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?

[darbrorcmodels]

Now this buyer has got excellent feedback so do not take anyones feedback as if its a cast iron garuantee that they are honest.

Buyer feedback is not worth the time it takes to read as sellers CANNOT leave anything but positive feedback these days. Even if the buyer is a scammer, sellers STILL cannot leave honest feedback about the buyer.

[mrssimpleton]

Oh hey, whats this? More missing items!

6 orders from 2nd April, all via 1st Class. All in the same sack.

11 orders from 2nd April, all via 2nd class. All from the same sack.

Thats 2 full sacks of mail just magically disappearing.

I'm starting to wonder if someones just nicking them direct from the sorting office, or if one of the staff has decided to follow in the footsteps of the old manager (who nicked quite a lot of money from the mail). Wouldn't surprise me.

[goukasghannas]

Something to seems to be going very wrong somehwere. I am waiting on a couple of items now that  just havent turned up for 2 weeks or so. Never had this problem before and Royal Mail et al, are saying there are no issues at the moment. A quick look on the internet shows this isnt the case and I have spoken to other seller/buyers in my area who are having the same problems.

[kingsleycakes2011]

Hi there

I too have had rather alot of items go missing - and yes its go alot worse over the last months....weeks....

I asked our postman today, and he clarified that a "machine" reads the address, and if your postcode is not correct, then this will cause a non-deliver or delay

I have noticed that the majority of my items that have gone missing have no space inbetween the postcode - so for example AB112CD  rather than AB11 2CD

but where do us as a seller stand over this - as the buyer has given us an incorrect address?? 

I started to handwrite the correct postcode on a batch of invoices on Monday - and gave up after about 20 wrong postcodes!!  in a batch of 200 invoices there must have been 40 with the wrong postcode!!

its very frustrating!!

kingsley cakes x

[smdservices]

SOMETHING AT ROYAL MAIL HAS PROPER GONE BELLY UP AS THAT LAST 2 MONTHS HAS BEEN TERRIBLE, PRE THIS NO PROBLEMS, I HAVE HAD PARCELS GONE MISSING, EVEN SIGNED FOR, IF SOMEONE HAS CHANGES WORK PRACTICE NEED TO CHANGE IT BACK OR THERE IS A DODGY WORKER(S), I AM GOING TO MAKE A PROPER COMPLAINT AND ARE NOT GOING TO BE PORNED OFF. IF ENOUGH DO THE SAME IT'S NOT GOING TO LOOK GOOD FOR THEM. I AM GOING TO GET IN TOUCH WITH WATCHDOG TO SEE IF THEY HAVE HAD ALOT OF CALLS ABOUT THEM. WELL SEE HOW I GET ON.

[well-fed-writer]

We always write in big pen on our Recorded Delivery items "PLEASE OBTAIN SIGNATURE".  Since doing this, our INR claims have dropped to zero. 

Having this written on the packages deters buyers from claiming that items haven't arrived when they absolutely have arrived, and encourages the posties to get a signature and update the system.

If more sellers did this, there would be a reduction in the number of fraudulent claims and buyers will soon learn they can't get away with it.

[home-sweet-homes]

Sent 10 items on Monday, 2 are "missing" something has really gone wrong at Royal Mail at the moment.

😞

[quickranger]

A lost item will not find it's way back to the seller for the simple reason it is lost, if not it would be delivered either to the addressee or the sender.

How exactly does a parcel get "lost", it goes from a building in a bag into a van, then into another building and into another bag, then into another van etc.  At no point does it leave a RM compound without being in an RM van and unless it's being delivered it's always within an RM building.....how exactly do they manage to "lose" mail?

[omdirect]

HI, we have had this happen as well, but we are part of a bigger company, and had fraud investigators look at some of these "lost" parcel and found in the majority of case either from Ebay or other online selling sites that the customers are lying, the company has acted and brought couty court cases against anyone, be it £2.00 to £200.00, our company take fraud much more seriously than Ebay, where generally it is 90% the sellers fault when it clearly isn't, but it no good going back to ebay to show finding as they are not interested when they have made a ruling on who should pay. As for ebay sellers that are not part of a larger company I can only say, one thing to remember ebay rules are NOT the rules of Engalnd and Wales when it comes to retail, and what you may lawfully outside Ebay has nothing to do with them!

[mygloriousemporium]

I am considering making eBay my business and frankly, I am extremely alarmed by these posts on RM ineptitude and dishonest buyers which is having a negative effect on my decision.  Actually, I have only been selling for a couple of months and have had one parcel go missing already. As a community, is there anything we can do?  Present a "class action" complaint to RM?  Petition eBay on their inflexibility with regard to sellers?(after all, there is no eBay with out sellers).

I'll be interested to see if Watchdog do take up the cause as it's made all the more infuriating by the recent obscene increases in postage costs.

