Lost return parcel outside UK

qebesenuef

Hi, hoping someone can offer some advice. I purchased some clothing online late last year, which did not fit and had to be returned. The value is £135. The return address was in China. I wouldn't have bought it if I'd known it was coming from there (outside UK/Europe) because of the time and hassle. I have proof of posting, and the barcode has allowed it to be tracked by Parcelforce until 24.02.2021, when it was handed over to China Post and no update since. The retailer won't refund because they have not received the parcel. I paid £65 for the return post (figured even thought I'd be out of pocket, getting £70 back was better than nothing). So I've lost £200, plus the interest I've paid on it on my card. I'm pretty much resigned to writing it off, but thought I would ask if I can claim for this loss on my credit card?

dj1471

No. You should have taken out adequate insurance on your parcel.

Have you tried to track it with China Post or contacted them for assistance? Did you complete the necessary customs declaration? It could just be held up in customs.

qebesenuef

Due to the weight, postage with insurance was more than the parcel was worth. I'm a student and this is a lot of money for me. I only bought the clothing because I needed it. I've had no response from China Post. I've also submitted a query to Parcelforce to ask if they were given anything when it was transferred. It did have a customs declaration, including the number of items. The retailer won't refund with just a proof of posting, but they were very resistant to it being returned at all. It might just be held up in Customs, as you say, everything is taking a bit longer these days. Thanks for your input!

soolin

This is the problem with Far East purchases, we have new threads probably once a week from someone who has bought from a new shop that they saw on social media (facebook is the usual one) and where items are poorly sized, assuming the right goods come at all. It is no help to you, sorry, but for anyone else reading this can I please offer some advice
1) check out the shop carefully, don't get fooled by them have a Co.UK address or pricing in pounds- check whether they hsow a proper geographic address and have a way to contact them that doesn't involve you just filling out a web form.
2) if you decide to go ahead and do receive unsatisfactory or incorrect goods it is rarely beneficial to send them back. However if you are persistent about not being happy most of these companies will try and buy you off with a partial refund, negotiate what you can and write the rest of as an expensive lesson learnt. 
3) If you do return goods assume the company will never sign for them (and it is rare for returned goods to ever get back to the original company) so insure them and be prepared to attempt a claim with RM

qebesenuef

Hello, soolim, thanks for your input. I usually look quite carefully at where I'm buying from, but in this case was led astray by the .co.uk website. There was nothing on their website to say where goods would be returned to, and I was only given the return address after having to become very insistent that I wanted to send them back. Anyway, I won't get my hopes up that I'll see any of my money back, and will stick to online brands that I know. Thanks!

jon81uk

I assume you paid Parcelforce to return the parcel for you? So contact them and tell them its lost. Get whatever compensation you can from them Making a compensation claim | Parcelforce Worldwide
It looks like as standard you should get £100 covered.
But if you used one of the broker sites such as parcels2go, then you'll need to contact them and you may not get more than £20.

Murphybear

What I find is useful is to check the expected delivery time.  If it’s many weeks you can be reasonably certain it isn’t being dispatched from the U.K.  

qebesenuef

Thank you jon81uk and Murphybear for the tips. I will try Parcelforce, they might at least be able to give me some info like an onward tracking number or some money back. The goods did arrive quickly, which makes me think they have a depot in the UK, but use their China base for returns. Thank you!