Royal Mail.......lost items!!!!!

[dancestationdirect]

Hi, has anyone noticed an increase in UK Royal Mail packages going "missing" recently. In the last 2 days I have had 3 different buyers claiming item has not arrived. One looks genuine as it is Recorded Delivery which has not arrived. The other 2 are fairly low value First Class items and of course I have no way of knowing if  this is genuine or not.

Prior to this (I have "lost" a few international parcels) but only 1 UK parcel last year went astray and never turned up.

Anyone else having problems with this?

[mailheat]

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@coolgirlsboutique wrote:
vblstitchcrafts that happened to one of my parcels it came back as address unknown but buyer said was correct lol

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All ours have a return address and Ive never had 1 back !

[kris5161]

i send things under £10/ £15 not recorded for exactly the same reasons

[louie2565]

Then to top it off you have to wait 10 days before you get anything back.from them its out of order

[samslocker]

The way RMG deal with lost/missing/ and MOST likely mail theft is a shambles. They would be out of business if it was not for e-commerce traders like ourselves. I send nothing of real high value with them.

I got hit with a RAFT of INR cases all eBay as per normal last month. I go through RMG deliberate long winded designed to stop you claiming process. I send everything photos of packets, proof of post, any eBay case evidence  most important EMAIL from the person claiming INR. It is a total joke of a system designed to put you off. Do not let them. They are responsible for running a secure network and are paid for it.

This is the email I got for the most recent claim  (this is pretty common), I now have to go to postal review panel, notice the bit where RMG use the excuse of not getting a reply from the INR claimer to reject the claim, then ASK me to contact the INR claimer.

Been like this since Moyra Green took over.

Hi xxxxxxxxx

Thank you for your enquiry about an item of mail sent to xxxxxxxx

Our priority is to provide a good quality service, and we aim to handle all mail very carefully to make sure it is delivered safely and on time.  Every item is important to us, but from time to time problems do arise.

I have written to the person you sent the item to, but have not received a reply, so I must assume that the package has been delivered.  If this is not the case, could you please ask the addressee to return my letter so I can reconsider your claim.

I am sorry that my reply cannot be more favourable, but I hope I have managed to address your issues.  If you have further questions relating to this matter, please get back in touch quoting our reference number at the top of this email.

Kind Regards

RMG xxxxxxxx

[coolgirlsboutique]

Royal mail always use that excuse. I usually get on phone in outrage I soon get my refund then.

[patriciabclothes]

Absolutely scandoulous. I haven't bothered to claim since Royal Mail went private as it' was too much hassle before. I now gather it is even worse.

[posterworld2015]

We have had the same problem with these "assumptions". Only evidence RM have says item has not arrived but because no reply from our customer they assume it did!!!  You could not make it up.We remind them ALL the evidence they have shows item has not arrived but because our customer, who is not obliged to reply, has not replied to their letter they make these "assumptions". It is designed to annoy, frustrate and deter us from claiming. No chance RM. 

[samslocker]

So you get level 2 excuse for not dealing with a claim.....again they assume, this is after we are forced to actually refund as we get the negative impact on our account on eBay . People do not wait 2 days these days never mind 10 we have to live in the real world it is 2016 now not 1996.

Stuck between and rock (eBay) and a (RMG) hard place, multi-nationals profit on small business. 

Obviously I forward all emails or cases direct to RMG who am well aware how a company like eBay works. Delay put you off claiming, penny pinching, anything NOT to actually deal with a claim. I have no issue with refunding a genuine claim (most a fake we all know that). At the very least I expect them to actually note and monitor suspect address's. They appear to want to do nothing. Can you imagine if we treated cusotmers like RMG do. I do not even really want the money I just think Claims of NON delivery are taken serious and not just given this lip service. 

Hi xxxxxxxxxxx   Thanks for the emails and I am sorry that you have felt the need to escalate this matter.   To briefly explain what happens with the process of when claim is raised and then what happens after, it may help clarify the situation and what can be done next.  When the claim is received we will check all available information to see if there were any registered issues that may have affected the delivery of the item.  If there were no issues then we would normally write to the recipient in which they would need to respond to validate the loss of the item.  If there is no response within a set period of time we will advise you accordingly.   When a claim gets to this stage we will be able to consider additional information to help validate the loss of the item.  Either the loss declaration form (called a P91) that was sent can be returned or we can receive some correspondence confirming the loss, which is dated after the official loss date.  The correspondence that we would accept would normally be in the form of a dated letter, email or ebay/amazon message.  Although I can see that some evidence was provided as part of the claim itself, the information as dated within 10 working days of the due date of delivery so I am unable to accept it as evidence of the loss.  As you will have seen on our information regarding missing mail we can only accept a loss claim if the item has not been received after the loss period has elapsed.   If you have had any further contact with the recipient in which they have since confirmed that the item has not been received we will happily review the details as stated above.   I apologise for not being able to provide a more favourable reply but I hope that this has helped answer your query.  If you do have any further queries regarding this matter please do not hesitate to contact us again.   Kind Regards   xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Business Customer Service adviser

[ehomebasics]

i am buying on ebya more than 9 years now and and none if single parcel that i bought lost or missed even without signed parcel  ....but as a seller why only parcel get lost when i send to buyers ? its really a mystry for me ...some times i bought more than £40 worth of items and these parcel are simple 2nd class sent to me ...i never lost and always got .....????

