Royal Mail parcel issues

Dynamic_Panda · 8 March 2023 at 5:36PM

I ordered some band merchandise for my son for Christmas through his favourite bands website. The items are sent from Cyprus and we were told that it can take between one and ten weeks to deliver although for the most part items we have ordered from them before have come within 4 weeks.
The postal time line reads as below
6th December 2022 - item ordered
8th December 2022 - received by postal service in Cyprus - Royal Mail tracking begins
9th December 2022 - item leave Cyprus
7th January 2023 - Item shows on tracking as being at Heathrow LC though believed to be there before that due to postal strikes
13th February 2023 - item moved to Manchester MC - not sure why as we are in Bournemouth
24th February 2023 - item moved to Home Counties North MC in Hemel Hempstead
28th February 2023 - item tracked again to Hemel Hempstead

We have contaced the company that we bought the merchandise through and Royal Mail.

The Merch company are sympathetic to our cause and have raised it with the postal service at their end to see if they can get things moving.They cannot resend until the parcel is officially declared lost.

Royal Mail on the other hand have been very unhelpful - they advise they can only locate and track the parcel when it is in transit - not in a depot and that as it has recent traking on it it is not a lost parcel and we just need to sit and wait for them to deliver.

It is now 8th March - I have no parcel, no sign of it being delivered or replaced and I am about £65 out of pocket.

Can anyone tell me what my rights are on this if Royal Mail continue to decline to do anything about getting it delivered and decline to declare it lost? I would happily go and collect it from any sorting office within a 20 mile radius and at this rate it may not even get here for his birthday in May.

Many thanks for reading

Aylesbury_Duck · 8 March 2023 at 5:54PM

Your complaint is with the retailer, not Royal Mail. The retailer should be replacing or refunding.

Dynamic_Panda · 8 March 2023 at 7:00PM

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Your complaint is with the retailer, not Royal Mail. The retailer should be replacing or refunding.

The retailers hands are tied because at the moment as there is recent tracking on it it is not a lost parcel - they have raised the issue at their end as well. They will only refund or replace if it is declared lost - because they are in Cyprus it can take longer for the lost parcel process to work

Aylesbury_Duck · 8 March 2023 at 7:57PM

In which case, your consumer rights are almost certainly enshrined in Cypriot law. You don't have a contract with RM so you can't force them to do anything.