Private sale but gone missing in post - rights

sunnyb_3 · 2 March 2009 at 9:15PM

Hi hoping for some advice on this.

I bought an item from a private person through a forum that i go on. It was not an ebay transaction and I am happy that the seller is a private person. The cost of the items were about £800 and i paid for this via bank transfer. Prior to this I had spoken with the seller and was confident that she was a bona fide person. Both of the items were sent by Royal Mail Special Delivery on the next day service. One of the items arrived and the other didn't. I was sent tracking numbers for them both and one shows as delivered, the other (missing item) is not recognised by the website but is shown as a valid number (just no tracking number). I have contacted the seller and she cannot understand either. She says she will contact the Royal Mail and pursure a claim through them. I am aware that these claims can take 4-6 weeks however and i am out of pocket by that much.

Do i have any rights to ask her to pay me back the money I paid to her as it will be her that gets the money back the Royal Mail? is there any legislation that actually covers this situation. I am aware of business rights but wondering how I stand with it being private.

Any advice would be gratefully recieved.

Thanks in anticpation

Sunnyb!

custardy · 2 March 2009 at 9:45PM

right well we have an issue here
the item that doesnt track.
does it give no information at all?
or does it show the item is progressing through our network?

sunnyb_3 · 2 March 2009 at 9:54PM

Hi thank for the reply.

It says this when i track the item:

Special Delivery™ Next Day items are first tracked when they have reached our mail centre. This may be late in the evening on the day the item was sent.
Information on your item is not yet available online.

I tried putting in a number close to mine to see if this was a general message but it said the other (false number) didn't exist so it does appear to be a genuine number.

custardy · 2 March 2009 at 9:57PM

well its down to the seller to provide you with the goods/refund
phone RM customer support and ask them to track it however the number may be valid but unused
its complex but post office counters use a different system from RM (dont ask

) so the two dont 'talk'
however if theres no track then its never hit a mail centre.
mail goes from the post office direct to the local MC so it only leaves one stage however RM CS can enquire to check the post office counters track

sunnyb_3 · 2 March 2009 at 10:07PM

Thanks again for the reply, does the reciept have the Post Office tracking reference on or do they use the same RM tracking reference that I have been provided with?

d123 · 2 March 2009 at 10:29PM

Ask the seller to scan and email you the RM receipt for the missing item. It should be a computer printed slip and show the tracking code as well as your address details, at least you will know whether or not it was definitely posted from that.

Private sale but gone missing in post - rights

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