Royal Mail delivered to a bin, bin was emptied before customer got home

fenwick458

Sold an item on eBay 26th, posted on the 27th, delivered to the customer on the 29th (as shown on my ebay account)
received a message today saying that the bin was emptied before the customer got the parcel, and they have sent a pic of a red card saying "item left in bin"
is this really my problem? apparently the customer has spoken to royal mail first and they told them to contact me?

lesleyb

fenwick458 said:

Sold an item on eBay 26th, posted on the 27th, delivered to the customer on the 29th (as shown on my ebay account)
received a message today saying that the bin was emptied before the customer got the parcel, and they have sent a pic of a red card saying "item left in bin"
is this really my problem? apparently the customer has spoken to royal mail first and they told them to contact me?

My postman sometimes leaves parcels in a certain place if I am not in but I had to agree to that with Royal Mail and it was done at my own risk. I would think your buyer possibly had the same arrangement with no thought as to what would happen on bin day. 

elsien

It may be your problem in that as the sender you have the contract with RM so you are are the one who needs to go back to them for any complaints/compensation owed.

phillw

fenwick458 said:

Sold an item on eBay 26th, posted on the 27th, delivered to the customer on the 29th (as shown on my ebay account)
received a message today saying that the bin was emptied before the customer got the parcel, and they have sent a pic of a red card saying "item left in bin"
is this really my problem? apparently the customer has spoken to royal mail first and they told them to contact me?

Yes, unfortunately it's your responsibility to make sure the customer receives the item. IIRC ebay rules are you need to compensate the customer and then make a claim from the courier.

I hope for your sake that you only listed with a postal method that will compensate enough to cover the cost of the item. While the customer selects the postage method, it's not their problem if you allowed them to select a cheaper method that won't compensate the full value. They aren't taking a risk, they are getting cheaper delivery at your risk.

You might have a fall back with https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/ua/seller-protection but I'm not 100% sure whether it will cover you.

soolin

fenwick458 said:

Sold an item on eBay 26th, posted on the 27th, delivered to the customer on the 29th (as shown on my ebay account)
received a message today saying that the bin was emptied before the customer got the parcel, and they have sent a pic of a red card saying "item left in bin"
is this really my problem? apparently the customer has spoken to royal mail first and they told them to contact me?

This is a tricky one as of course with proof of delivery you will win an INR claim if buyer opens one. I’m not sure how usual it is for RM to leave parcels in bins , hopefully @custardy might be able to comment, but you might have to do some detective work and find out why they left it in an insecure place , if this is a designated safe place from buyer then I think you can walk away from this, but if this is something done at random by the postie then I would pressing RM to agree to accepting a claim for loss and refunding the buyer. 

olgadapolga

What I'm struggling with on this is, why would the postie put it in a bin? 

I know it's not the same in all areas but we have to put our bins out by the roadside for emptying. There would be no point in putting an empty bin out for collection. 

The story just doesn't make sense. I think that I'd be checking when the bin collections were made at the buyer's address before commenting further to the buyer (this should be available on their local council website). What time was the item delivered?

Spoonie_Turtle

lesleyb said:

fenwick458 said:

Sold an item on eBay 26th, posted on the 27th, delivered to the customer on the 29th (as shown on my ebay account)
received a message today saying that the bin was emptied before the customer got the parcel, and they have sent a pic of a red card saying "item left in bin"
is this really my problem? apparently the customer has spoken to royal mail first and they told them to contact me?

My postman sometimes leaves parcels in a certain place if I am not in but I had to agree to that with Royal Mail and it was done at my own risk. I would think your buyer possibly had the same arrangement with no thought as to what would happen on bin day. 

I have seen this happen with Evri, and the complainant was adamant they most certainly didn't authorise their safe place as 'in the bin' - but very surprising to hear of it with Royal Mail.

olgadapolga said:

What I'm struggling with on this is, why would the postie put it in a bin? 

I know it's not the same in all areas but we have to put our bins out by the roadside for emptying. There would be no point in putting an empty bin out for collection. 

The story just doesn't make sense. I think that I'd be checking when the bin collections were made at the buyer's address before commenting further to the buyer (this should be available on their local council website). What time was the item delivered?

In some townhouses and densely packed estates the bins do live permanently 'out' on the pathway because there's nowhere else for them.  Fairly rare though.  An excellent suggestion in your last paragraph for OP to check.

steviebabes

I would check out the address on street view and check their bin day as mentioned above. It all sounds a bit suss to me, what is their feedback like?

KxMx

I had Royal Mail leave a parcel in my blue bin recently which was by my front door. 
Haven't authorised there as a safe place.

I'd still check on buyers area bin day as a precaution. 

soolin

KxMx said:

I had Royal Mail leave a parcel in my blue bin recently which was by my front door. 
Haven't authorised there as a safe place.

I'd still check on buyers area bin day as a precaution. 

I would be making a complaint to RM if parcels are being left with no designated safe place, it seems usual for some couriers to do that but RM shouldn’t be doing it. 

custardy

soolin said:

KxMx said:

I had Royal Mail leave a parcel in my blue bin recently which was by my front door. 
Haven't authorised there as a safe place.

I'd still check on buyers area bin day as a precaution. 

I would be making a complaint to RM if parcels are being left with no designated safe place, it seems usual for some couriers to do that but RM shouldn’t be doing it. 

and here you highlight the drive to 'change' in RM. 
They are desperate to drive towards the very courier model you malign.
People don't want to pay for postage so go with the cheapest. Delivering /get rid of a parcel at first attempt is the cheapest for the carrier