Parcel left in the rain by postman, and ruined

Nebbit

I recently ordered a book from an online bookshop run by a national newspaper. This book, worth some £20 was delivered yesterday, while my house was empty for the weekend.  The delivery was through the 'Royal Mail Tracked 48' service. I was made aware of this by email but assumed the postman had delivered it through the letter box. Imagine my disappointment this evening, returning home, to find this book, which is thicker than expected, sitting on the doorstep in a cardboard parcel which had been turned  to mush by the rain. My book is ruined - it might as well have been sitting in a bucket of water.  The postman had obviously decided to leave it like this, rather than try to deliver via a neighbour or take it back to the sorting office.  I have complained to the retailer as an initial step but expect them to blame the post office. How can I complain to the post office about this kind of ill treatment? 

Arunmor

Surely you were expecting the book and could have left a note for the postman with some simple instructions or a container for it? 

You have no contract with Post Office, you will need to take it up with the retailer.

Nebbit

I was anticipating the delivery but I was assuming it would fit through the letter box. It happened to be thicker than I was expecting

user1977

It's the Royal Mail, not the Post Office.

Why not just wait to see what the response is from the retailer?

swingaloo

Pointless complaining to the Post Office, they have nothing to do with delivering your mail. 

p00hsticks

Whenever I've been sent a tracked package via Royal Mail, I''ve received an e-mail from them telling me the day they are expecting to delivering it and asking me to specify what you want them to do if you are not in. 

Worth complaining to the retailer about the packaging - most books I order by post come wrapped in plastic - not very eco-friendly but I'd say necessary when sending something  like a book

Nebbit

swingaloo said:

Pointless complaining to the Post Office, they have nothing to do with delivering your mail. 

When I say Post Office I mean Royal Mail

elsien

Royal Mail have a bad habit of leaving most of my post in a place that I don’t want them to, Including any parcels. The standard of postal delivery workers nowadays is very variable – if it’s a temporary one don’t expect any sense at all. 

They do have a complaints procedure – whether that will work with compensation or not I don’t know. Again, I have found their responses to be quite variable for the various complaints that I have put in. 

Flugelhorn

I had a small electrical item just in its box with no extra wrapping (from the big company beginning with A) left on my doorstep in torrential rain - I arrived 3 days early and I was  away but got notification of delivery. was able to contact a neighbour who picked it up and the rain had got no further than the outer surface of the box. I complained to the supplier about the delivery, they treated it as "undelivered" and gave me a refund 

mta999

you need to ask for a refund or replacement from.the retailer

mksysb

mta999 said:

you need to ask for a refund or replacement from.the retailer

Why should the retailer have to pay for the OPs mistake?  He was the one who got the dimensions  wrong instead of checking the size and making suitable arrangements.  And how was the postman supposed to know he was going to be away all weekend?

I think this is mainly down to the OP and he should take the hit.