How long do you REALLY get to pick up an item delivered by Evri for collection from a Post Office? | Buying

retroman303 · 2026-04-05T10:48:37.581000Z

Bit of a long title there! I sometimes have an item delivered by Evri to a Post Office for me to collect from there (it's usually a bit cheaper than delivery to my home, and I think - rightly or wrongly - that there's less chance of problems occurring). When the item is delivered to the PO I get an email informing me and giving me a specific date (about two weeks from delivery) to collect it by, lest the item be taken back by Evri (presumably for return to the sender, although how that would work I don't know - I can't imagine Evri doing that for free). I also get reminder emails reiterating the need to collect by the given date. On a couple of recent occasions, circumstances dictated that I could only collect a package on the last possible day. Both times I remarked on the fact that I was picking it up at the eleventh hour, so to speak, but both times I was told by a particular member of staff that they hold such items for three weeks, not two. On both occasions, I politely challenged this, pointing out what the eBay emails said, but she was insistent that the PO (at least, this one) would have held my package for a further week. I wanted to ask what would happen if, after two weeks, Evri wanted to take back an uncollected package; would the PO say, "No, you can't take it yet, we're going to hang on to it for one more week"? Unfortunately, it was busy, and I didn't want to hold up the queue. I could ask the manager, although I'd have to pick a quiet time of the day when she appeared to be in a good mood, as the PO is usually busy, and she can be quite fearsome! Even if she corroborated what the other member of staff told me, I wouldn't really know for sure unless I took the risk of leaving a package uncollected by the 'pick up by' date. A fortnight is usually more than ample for me, but there's the odd time when that extra week would come in very handy. I'm inclined to put my faith in those eBay emails stating a last day for collection rather than the PO employee, but I just wondered if anyone has any actual experience of this situation: were you unable to collect by the given date, but found that the PO had retained it for an additional week, or were you unable to collect and were informed that Evri had taken it back on (or the day after) the 'collect by' date? Obviously, if the counter staff member I spoke to IS correct, and what she said applies to all PO branches, not just the one she works in, then the emails I receive from eBay are wrong, and should be giving me a final collection date of three weeks, not two, from the date Evri delivers the item to the PO.

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How long do you REALLY get to pick up an item delivered by Evri for collection from a Post Office? | Buying | eBay UK