Parcel rejected by Royal Mail machine

LE_Bore

I ordered an item from a website similar to ebay. It was £20 buy it now and the seller is a shop I had visited numerous times in person when I worked nearby and I trust the staff.  The item was posted on 6 Sept at a post office. They sent it Royal Mail second class tracked -- a service which tracks it when the sender posts it and then the next time a message is available to the recipient is when the postie has attempted to deliver it. The shop is about 15 miles away from me. 

Three weeks and three days later, no package. I visited my local Royal Mail delivery office who were very helpful. They have access to tracking info RM do not see fit to allow customers to have. The last time they had tracking info was on September 7, a day after it was posted. It had arrived at the local sorting hub, which is about 5 miles from the local sorting office. This info said "Rejected by machine".

The helpful sorting office fella said he had never seen this note on tracking details before, and suggested I contacted the sender. I have done this. But does anyone from RM have any idea what this actually means? Will I ever see this package? It is not valuable but it is something I really wanted and had been trying to get it for years. Of course, trying to phone the sorting office is a pointless task as Royal Mail thinks giving contact details is some sort of secret knowledge. 

It would be easy to blame all this on the current disputes at RM but it has been unreliable locally for a few years lately despite this street's posties being clearly helpful, nice and grafters. In fact I would say that one of them was one of the few people to really help us during the lockdown.

What is Royal Mail for, if not to deliver the post?







.

pinkshoes

It's not for you to have to investigate and I'm not sure why you haven't contacted the seller sooner?!!?

Just let the seller know it hasn't arrived, let them know what the tracking says, and ask them to send again or send a refund.

For all you know it has ended up back with them!

LE_Bore

I investigate because I'm the one who wants the item! But I know it's not my responsibility. And I did warn the seller it hadn't arrived after 8 days though to be honest, that's nothing unusual. Last month I had a parcel sent from stockport that took three weeks to turn up in the less-than-beautiful south that I call home. I contacted them again today, am awaiting a response. But I wonder what this rejected by machine means... if anything. 

MalMonroe

Hi, the parcel may not have had enough postage on it so was rejected by the machine? But in that case Royal Mail should have contacted the sender, in this case, the seller.

As pinkshoes said above, it is the seller's responsibility so you should contact them, rather than Royal Mail. You're not RM's customer in this instance, the seller of your item is. 

custardy

immac said:

I ordered an item from a website similar to ebay. It was £20 buy it now and the seller is a shop I had visited numerous times in person when I worked nearby and I trust the staff.  The item was posted on 6 Sept at a post office. They sent it Royal Mail second class tracked -- a service which tracks it when the sender posts it and then the next time a message is available to the recipient is when the postie has attempted to deliver it. The shop is about 15 miles away from me. 

Three weeks and three days later, no package. I visited my local Royal Mail delivery office who were very helpful. They have access to tracking info RM do not see fit to allow customers to have. The last time they had tracking info was on September 7, a day after it was posted. It had arrived at the local sorting hub, which is about 5 miles from the local sorting office. This info said "Rejected by machine".

The helpful sorting office fella said he had never seen this note on tracking details before, and suggested I contacted the sender. I have done this. But does anyone from RM have any idea what this actually means? Will I ever see this package? It is not valuable but it is something I really wanted and had been trying to get it for years. Of course, trying to phone the sorting office is a pointless task as Royal Mail thinks giving contact details is some sort of secret knowledge. 

It would be easy to blame all this on the current disputes at RM but it has been unreliable locally for a few years lately despite this street's posties being clearly helpful, nice and grafters. In fact I would say that one of them was one of the few people to really help us during the lockdown.

What is Royal Mail for, if not to deliver the post?







.

rejected by machine simply means the machine couldnt read/sort the label  or wasnt happy with the size/shape. so spits it out for manual sorting.

LE_Bore

Thanks for that Custardy. 23 days later, nobody has done it as yet. But maybe that's not unusual

custardy

immac said:

Thanks for that Custardy. 23 days later, nobody has done it as yet. But maybe that's not unusual

given the timescales I would consider the item lost. potentially damaged at that rejection point..

forgotmyname

My first thoughts were the machine has eaten it.   Standard shape package or something a little fragile or awkwardly shaped?

LE_Bore

Just a plain flat package, nothing unusual about it. It's still showing as "We've got it" dated Sept 7. Makes me wonder if it'll say that for the next hundred years: when does the tracking admit they've lost it?!!! I got a refund but I wonder what happened to it. Its not the sort of item I can just replace, even though it's not valuable as such. Physics suggests that things do not just cease to exist: the parcel and its contents are still out there somewhere, even if it is wrecked. 

custardy

immac said:

Just a plain flat package, nothing unusual about it. It's still showing as "We've got it" dated Sept 7. Makes me wonder if it'll say that for the next hundred years: when does the tracking admit they've lost it?!!! I got a refund but I wonder what happened to it. Its not the sort of item I can just replace, even though it's not valuable as such. Physics suggests that things do not just cease to exist: the parcel and its contents are still out there somewhere, even if it is wrecked. 

Tracking updates on tracking scans. So it will never update if it doesnt get scanned.
Items come loose in the mail pipeline every day.
Eg a package can leak liquid over dozens of parcels and destroy packaging/labels. You still have the things inside.
however nothing to link without where they were going.

GaleSF63

immac said:

Just a plain flat package, nothing unusual about it. It's still showing as "We've got it" dated Sept 7. Makes me wonder if it'll say that for the next hundred years: when does the tracking admit they've lost it?!!! I got a refund but I wonder what happened to it. Its not the sort of item I can just replace, even though it's not valuable as such. Physics suggests that things do not just cease to exist: the parcel and its contents are still out there somewhere, even if it is wrecked. 

There used to be a joke going round - "Want to get rid of a body? Send it by DHL and it will never be seen again."