Royal Mail Redirect / No refund on parcel

Gunner44

I recently moved house, and set up a Royal Mail redirect. I ordered something from an online retailer, but accidentally sent it to my old address. As the parcel was being delivered by Royal Mail, it should have been redirected and sent to my new address. 

I got in touch with my old landlord, who confirmed the parcel arrived. I asked if they could send it to me and I would cover the postage, but they then let me know the parcel had gone "missing". 

The online retailer told me they couldn't refund me because they had delivered the item to the address given. I reached out to Royal Mail, who have said they can't look into this because my redirect has since ended (which seems a bit ridiculous). They also said they can only offer compensation for each day the redirect didn't work - how am I supposed to know when it didn't work if the post didn't reach me?

I understand I made the initial mistake re the shipping address, but wondered if anyone has come across a similar situation. It seems a bit unfair that I'm now out of pocket for both the £50 parcel and the £60+ redirect when the redirect should have meant it got delivered to me. Is it right that both the retailer and Royal Mail can say they aren't responsible? 

PHK

It's your mistake I'm afraid , you sent it to the wrong address so of course the retailer isn't responsible. 

Also, when you took out the redirect you would have agreed to the terms. Also it's a bit cheeky  to put the whole cost of the redirect against one parcel rather than the whole length of time you had the redirect in place. Even if the parcel should have been redirected then it only didn't work for one day. 

I think the best you can hope for is a refund if one days redirect unless you have proof of other items.

Also, your former landlord should have kept the parcel safe knowing it was addressed to someone else. I doubt it's worth progressing though. 

Hoenir

Gunner44 said:

I got in touch with my old landlord, who confirmed the parcel arrived. I asked if they could send it to me and I would cover the postage, but they then let me know the parcel had gone "missing". 

 

That's a vague response. What was the actual reason given. Parcels don't have legs or wings. 

RefluentBeans

I assume given the parcel went missing after the landlord had previously seen it that this was a block of flats/apartments? If that is the case - I don’t know how effective a redirect would be at the best of times.

Unfortunately, the delivery to supplied address was successful (and no one is contesting that) and any claims that it failed to reach you (which is an obligation - in the fact that risk doesn’t transfer until the parcel is handed to the recipient) is severely undercut by a successful delivery to the address provided. 

You can ask Royal Mail why it wasn’t redirected, and compensation for lost packages associated with that policy, but outside of that I think it’s going to be a learning experience to check where your packages are delivered to. 

Slinky

How did it get redirected? Did the landlord take it to the post office?

sheramber

Would it come under personal Mail from a business address?

That cannot be redirected.

sheramber

Slinky said:

How did it get redirected? Did the landlord take it to the post office?

The OP paid Royal Mail to redirect post   https://www.royalmail.com/personal/receiving-mail/redirection

Okell

I'd ask the OP's former landlord why - if he knew the parcel had been wrongly delivered - he didn't ensure proper care was taken of it until he had informed the OP and the OP had collected it.  Or hadn't the OP informed his former landlord how to contact him?

Gunner44

sheramber said:

Would it come under personal Mail from a business address?

That cannot be redirected.

I believe it can be, Royal Mail haven't disputed that they made a mistake by not redirecting knowing that I ordered from an online retailer 

Gunner44

Hoenir said:

Gunner44 said:

I got in touch with my old landlord, who confirmed the parcel arrived. I asked if they could send it to me and I would cover the postage, but they then let me know the parcel had gone "missing". 

 

That's a vague response. What was the actual reason given. Parcels don't have legs or wings. 

Your guess is as good as mine! "Missing" was what they said after confirming the tenant said it arrived, but could probably assume someone either took it or threw it away 

Gunner44

PHK said:

It's your mistake I'm afraid , you sent it to the wrong address so of course the retailer isn't responsible. 

Also, when you took out the redirect you would have agreed to the terms. Also it's a bit cheeky  to put the whole cost of the redirect against one parcel rather than the whole length of time you had the redirect in place. Even if the parcel should have been redirected then it only didn't work for one day. 

I think the best you can hope for is a refund if one days redirect unless you have proof of other items.

Also, your former landlord should have kept the parcel safe knowing it was addressed to someone else. I doubt it's worth progressing though. 

I understand that, I just also think it's a bit cheeky of them to say they can only compensate you when you have proof something wasn't delivered. How are people supposed to know what letters they haven't received? 
And yes they should have, it's disappointing they didn't.