Royal Mail mis-delivered package

Alderbank

The OP's opening words are, 'I attempted to trade in my old phone with Google in November...and their partner company sent it back by Royal Mail'

The partner company is PCS Wireless UK Ltd. Google have subcontracted with PCS to handle some parts of the trade-in process.
In Google's trade-in Terms & Conditions, Google say 'Google may provide customer service for the Trade-In Programme, but you understand the Trade-In Programme and these Terms and Conditions are between you and PCS only.'

In turn, PCS say in those same T&Cs, 'Risk to your device will transfer to us once we receive your device at the address specified in the shipping instructions provided to you.'

https://store.google.com/intl/en_uk/about/device-trade-in/

OP, you say you have approached Google about your missing phone. In view of the above Google might say that responsibility for your missing phone is with PCS.
Have you approached PCS directly, pointing out in Google's T&Cs that until you get it back the risk to your device  rests with them?

smash

I have been dealing with Google directly since they were the company that took my money

I do agree that it is PCS Wireless who are responsible for receiving the trade-in phone, evaluating and returning should the value be less than quoted. I was unable to find any way to contact them directly, seems they just handle the trade in and do "support" via Google.

born_again

While RM website advice is to contact sender.
Try popping into local delivery office & they should know where it was delivered & you can retrieve it.

molerat

No GPS tracking for the delivery ?

smash

I had another long and fruitless call with Google support again this afternoon. Their attitude is we've given it to Royal Mail, it's not our problem, you'll have to deal with it yourself.

I managed to find an online form on Royal Mail after trying to call first and told there was at least a 20 minute wait.

born_again

smash said:

I had another long and fruitless call with Google support again this afternoon. Their attitude is we've given it to Royal Mail, it's not our problem, you'll have to deal with it yourself.

I managed to find an online form on Royal Mail after trying to call first and told there was at least a 20 minute wait.

Have you been to local sorting office yet?

Quickest way to sort it out.

smash

I haven't, there is a local delivery office that's only open 8-10am, not sure if that's the same thing. I managed to find a form on the website which says they hope to respond within 3 business days.

born_again

smash said:

I haven't, there is a local delivery office that's only open 8-10am, not sure if that's the same thing. I managed to find a form on the website which says they hope to respond within 3 business days.

Yep, that the place to go. Where the delivery guys work from & they might know the property if was delivered to, or even if it is still at the office in error.

smash

So I went to the delivery office this morning, they said it's unlikely the package will be recovered now, and I need to contact Google support so they can make a claim. I've sent Google this news via the support email case, it's usually a minimum of 48 hours before they respond. They have been without doubt the most useless support I have ever had dealings with, so I think this is going to take a long time to resolve.