Bio Flow automatic sign up & Royal Mail lost post

bexr100

Hey all, 

I feel like this is probably all my own fault, but wanted to check that I have exhausted every avenue. 

I stupidly paid a acouple of quid to sign up for a Free trial of Bioflow (mushroom powder cholocolate drink stuff) for anxiety ... oh the irony. Obviously then I receive a package a month later and realise I have signed up to a rolling contract of a delivery of a drink i don't actually want and they have taken £40 out of my account. I cancel the subscription and tell them i don't want this package and they say i can have my money back if I send it back. 

So I pack it up and my husband goes off to the post office for me and posts it Tracked 48. A while later I email Bio flow saying where is my refund. They say they don't have the package. I ask my husband where receipt for postage is. We fumble around looking for it for weeks. I finally find it and look at the tracking number where it says the item is in transit, received at Nottingham MC on 20th November. Nowhere does this say it is a lost item. 

I call Royal Mail and after waiting for years on the phone I get through to a man who tells me item is clearly lost, as it was not delivered, but because I have missed the 30 day window to claim for the £70 it is insured for, there is nothing I can do. We ask to speak to a manager, who calls back the same day to tell us the same crap. She says she will investigate further to which I get this response: 

Dear x,

Thank you for your contact on the 3rd January 2025. 

Following on from our telephone conversation, I am emailing you as promised as I have now received a response from Nottingham Mail Centre. 

They carried out a search and unfortunately there has been no trace of your item, it is considered as lost. 
As advised when I spoke with you I am unable to offer any compensation as the stipulated 30 calendar days after posting have now passed. Under our compensation policy any claims for loss or damage must be made within 30 calendar days. 

The full details of our policy are available at www.royalmail.com/claims

Please accept my apologies. If you are unhappy with my response in any way, you can ask to have your case reviewed by the Postal Review Panel. They can be contacted by writing to FREEPOST Postal Review Panel or by email to postalreview@royalmail.com.

Yours Sincerely 
x
Escalated Customer Resolution Team

Is there anything I might have missed where I can get this money back or shall i just cut my losses? Feel like i have been double duped. ulghhh!! Thanks for your insight in advance!

Aylesbury_Duck

Seems pretty clear that your next steps should be to ask to have your case reviewed.  It costs nothing to do so.

I don't see you have an entitlement to a successful claim, because by your own admission you spent weeks looking for the proof of postage, and presumably you agreed to the terms of the insurance when you bought the tracked service.  Were those terms available to you at that point?  If they weren't, that's certainly something to point out in your appeal.

bexr100

Good points, thank you. I'm assuming they would just say they are on the website. They never tell you about a claims period at point of purchase, otherwise i would have known about this 30 day period that applies to the tracked service. Normal post is 80 days apparently. Should I go check out the post office my partner sent it from to see if this information is visible anywhere? Or does that not matter? My partner said he did check it before, but didn't tell me anything, because it just said it was in transit, rather than sayin it is lost or assumed lost. So annoying that you pay for a delivery service and the onus is on you to work out that it has been lost, when it says it is in transit and then go through a lengthy claims process to get compensation. Hey ho. 

Aylesbury_Duck

I would certainly gather any evidence you can of absence of information, if your partner is sure he wasn't provided with any or it wasn't made available.  As part of a constructive, polite appeal it might get you somewhere.  You've nothing to lose.

Ergates

I'm not sure on what basis RM can wash their hands of losing a parcel entrusted to them just because a claim wasn't raised within 30 days.

They took OP's money, accepted responsibility for the parcel and agreed to deliver it.  Instead, not only did they fail to fulfil the contract, they lost the item.  They can't just say "Sorry guv, not our problem".

For instance - under the involuntary bailee laws, you're responsible for taking care of the other parties goods for up to 6 years.  And that's when you didn't agree to take care of the goods for them.

One for someone with more actual legal knowledge I think.  @A_Geordie ?

A_Geordie

RM is a different kettle of fish to other couriers because there are some protections under the Postal Services Act since they are designated universal service provider by OFCOM meaning that (a) there is no contract between the sender and RM and (b) you can't bring a tort claim because they are immune from such claims.

However, my mind is telling me that all of this only applies to first/second class post and not certain services such as Tracked 48, which means the statutory exclusions and limitations are out of scope. Would need to read up the legislation to confirm.

I will say that RM are generally aggressive at defending claims and tend to bamboozle you with a number of defence points that make it look like you have no chance of a claim, but most of them can be easily picked apart when you read into it. For the sake of £40, I'm not sure it's worth fighting RM in court if you're not confident enough, and it will be a toss of a coin as to whether they would settle up or take it all the way.

A_Geordie

Just a quick follow up to this.

As I suspected, RM is heavily protected under the Postal Services Act 2000 where they provide universal postal services but there's with a lot of moving parts to it. In a nutshell:

1. You can't bring any tort claims (non-contractual claims) such as negligence for losing the package so that rules out a negligence claim under the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977 which is the common claim for these types of issues. 

2. Legal claims should be made under s91 of the Act which limits your claim to the market value of the package or the compensation outlined in the postal scheme. The UK postal scheme only covers 1st/2nd class post as well as Special Delivery but not tracked 24/48 services, so the claim would be based on the market value being £40. 

3. Compensation payout is subject to compliance with any guidelines or terms in relation to the package.

4. You have 12 months from the date of posting to bring a legal claim. 

That aside, the T&Cs for this tracked service does say claims need to be made within 30 days or they won't entertain anything beyond that. Unless you can argue why 30 days is an unreasonably short period to bring a compensation claim for a service that aims to be delivered within 48 hours I think you will find that you're going to struggle as I can't see a way out of this one.

I don't even think its worth your time escalating as I expect you will receive the same answer. Time to suck up the loss and move on from this one I think.

Edit: For future reference, avoid RM and pick another courier where you will likely have better legal rights in the event of loss of damage.

bexr100

Thank you all so much for taking the time to explain the process. In a really lovely act of goodwill, the company, Bioflow have just said they will refund me!