Opening Royal Mail lost parcel claim - should I refund buyer?

EasyToAssemble01

I've sold an item via Discogs, but the buyer claims it wasn't received. However, Royal Mail have it logged it as being successfully posted to the correct address.

I've opened a claim with Royal Mail now, but my question is: when exactly should I refund the buyer?

Should I refund now, to avoid keeping them waiting (but risk the claim being unsuccessful)? Or do I wait to see whether my Royal Mail claim is successful, before offering a refund?

In these situations, I'm relying on the buyer being honest, I suppose (and any wrong addressee having the goodwill to return-to-sender)

Mark_d

The buyers claims the parcel wasn't received but Royal Mail have records of delivering it?

It sounds like you have done all you could, so why should you give a refund and take the loss yourself?  Perhaps another resident of the property too receipt of the parcel and forgot to mention it to the buyer.  Perhaps the buyer's house was insecure/got burgled.  In any case, you did the job you were responsible for.  Now it's time for the buyer to act honestly and responsibly.

soolin

Do you mean you have proof item was posted but NOT delivered? In which case buyer needs a refund regardless of the status of your own claim against Royal Mail.

EasyToAssemble01

soolin said:

Do you mean you have proof item was posted but NOT delivered? In which case buyer needs a refund regardless of the status of your own claim against Royal Mail.

Yes, I tracked the Royal Mail tracking number, and it's showing as delivered (though it doesn't actually state which address - so it could have been delivered to the wrong address by the postie).

I am trying to find out if it is the buyer being dishonest, or if Royal Mail have delivered this to the wrong address. My main question is whether I need to wait for the outcome before refunding them?. Or whether buyers are refunded regardless, and the seller bears the risk of lost post claims being unsuccessful?

soolin

As I found to my cost recently Royal Mail won’t refund even if they accept item went to the wrong place, so your claim is likely to fail.

As you have proof of delivery the need to refund your buyer isn’t as straight forward as that delivery notification is deemed sufficient, but you can of course assist the buyer by trying to track down where item actually went.

I was the buyer when this happened, my seller wouldn’t refund , I spent three weeks complaining to RM and going through their complaints system and they confirmed I hadn’t received my item, even knew where they delivered it but said the person refused to hand it back so that was the end of it.in my case eBay finally refunded me out of their own pocket .