Item lost by Royal Mail, seller only paying out £150 out of the items £700 value

Adxmmm

So, I bought a used iPhone worth £700 from this store on the 17th of October, received it on the 20th. Then on the same day, the phone developed a fault; it wouldn’t charge and had suddenly lost all its power. I contacted the store, told them the fault and they gave me a Royal Mail tracked 24 returns label. I posted the item on the 24th and waited.

I phone them up today regarding an update and they say that they haven’t received the item. They check the tracking and it still says “We’ve got it.” So they conclude that the item has probably been lost in transit and tell me they are going to contact Royal Mail to open a claim.

Now, the issue arises when they tell me that I will only be receiving £150 out of the £700 that I paid, due to me using a tracked 24 returns label. But this is the label that they had provided me with? Surely it is up to them to insure the item for its entire value. The phone was returned due to it being faulty and not as described, not just because I didn’t want it anymore. The label they gave me was prepaid. Can anyone tell me what I can do in this situation? 

DullGreyGuy

So it's been roughly 9 working days which includes a period of transport disrupting storms... personally I'd say there is a reasonable prospect of it still turning up. Posted a £2,000 camera not long ago that I'd sold online and it got stuck for almost 2 weeks for no known reason and then without any intermediary tracking updates was suddenly delivered. The recipient said the parcel was spotless so its not like it'd fallen off the back of van and only been discovered after a fortnight of being kicked around the depot or such. 

jlfrs01

Regarding the compensation - did you tell Royal Mail what the phone was worth when choosing which service to send it on because 24 hour tracked has a maximum £150 ceiling on compensation.

Special Delivery would have been more appropriate as it has cover upto £2500:

https://www.royalmail.com/business/shipping/uk-services/special-delivery-guaranteed

DullGreyGuy

jlfrs01 said:

Regarding the compensation - did you tell Royal Mail what the phone was worth when choosing which service to send it on because 24 hour tracked has a maximum £150 ceiling on compensation.

Special Delivery would have been more appropriate as it has cover upto £2500:

https://www.royalmail.com/business/shipping/uk-services/special-delivery-guaranteed

The OP was sent a pre-paid label from the retailer, they themselves didn't choose the service

jlfrs01

DullGreyGuy said:

The OP was sent a pre-paid label from the retailer, they themselves didn't choose the service

Hmmm, so the seller's at fault for selecting the wrong service and their responsibility to cover any shortfall.

Lorian

Tracked 24 will usually have two or three scans along its route, but the system does play up sometimes. Tracking is working today for sure as I've had several tracks on parcels.

ArbitraryRandom

A relevant question might be 'how did you pay?'

Adxmmm

ArbitraryRandom said:

A relevant question might be 'how did you pay?'

I had used Klarna pay in 30 days. I have also initiated the return on Klarna and provided them with the tracking number for the return.

Olinda99

I believe I am right in saying that if you use the label and service provided by the merchant then the return is complete once you hand it over to their chosen courier - in this case the post office.

it is thus irrelevant to the op what service the merchant chose to return the phone. the phone was returned the moment the package was handed to the post office

m0bov

You need to put in a claim to the seller, they provided the return service. Did you get a recepit when you dropped it off? Send them an LBA and then SCC after 7 days.

DullGreyGuy

Olinda99 said:

I believe I am right in saying that if you use the label and service provided by the merchant then the return is complete once you hand it over to their chosen courier - in this case the post office.

What legislation are you quoting?

Under the Consumer Contracts Regulation the Merchant has 14 days to make the refund which starts from either 1) when they receive the goods back if the merchant isn't collecting them, 2) when the customer provides proof of sending them when the merchant is collecting them or 3) when notice is given if the merchant is collecting them. 

Its not abundantly clear to me if sending a label counts as the merchant collecting them, I suspect not given its still fully in the buyers control when the goods get sent but then all they need to do is send a photo of the collection note or the link to the tracking after they have dropped it off and the clock starts. 

The legislation gets a bit messy because there's a time limit for refunding but receipt of goods could be after the time limit has ended and yet the merchant is entitled to deduct for excessive handling which could be discovered post the time limit for refund.