotten about, to be scanned "later", where as if the person was waiting for the receipt they would have been done there and then.

mikb

MattMattMattUK said:

With the Drop and Go service, despite the name, you are supposed to wait for the staff to weigh and scan the parcels, then issue you with the receipt. If you leave them, they go missing and you have no receipt you have no comeback.

This sounds great in theory. I've seen people using the D&G service, and they have done exactly what it says on the tin -- chucked a bag of parcels over to the staff and left.

The whole point of this service seems to be to speed up the PO queue experience, rather than being held up by a person with 20 items, each which needs to be weighed and checked for size, then watching the knackered old printer wheezing its way through all the bits of paper for receipts.

I've also seen the "dropped and gone" bags of stuff yet to be processed on the floor, open and accessible to customers, next to "that extra PO service point that is also the shop's counter". If items are taken from there, the sender will have no receipt, and no proof it was even there. Good luck with that.

I wouldn't consider using D&G on that basis (literally: leave it with us and walk). I want my receipts! So any time saving would be minimal if you have to stand over them and wait for it to be processed.

I dunno, maybe some Post Offices are operating the system differently to how it's intended.