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?

[colinsfoto]

It is coincidence of course. Trust me 😄

[chilternfeed]

I'm noticing a big increase at the moment

Three items gone 'missing' in the last month. Looking at the customers' FB they look genuine - but why can't we get some indication from eBay if this person is claiming for a lot of things not being delivered.

Or even just a flag like the non-payment flag which allows us to not sell to them in the first place

[sam_in_barbate]

Hi,

My family buy a lot of items in the UK & have never not had a parcel delivered to us, not one missing parcel in at least 5 years & we are talking countless hundreds of items, wrapped every way that a human being can possibly dream up.

The only missing parcels we have ever had have been parcels we shipped ourselves, ALWAYS containing items that had been bought on ebay, where I or my husband had opened item-not-described cases after having tried to reason with appalling sellers, having found the item to be fake/damaged/spray-painted/ruined or whatever.

Over the last 2 years, over 50% ( probably about 5-6 items) shipped back to the seller  has A. Not been signed for & B. Has never been returned to us. Due I believe to ebay requiring the tracking number BEFORE the item has arrived so warning these bad ( and rare) sellers it is on its way.

I spoke to the RM & one guy told me that if a housholder does not claim a parcel, that they almost never get sent back to the sender, even, as in our case we clearly write our return address. These parcels get shipped to Dublin where they get opened & examined, if there is no senders details ON the item inside the parcel, I REPEAT, on the actual item inside the box or jiffy bag then they auction them off.

When I ship from Spain to the UK I try to remember to attach my address to the item inside, which has saved one or two items ( Customs having once drilled a hole through a rare luxury bar of Chanel soap, having torn open the Chanel giftwrap & cut through the Chanel seal on the unopened soap box inside)

You live & learn

X's

[sam_in_barbate]

HI,

For those interested here is the link to the Russiapost track & trace website, I couldn't be without it, easy to follow, though sometimes you do have to taip in a new 5 digit code before the info turns up. The results are in Russian, but easily translated in google. Customs can be a bit slow, but it is a 100x more informative than the RM website.

& I wish I could quadruple my Russian buyers.

X

http://www.russianpost.ru/resp_engine.aspx?Path=rp/servise/en/home/postuslug/trackingpo

[lee_bay_ltd]

Another one turned up, this time in Australia. I have to say, my customers have been great, all letting me know and asking to repay 😄

All late/missing items where posted between early Feb and early March, all to different countries and 3 turn up within 1 day of each other?

[n_e_fing2011]

I must get at least 30 INR per month.

It's ridiculous and there is not a thing we can do about it.

The worst part is I use PPI so I cannot even make a claim from Royal Mail so I am out of pocket . What makes it worse is when they reply saying they do not want another sending.

I cannot send recorded as it would cancel out my profit. Besides, half the time RM don't even bother to get a signature.

I can confirm I have been ordering online for years and have NEVER had an item go missing.

Just for the record, it does not matter where you buy the item from, it can go missing no matter what. It always confuses me when people refer to where it was bought from or where they sold it from. It makes no difference.

[exotica]

Just found this thread while doing a search as I'm having the same issue as well! I am neither from the UK nor a business seller, but just a personal US collector who started selling recently after some odd-years on hiatus. Most of my buyers were overseas. From brazil, australia, canada, and the UK. Everyone received their packages except for the one from the UK.

After inputting my custom number on a query form from the parcelforce worldwide website, I got a response the next day from them saying that my parcel was sent on a Royal Mail service. Also, this UK buyer purchased 2 items from me, which I shipped separately (one week apart). And he is claiming that he hasn't received any of the packages 😐

Unfortunately, tracking info for both packages is available only within the US, and it doesn't show any more tracking once it leaves the country (in my case, last track info shows that both items left NY facility, which according to the postal clerk is the last stop before it left US)

I don't know how you sellers do this. It is kind of stressful when a buyer says they haven't received the item lol. Although it just happened to me once, from a UK buyer! And I agree that I think eBay / PayPal should put more effort protecting sellers. After all, it's the sellers who helps make the company money. I guess it's been awhile since I sold stuff, but I was really surprised how much fees I had to pay eBay and PayPal!

Anyway, just thought I'd share my experience! Also I wonder if this happens usually in Spring time, RM "losing" items ?:|

[tiny521]

Now even worse,mate...Just got which I sent 2 Days ago...speechless...:-(

[brindle18]

hi there i am having the same problems, i have got 5 items undelivered in the last 2 weeks.

[northern_star_retail]

Of course they may not all have been lost. Sadly, while most buyers are honest, there are scammers out there on Ebay who make a lot of money out of getting refunds for 'items not received'. They tend to work in groups so that the INR claims aren't always from the same buyer. 

[arty_facts]

As a buyer ive never had an item not arrive. As a seller ive had a few. As an ex postie (admittedly a few years ago) I reckon 90% of INR's are dodgy buyers.

[mufc.me]

@cds4all me too i am a eBay addict and have post arriving to my door daily - sometimes signed for items in the past have just been posted through my letterbox , things left in sheds but the whatever i buy has always found its way to me !! - i must be lucky or honest i have never had to contact a seller regarding a lost item !!

Now on the other hand as a seller i have post go missing regulary  - But i do have a happy ending to one story !!

