Royl Mail - no way to question a delivery

designeditdesignedit

I am furious about Royal Mails lack of methods in which to question a missing item.. The customer services email address which i found on this site is no longer in use, so you cant email them. The twitter account for customer services/complaints is being closed. TRy phoning and IF you're lucky enough to get an option from the lonnnnnng lonnnng menu where you can speak to an advisor, there is a 60 minute wait time! 
So...any advice about this would be appreciated;
ordered an item from ebay, a small item which would be a small envope letter size. Only 3.50 but it was a little gift which would have been very much appreciated.
Item was delayed - chinese seller, seem to me that their dropshipper didnt have it in stock so theyve had to get another supplier to send it . Never the less, they did send it via RM tracked 48.

They eventually delivered it and supplied the tracking number which shows as scanned/delievered . BUT.... it wasnt delivered. I never received the item. Asked the postman a week later and he cant recall (which is fair enough, also we are at the moment ordering lots of items for a project we are doing so i wouldnt expect him to remember one item).
SO.... onto RM website. The advice is to get the seller to contact RM... this is a little unfair, as far as I am concenred theyve fulfilled their part of the transaction. Anyway, just to ensure that ive followed the steps i contacted the seller , ebay have made a decision that as it was scanned as delivered it is now our responsibilty and we need to contact RM.

Contacting Royal Mail is almost impossible. I emailed them and got this reply

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: This email address isn't monitored and any emails sent to it will not be read.

Here's how we can help in the meantime:

• To get detailed information and advice on our service go to our website  www.royalmail.com/latest-news.
• If you have a tracking reference number, check the status of your item here
• Visit our help centre which contains lots of helpful information to help answer your questions.

If you can't find what you need there, consider getting in touch with us via our other channels. Visit royalmail.com/contactus to find out how.  

Sorry and thank you for understanding.
Regards
Royal Mail

The 'help centre' is of no help whatsover, you get the phone number and after several menu options (including beig disconnected because the automated response has not understood the tracking ref) there is a SIXTY MINUTE wait time to speak to an advisor.

Sorry about this long post but i would appreciate some advice...this item was only 3.50 but what if it was a bit more than that? Just to point out, it is unlikely that the item has been stolen, i have a long path to my door so its not on a doorstep vsisble to passing traffic etc . 

Thanks for reading!

TadleyBaggie

If you didn't send the item, you have no relationship with Royal Mail, the sender does. This is why RM correctly told you to contact the sender.

swingaloo

Realistically I dont know what you expect to happen. Some random person who does eventually answer your call after 60 minutes is not going to know where your item is. I dont understand why Ebay would say contact Royal Mail either, that is not for you to do as you have no contract with RM. Its the sellers responsibility to chase it up. 

elsien

This email was working in August.
customer.service@royalmail.com

They are however, as much use as a chocolate teapot. Generic responses about talking to the delivery office which never seem to change very much. 

designeditdesignedit

swingaloo said:

Realistically I dont know what you expect to happen. Some random person who does eventually answer your call after 60 minutes is not going to know where your item is. I dont understand why Ebay would say contact Royal Mail either, that is not for you to do as you have no contract with RM. Its the sellers responsibility to chase it up. 

The issue is not particularly that item, it's more that when items go missing theres absolutely no way it can be followed up. The seller in this case has contacted rm and theyve messaged back the delivered confrrmatin. So, if an item is delivered to the wrong address, its scanned as delivered - the GPS shows location but that could be any of my neighbours addresses too. It could quite easily have been deliverd to the wrong addess or - its not unheard of for items to be scanned then pocketed.
My issue is that theres absolutely no recourse. 
From a sellers point of view , I used to sell on ebay and I would be baffled as to how I could deal with this once a confirmation of delivery has been sent to seller and buyer.

So...in the event you dont receive your item RM want nothng to do with the situation.

swingaloo

designeditdesignedit said:

swingaloo said:

Realistically I dont know what you expect to happen. Some random person who does eventually answer your call after 60 minutes is not going to know where your item is. I dont understand why Ebay would say contact Royal Mail either, that is not for you to do as you have no contract with RM. Its the sellers responsibility to chase it up. 

The issue is not particularly that item, it's more that when items go missing theres absolutely no way it can be followed up. The seller in this case has contacted rm and theyve messaged back the delivered confrrmatin. So, if an item is delivered to the wrong address, its scanned as delivered - the GPS shows location but that could be any of my neighbours addresses too. It could quite easily have been deliverd to the wrong addess or - its not unheard of for items to be scanned then pocketed.
My issue is that theres absolutely no recourse. 
From a sellers point of view , I used to sell on ebay and I would be baffled as to how I could deal with this once a confirmation of delivery has been sent to seller and buyer.

So...in the event you dont receive your item RM want nothng to do with the situation.

Im not disagreeing with you at all. I'm just making the point whatever happened to your parcel will never be known (unless one of your neighbours comes forward with it) so even of you were to get through to Royal Mail there is no way for them to actually follow up and find your item.

PHK

The contact us page for complaints on the Royal Mail Website gives a phone number, contact form and postal address.