Mystery - RM tracking photo not the parcel I sent

[belinda0007]

If anyone can shed any light on what has happened here I'd be so grateful! At a bit if a loss as to how to deal with it? Sent an expensive £70 toy Dalek via tracked Royal Mail 48 this week.  Buyer emails me to say a parcel has turned up from me with sewing materials in it.  He didn't order them. He sends a photo of what he recieved..The parcel is definitely not from me.  I check the tracking and it's also showing this completely different parcel.  Buyer says my label is stuck on the underside ...all I can see from the tracking photos is a handwritten label on the parcel clearly addressed to the buyer.  Buyer claims no Dalek package received.

Now the thing is my label was glued on to the Dalek parcel with double sided tape and had gaffa tape around the edge so I'd be really surprised if it had come loose. Even more surprised if it had come loose and conveniently attached itself to a parcel headed to the exact same house/person. The other wierd thing is that the tracking is all backwards it shows it starting from the delivery address in the Midlands and working back to me in London! Any ideas if this is a scam and if it is how they do it?

I don't know whether I suspect foul play from either a Royal Mail employee or the buyer or maybe the two working together?  The buyer has (of course) requested a refund under the goods not being as described and I don't see how I can prove otherwise. Has anyone else experienced anything similar and is there anything that can be done? 

[lolobaby26jm]

I think they are trying their luck.  This happens a lot on vinted with people using Inpost and qr codes in lockers and drivers muddle them up when collecting  In all my years on ebay I have never heard of this with Royal Mail.  

[belinda0007]

Thanks -- sorry if I'm being dumb but how does this scam work?  I'm trying to work it out but my tired old brain just can't tonight! 😀

[sheba-knows-best]

What does your tracking show? Delivered with the buyer? Or on its way to you in London?  Forget the parcel the buyer has - which you have never seen in your life apparently, and certainly didnt stuff with sewing materials - just wait for the tracked parcel to be delivered (wherever that is) and then you might have a clue as to what has happened.

[belinda0007]

Thank you. The tracking shows the doorstep delivery being made but the package in the photo is not mine.  Just rechecked and tracking is now back in the right order going from London to Gloucester.  It shows status as Delivered with a green tick next to it. 

[sml192]

There are 2 possibilities that I can think of:

1.  Your address label somehow became detached from your parcel, despite being stuck on well, (it does happen) most likely when the parcel was in the delivery van and the postie just assumed it was meant to go with the hand addressed parcel.  If that is the case then the buyer is quite rightly entitled to a refund but, knowing that they won't win an 'Item not received' dispute because the tracking shows delivered, has just claimed that the hand addressed parcel contained something they didn't order in order to be able to open an 'Item not as described' return request;

2.  The postie had 2 items to deliver to the buyer, yours and the hand addressed one, and for some reason scanned yours but took a photo of the other.  If the buyer spotted this mistake then they may have decided to use it to their advantage in order to falsely claim a refund.

Either way you cannot prove anything so you have no option other than to accept the return or just refund. 

You could try and claim from Royal Mail on the grounds that the parcel shown on the tracking isn't yours but you are highly unlikely to be successful. 

The only other possibility, if you do definitely think the buyer isn't being truthful, get them to return what they claim to have received, report to Action Fraud to obtain a crime number and then provide that to eBay using the 'Report a problem' button in the return request.  That way the buyer will probably still be refunded but eBay may do so out of their own funds instead of making you refund. 

[mustangbooks]

My best guess: There were 2 parcels delivered at the same time (sewing stuff they ordered from elsewhere and your dalek parcel), but the postie made a mistake and took a photo of the non-tracked sewing parcel instead of your tracked one (or mixed up two tracked parcels and took photos of the wrong one each time - easily done),  then the buyer checked the tracking, saw the wrong photo showing against your tracking number and decided to use this to their advantage so they could claim the wrong parcel was delivered!  The stuff about the label stuck to the underside is them trying to give a reason why the wrong item was showing against your tracking label when it's not visible in the pic.  Just one possible explanation.

[m25jet · Accepted solution]

Having read all the replies posted so far on this thread, I feel inclined to believe that the second theory that @sml192 came up with is the one which is more than likely to be the correct one.  If you haven't already done so by the time you read this response add the buyer's User ID to your Blocked Bidders List so that he/she cannot purchase anything else from you in the future and cause you any further aggravation.

[belinda0007]

Thank you so much everyone! The truly really sad thing about this is that I was selling one of my son's Dalek's for him so he could make a bit of Christmas money.  I can't tell him what happened as he'll be heart broken.  He was so proud of his item selling for a good price.  These scammers are so evil! 

[eyewear247]

The buyer claims your label is stuck on the underside, has your buyer provided you with a photo of the delivered parcel with your address label and tracking number displayed, if so how has it been attached?

I would suggest not refunding until the parcel with the sowing contents have been returned back to yourself even though eBay will charge you aroujnd £3.35 for the return label.

[thesmokingrunner]

@belinda0007 

I'm not buying any of that story. There seem to be an increasing number of "wrong parcel arrived with your label on it" claims - this is the third or fourth I've read about recently - and with more and more sellers using Tracked postage I think it's starting to replace the INR scams.

So the label on your £70 Dalek figure fell off the package and mysteriously became attached to a parcel of sewing materials which were addressed to the same buyer even though he didn't order them? Yeah, happens all the time, that does...

My money's on the buyer received the Dalek and is attempting to get it for free. What happens is that the buyer removes the label from your parcel and attaches it to the other parcel - which arrived at the same time and appears in the delivery photograph - and then claims that he's received something different. Funny how the label came off your parcel - despite being stuck on with double-sided sticky tape and gaffer tape - rather than the other cheaper parcel, isn't it?

There are so many holes in the buyer's story I don't know where to begin. The delivery photo shows the other parcel, but your parcel must have been scanned on delivery otherwise there'd be no Tracking recorded. So the two parcels were delivered at the same time. The other parcel - the one he "didn't" order - has a handwritten address - does the photo show a Tracking Number, and if so can you check it out on RM's site?

I do hope you've not refunded the buyer. Do nothing until he opens a dispute. If it's an INR case the Tracking proves it was delivered and the case will close in your favour. If it's a NAD case accept it and when the buyer returns the sewing material he apparently didn't buy, report the buyer and appeal the case an the ground that the buyer has not returned the item you sent. You may not get the Dalek back but at least you should get the money.

Good luck.

[bazinga-games]

I would guess that the buyer had more than 1 parcel delivered at the same time, but that the postie just took one photo of one of the parcels, so that is what is showing up.  Sounds like the buyer is trying it on, sadly 😐

I would assume that if the tracking shows delivered then you'll be fine if he opens a case.

[wyntersemporium]

My postie scans the item and then places and takes a photo of a different one with original parcel underneath 

[wyntersemporium]

I’ve had a buyer this morning say their item which o sent out on Monday not arrive. Strangely when I went to look for the photo left by postie he put this up instead of the parcel itself - he put up a photo of his own Royal Mail jacket 

[pokepost]

It would literally turn anyone away from selling on eBay (Even anywhere online these days, People think of it as victimless as they don’t need to deal with the seller face to face), If someone can get the chance to scam you, Then they will.