Returning an opened item (goes against return policy)?

ThinkingOfLinking · 3 July 2018 at 7:59AM

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

Out of curiosity - when did this 'recorded' service stop? As for years i've said for example .... 2nd class recorded & i've ALWAYS been given the service that requires the signature.

It's now called "Signed for" and not recorded, and covers you for goods between £20 and £50.

That said, parcels under £20 can be tracked with the reference number Royal Mail gave you and you WILL win a "not received" case as long as the tracking shows it was delivered. So, if for any reason, the people you're returning items to say they haven't received them you can check the tracking, and then take it from there.

soolin · 3 July 2018 at 9:02AM

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

I wondered why the reference number looked totally different. :mad:

The other week she went in & posted a couple of items ... "first class recorded" (because neither of us knew that this service no longer existed. Only right now from reading your post has either of us become aware)

On THAT receipt it stated "1st class ... SIGNED FOR" and had a reference number in the format that it always has done when asking for this service.

Today she goes in & since there's no urgency for it to reach its destination she asks for "second class recorded" - like she always has done.

This time i've noticed on the receipt that it doesn't say anything about signed for, it only says 2nd class.

The thing that stood out to me is the reference number is in a totally different format. Instead of the letter-letter-load of numbers-letter-letter (where the final 2 letters always seem to be GB) this time the format is ####-####-####-#XX#

with # being number & X being letter and the dashes included.

So i'm guessing then that this has been sent the lesser of the two methods.

Really the postie should've said - we no longer do a recorded service OR said do you mean X service or Y service, to which my wife could've said i'm not sure i'll come back again tomorrow once i've asked the question.

Just hope the parcels reach their destination now

£2.95 was the price for each. One weighed 236g the other 681g if that helps.

Out of curiosity - when did this 'recorded' service stop? As for years i've said for example .... 2nd class recorded & i've ALWAYS been given the service that requires the signature.

Some clerks are more helpful than others and some I suspect are fed up with being accused of upselling when people only want a cheap service. From memory 'recorded' was replaced by 'signed for' around 7 years ago, so it may well be a newer clerk hasn't any idea what it means.

As has been said the standard service offers compensation up to £20 for loss but more importantly is supposed to get online proof of delivery. Check the numbers on the track and trace in a few days and see what they say, until delivery is confirmed though the number won't show anything.

Do you have a return open on eBay as if so all you need to do is add the delivery co formation and when it shows as delivered you can ask eBay to remind seller to refund. With the Amazon one I assume again that you have a proper request open as they usually give you an RMA number and that is used to confirm your return . In fact the last time we sent something back to Amazon (it had arrived very late) they just sent us a pre paid label that had the RMA already in it and the paperwork to add to the packaging.

bris · 3 July 2018 at 12:15PM

Shopping online has it's benefits, but if your going to worry about return postage all the time then clearly you should use the high street and help keep it alive.

JustAnotherSaver · 3 July 2018 at 9:14PM

soolin wrote: »

Do you have a return open on eBay as if so all you need to do is add the delivery co formation .

I tried to do this.

I selected that it had been dispatched in the open return case i have with the seller.

I was then to select the service - so that's Royal Mail. I was then under that to enter the tracker number.
I entered what it says on my receipt and it says invalid number entered.

theonlywayisup · 3 July 2018 at 9:39PM

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

I tried to do this.

I selected that it had been dispatched in the open return case i have with the seller.

I was then to select the service - so that's Royal Mail. I was then under that to enter the tracker number.
I entered what it says on my receipt and it says invalid number entered.

Do not worry, an ebay return using their label has this anomaly. Check again in 2 -3 days and it will be fine.

soolin · 3 July 2018 at 11:33PM

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

I tried to do this.

I selected that it had been dispatched in the open return case i have with the seller.

I was then to select the service - so that's Royal Mail. I was then under that to enter the tracker number.
I entered what it says on my receipt and it says invalid number entered.

As abive, standard parcels have no tracking but are supposed to have delivery confirmation. The message will not change until the day after delivery at the earliest.

theonlywayisup wrote: »

Do not worry, an ebay return using their label has this anomaly. Check again in 2 -3 days and it will be fine.

This is not using an eBay label though, OP has sent it standard parcels with no input from seller.

theonlywayisup · 4 July 2018 at 6:07AM

soolin wrote: »

This is not using an eBay label though, OP has sent it standard parcels with no input from seller.

Sorry OP, I missed that.

As has been advised, your POD (proof of delivery) will only be valid when the item has been delivered. If you cannot upload it then you will have to ring eBay and ask them to add it.

JustAnotherSaver · 4 July 2018 at 9:08PM

Turns out i was entering it incorrectly.

I was including the hyphens as shown on the receipt. Apparently i'm not supposed to do that & just enter the numbers.

I've received a refund on the eBay purchase. Just the Amazon one to go now. I got not so great vibes from this seller regards the return but fingers crossed.

JustAnotherSaver · 8 July 2018 at 6:05PM

Well I'm wondering what to do with this next. To summarise...

I had an defective Amazon order (£45+£10postage = £55 total) to return and an eBay order that was simply the wrong size (£25 inc. free P+P).

Contacted both sellers regards returning (I always prefer to give the heads up that i'm going to return in case they have some sort of policy whereby they want an returns code attaching to the parcel or inside it for example).

The eBay seller never responded but i returned anyway. The Amazon seller did respond and i got the impression (rightly or wrongly) that they weren't too impressed but accepted that i'd be returning it.

Monday 2nd July both items were posted back. Supposed to be 2nd class signed for but as per previous posts it turned out to be 2nd class with proof of postage reference.

On Wednesday 4th July the eBay seller refunded me for their item - so thankfully that went fine.

The tracker for the Amazon order doesn't yet say delivered (like the eBay one does) & obviously no refund from them.

Now with eBay, after a while you just contact eBay through the resolution centre after X-days and providing you provide proof of postage eBay just rule in favour of the buyer. eBay appears very pro buyer (one of the reasons i only sell on eBay as a last resort).

What happens with Amazon though? Just wondering what to do here as really the parcel should've arrived by now. I know the timeframe they give on 2nd class can be quite long but from my experience that seems to be just to cover themselves and so long as you're outside of the busy period (Xmas) if it doesn't reach its destination after 2-3 days then it doesn't reach its destination full stop.

JustAnotherSaver · 9 July 2018 at 9:50PM

Been in touch with the seller - they responded today, item still not arrived apparently.

What to do from here?

Returning an opened item (goes against return policy)?

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