damaged empty mail

[eddy130_1]

hi

i hope everyone is well.

basically since having track and trace 24/48 service which has tracking = proof of delivery, oddly all 9/10 customers who claim no delivery evaporate into thin air as soon as i mention i`ve got tracking.

yes granted some items still do not arrive so i replace or refund quickly.

however, recently i had an increase in cusomers saying the order item was open; contents missing.

most do not even provide a picture of the damaged envelope; none have an offical royal mail damaged bag and dated letter from the local sorting office manager. they just say their postman missed it, and don`t care what the royal mail.

surely the postmen cannot post open letters? when they are ripped open, granted mistakes happen and the postie may not see all of the damaged letter every single time.

however, from the pictures i`ve been shown from ebay buyers; these picures are very clear in that they are missing paper  or have been ripped open, with possibly a sharp tool or edge which has destroyed the paper outer.  i use new envelopes and add sello tape to 3/4 items sent.

ebay has given me good advice. i am just wondering how to deal with this. yes granted 99.9% of customers are 100% honest and fair.

any ideas how to proceed, as some customers can start getting challenging.  by the way i`m always refund or replace without hesitation (when i am wrong or have made an error).

happy selling thank you Stu

[john1297576 · Accepted solution]

No easy answer. Your items are not expensive so unlikely to attract scammers, and hardly going to attract a lot of false claims, or damage by Postmen all over the Country. 

Damaged packets would normally be resealed before delivery, and the only place that all could be tampered with is at your Post Office/or wherever you deliver, but surely would be noticed along the route to the buyers.

Do you make claims on Royal Mail? or if not have you considered speaking to someone at your Local Delivery office to see if they can give any advice.

[eddy130_1 · Accepted solution]

thank you, open mail is very rare. but it seems on the increase somewhat. especially since we had tracking. i will contact royal mail though, and ask their official procedure. the ebay team told me to ask the buyer to open a case of non delivery. many thanks for your help i looking at this is brighter way now due to your time and helpful advice. cheers stuart