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@custom_cars_uk wrote:

I think its down to buyers getting wise on how to get freebies. We sent an item recorded delivery. The buyer signed for it and then emailed to say that the package was unsealed with no contents in it. The package was very well packed and taped. Trading on ebay for many years makes you very cynical so we checked this buyer out. First of all, why would you sign for a packet that was obviously opened and contents missing. Secondly, we emailed every seller on his feedback for the last 2 months and three other sellers replied to us stating the same thing happened to them. Now this buyer has got excellent feedback so do not take anyones feedback as if its a cast iron garuantee that they are honest. Hes goinf to make a claim for a refund anytime now, we contacted CS and lets see what happens. Just another point, i have been buying items off of ebay for over 8 years and have never had any items go missing when sent to me - sorry i am being cynical again!

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[2000alfaalfa]

I sell a few hundred items a month and over the last 10 years have had the odd item go missing .

This month alone I have had 5 'go missing' and appears to be an increasing problem

All items are safely packed with Paypal Postage labels and correct Customs info.

I dont know if there is a delay in Customs or what.

At this rate I will have to send every overseas Signed For regardless of value which will put many buyers off .

Also the rate of Non-paying buyers has increased greatly .

By and large UK Postage / Royal Mail is safe and very few parcels ever go missing ( in UK) which is why I have stuck with them .

I dont want to think that buyers are dishonest but the parcels are going missing somewhere between Post Office and them .

[patriciabclothes]

I always use the pay immediately option when I can. Stops time wasters and non payers in their tracks.

[oakleaffy]

Smart move to do that emailing of past sellers..I have always received sent items..sometimes they get delayed, in which case, when a refund was sent, I returned item to seller when item turned up I paid for return postage].

[mailheat]

Problem is even if its 'signed for' you can do anything about a lost item. I find that sending signed for just stop 3/4s of the theiving ebayers saying INR when they have it.

[terry6082]

A lost item I sent via RM. It would be a low price heavy item of course. I didn't know RM had got so tough, they were much nicer 7 years ago. 

[js1826]

I've had one parcel sent to me go astray in the last week, and now it appears one I have sent has done the same. Could it be Roya Mail have just had a recruitment hike in the run up to Christmas, and aren't too fussy who they are taking on these days, or perhaps they are on a temporary contract any way? Either way I suggest being extra vigilant at this time of year when sending expensive items through a postal system.

[vblstitchcrafts]

OR:

Don't send expensive stuff with Royal Mail. I use a courier who pay the retail cost if lost not just the component cost like Royal Mail. I really do not understand how they get away with such unfair Terms & Conditions. I now just send cheaper items that is cheaper for me to replace than the cost of entering a claim procedure.

[isafecreator]

Every Christmas comes as a surprise.

[samslocker]

There was a time when we sent anything under £20 standard, we are down to about £12 now on eBay. We just boosted prices to cover the claims and signatures, they are 100% from eBay our issues.  All these signatures will actually slow the whole system up, but what can you do, you get tired of paying for other peoples performance and errors.

it is not all scammers either, the amount of wrong address's on ebay is shocking, why ebay do not address this issue, nearly every website has a system to make sure the correct address is input apart from here. you have missing post codes street names towns countires you name it. The amount I have to correct and the time it takes. 

Funnily enough we have had back 2 issues last week, both came back with wrong address's. Which was amazing we got them back.

One came back with a TOTALLY different product we do not even sell in it. Which was totally freaky. 

We have had 2 in the last 24 hours now, nothing major £2 item and £7 item so it is starting. 

[kris5161]

could not agree more about wrong addresses. i am down to £15 for not signed for. except for things to the global shipping center. those i send first class and everyone has got there. 🤔

[doro121061]

Yes, It's this Time of the Year again. 5  low Value Orders so far not arrived this Month. I suppose we just have to live with it as it is " Christmas". Happens every Year. I send all Orders over £ 10 now signed for as I cannot afford the Loss. Just strange as I always received my Orders and never ever had an order not arriving ):.