Hi all,
So, a recent order was to an eBay collection point (Click & Collect), at the customers local petrol station. We used the pre-printed label, with ECP code, etc. Tracking shows delivered and available for collection. However...
It turns out that Royal mail have recently installed their own 'collection point' at the said petrol station - in the form of lockers that sit outside. It seems that the package has been delivered to / put into the RM collection point, rather than kept inside the store.
RM sent the customer a 'collection email', but with the collection code blank. I suspect this is because the parcel was not originally ordered (nor redirected) as a RM collection point parcel, so there's no code to provide on their system. They say they can't manually generate one.
The customer has been to the collection point and staff advised her that 'all of the RM parcels are put in the lockers'. Supposedly the ECP codes looks exactly the same as the RM collection codes.
RM won't remove the parcel from the locker, and the customer can't access it without a code. Even if it's eventually returned to us, it's a live plant, so perishable. It's been stuck in this locker for a week nearly, in the middle of a heat-wave - it will likely be dead when/if it ever makes it's way back to us.
Seems like a mess all round. Not even sure who's at fault, is it RM for misdelivering it, is it the collection point for having all the RM parcel put in there, is it eBay for having codes too similar to RM codes? No idea.
At this point, I've asked the customer to open an INR case, and I'll escalate it to eBay in a few days. I'm wondering if there's anything more we should/could do? Is this scenario likely to be covered by eBays Click and Collect terms. It seems like a grey area to me.
Any thoughts?
Cheers.