[old*angler]

You always need to bear in mind that what you read on these boards or on various "oh, how horrible it is" sites are from people who've had problems.  Sellers who are doing OK will almost never have a reason to post about it.

As to the, "recent obscene increases in postage costs", my understanding is that with the increases, RM is simply losing less money than they were before.  They are certainly not breaking even or (horrors!!!) making a profit.

[mygloriousemporium]

It's a wonder they operate as a going concern al all.  Annoyingly (although understandably, from what you say) the Post Office staff keep trying to flog me express guaranteed 30 seconds ago delivery every time I ask for 2nd class post

[colinsfoto]

It's a wonder they operate as a going concern al all.  

They wouldn't, but for a Gov. subsidy. If that disappeared they would go down the tube and all of the their competitors who use their "final mile" delivery service would rapidly follow them.

[old*angler]

Postal service choices:

1.  Close down.  Disastrous for any country.

2.  Keep prices low which means more general tax revenue needed to subsidize continued operations.

3.  Raise prices which shifts some of the tax burden over to people who actually use the service.

[luv_my_dog]

Postal service choices:

1.  Close down.  Disastrous for any country.

2.  Keep prices low which means more general tax revenue needed to subsidize continued operations.

3.  Raise prices which shifts some of the tax burden over to people who actually use the service.

1) A postal service is infrastructure, hence in private hands or run as a semi private business it will exclude some of the population and penalise others.

2) I have no issue at all with taxes paying for a cheap postal service and would welcome that move. The trend towards online shopping is a boost to both industry, retail and the economy at large, keeping the service inexpensive by subsidy is amongst the more effective use of taxes.

3) I don't have children, why am I paying for schools I'll never need?  In fact, why am I paying for tax credits and benefits for other peoples children?  I can;t remember the last time I saw a doctor, why am I paying for hospitals I don't need? I don't use local parks, public swimming pools, comminity centres, nursing homes etc? How's about we stop using taxes to pay for that since it's no use to me and pay for better roads, which both myself and the post office will use?

Everyone benefits from a cheap efficient postal service, everyone uses it one way or another.

[boothade]

Hello

I put up a post the other week about my increase in lost parcels. I'm really fed up with lost parcels and I have asked for Royalmail to look into it and they say to me that it's impossible as I use first class. i do however offer signed for but no one uses this option. the only option is to increase the cost of the item to cover a signed for postage.

I have at least 2 parcels a week go missing and my sales are very low due to me trying to get out of selling on ebay as I have decided to open a retail shop in Plymouth as the rent equals what i used to pay in fees and the loses I'm making with royalmail.

So the 2 + parcels is alot for the amount i sell and they are not just UK but international aswell.

I have been selling for nearly 4 years on ebay and thank them for this but unfortunately the large increase in lost parcels since Jan 12 has affected my seller ratings dispite me doing everything in my wording to the buyer/apology etc and all the usual stuff like, checking the delivery office, changing packaging etc.. you name it I've done it.

I'd like also to think that people are honest like i am and always have been but there is something going on I don't doubt this anymore. Either it is a range of buyers getting wise or someone in royalmail or could be a combination of the 2. either way it has drastically affected me and made my mind up to make a go of my new retail store.

I had 2 more reports of lost parcels over the weekend and expect this every week now.  When i first started I had approx 8 claims in the first year.

Nothing anyone can do. Ebay aren't going to do anything either. Stalemate. good luck anyway

[eloise1b]

I would suggest you check the buyers address matches what ebay sent to you, as EBAY are repeatedly giving out old buyer addresses in error, in the sold item confirmation to the seller.

I have lost many items because of EBAY errors, but all they say is they will investigate and you never hear anything else from EBAY.

I have no faith in EBAY and rely on the payment address from paypal instead.

I suggest you tell the buyer where you sent it and ask if the address was the correct one.

[eloise1b]

I would suggest you check the buyers address matches what ebay sent to you, as EBAY are repeatedly giving out old buyer addresses in error, in the sold item confirmation to the seller.

I have lost many items because of EBAY errors, but all they say is they will investigate and you never hear anything else from EBAY.

I have no faith in EBAY and rely on the payment address from paypal instead.

I suggest you tell the buyer where you sent it and ask if the address was the correct one.

[colinsfoto]

Personally, I only send to the Papal address showing in my PP account. I would never dream of relying on shipping addresses showing in emails from eBay, Paypal or whoever.

The address showing in the initial eBay sold item email may not be the same delivery address that the buyer later selects when they pay by Paypal.

Once they have paid, the shipping address they opted for in PP should also show in your eBay sold items page, but I would not bank on it.

[radka37]

Well, I wouldn't say its a Royal Mail as I am a seller from Ireland, therefore using An Post  and this last  2 months  I have so many lost

packages at least 10 all from different countries. As I am selling cosmetics customers will not pay for register postage as it would cost them more then the item itself and why would they pay more it they can just open a PayPal dispute in case the item get lost and get their money back anyway.