A item to China i send well over 4 weeks ago - todate the tracking number says just getting ready to be posted abroad!!

Phoned Royal mail today and they tell me Uk customs have detained my parcel due to there being a problem with the parcel but they couldnt tell me what !!
If i want it back i have to fill out a claims form - So before i claimed i thought i would contact the seller and ask if they had recieved the parcel just to cover all angles !!!

Expecting i am still waiting for it message - i got a nice message saying they had recieved the parcel over two weeks ago and left me glowing feedback !! - Royal mail what do they know 😉

[sijoaccessories]

I have worked out that approx 3.5% of my sales are 'lost'. and it is defiantely increasing more lately. So basically we now have a 'fixed' overhead to add to the business costs to ensure that we cover items that we are going to be 'giving away'!!!!!

I have only EVER had two returned to me, despite having a printed label, with the return address being larger font than the postage address!

[**daisysboutique**]

Hi 

I just wanted to put on ebay our situation.  We send nationwide and everything via Royal Mail’s Signed For service, so we have proof of delivery.  On a number of occasions we have experienced buyers claiming non-delivery. Royal Mail's on-line info just states "still being processed" even though months have passed since posting.  Items were never returned. We submitted claims but received poor excuses and in one case a packet of stamps!  Becoming frustrated and annoyed we decided to evaluate all items sent for the month of January.  We discovered 46 items were never signed for.  In a nutshell we could have more claims for non-delivery than we receive.  You may already be aware that the seller has to submit the claim and compensation is minimal, the seller is out of pocket due to loss of sale, admin etc etc.  Infuriated I decided to request previous claims to be re-opened and fully investigated, and I submitted a multiple claims form for service failure (obtained via RM’s website).  Evidence to support my grievance.  I then posted one copy to RMs customers complaints/compensation dept and the other to Moya Greene CEO.  I pointed out that their service failure is not only fraudulent in that they are taking money for a service they are clearly not providing but they are also placing my business in a position where we are vulnerable to fraud.  I have received an acknowledgment from Moya Greene that the matter will be investigated. 

The process of all of this is very time consuming but I intend to submit and accrue more evidence and am more than willing to take it to Ofcom if not satisfied.  I urge everyone in the same situation to adopt this approach.  It is painful and an admin nightmare, but RM is placing you as the seller in a very vulnerable position.  After all RM charge enough!  Surely obtaining a signature shouldn't be too difficult!

[northern_star_retail]

Replying to **daisysboutique** - I found this really interesting, I've tried in the past to complain about items not signed for and ''still being processed", I've said they are taking money for a service they aren't providing (which now costs an extra £1.10), and like you, I got a book of stamps if I was lucky, but no explanation as to why no signature was taken. I sent an item to my son last year recorded delivery and it was just left in the entrance of his block of flats, with the recorded label half torn off! It would help perhaps if 'signed for' items were put into separate bags, like special delivery are, but in all the post offices I know they're just put in with the normal mail. The only advantage, if it can be called that, of sending Signed For now, is that the compensation level doubles from £20 to £40.

I'd be interested to know how you get on with your complaint, as I've had a huge number of problems with RM over the last couple of years, and their complaints process is dreadful.

[colinsfoto]

 Becoming frustrated and annoyed we decided to evaluate all items sent for the month of January.  We discovered 46 items were never signed for. ..

I then posted one copy to RMs customers complaints/compensation dept and the other to Moya Greene CEO.....

 I have received an acknowledgment from Moya Greene that the matter will be investigated. 

TBH, I assumed everyone knew that a lot of recorded items never get logged or signed for.

As for Moya Greene, I expect she is far too busy arranging the sell off to be bothered by complaints that go back 20 years or more. 

[colinsfoto]

 It would help perhaps if 'signed for' items were put into separate bags, like special delivery are, but in all the post offices I know they're just put in with the normal mail.

What you are saying there, is that you want to pay a "signed for" price and get a "special delivery" service. Of course "signed for" mail always goes in the standard mail bags. That is exactly what it is: standard mail, with the promise of a sig, if you are lucky and it gets picked out at final sort.  

Once it enters the system, no one knows where it is. It is not a tracked service and RM do not claim it is.

However, I agree that RM are taking money for a service they aren't providing.

[**daisysboutique**]

Hi

I have just put together another form representing February and at this stage have identified over 80 items have no signature obtained.  I will be double checking and putting the paperwork together today and naturally will be sending the evidence via RM's Signed For .  I will provide an update asap.    

[pushkin1980]

As a buyer I have claimed a refund for 2 undeliverd items and now waitng for another one. It takes ages to come and I am scared to open another undelivered item case as the frequency gets now too high. Maybe there is something to do with changes in postal prices, so sellers sell without realising the real costs until they reach the post office, or maybe sellers sell it too cheap 0.99 p. and  they decide to keep it rather than post it. This happened to my March/April transactions.

[dynv_li]

I arrived to the UK for study in Sept 2012 and started to buy/sell things on eBay and Amazon. I am quite disappointed with Royal Mail service; out of 28 items (sold or bought), 3 were undelivered and 3 were late for more than a week.

From a statistical point of view, 8 out of every 10 deliveries will be delivered on time, 1 will be late and 1 will be missing.