Item tracked as delivered, but label attached to someone else's post, my item lost.

[lujozo]

Hi All,

N.B. I’ve left out some details to keep this shorter.

• I’ve spoken to the buyer numerous times

• I’ve spoken to eBay 4 times.
• I’ve spoken to Royal Mail customer service once.
• I’m currently waiting several more days before making a claim.
• I know I should have written the sender and recipient’s full names and addresses on the box.

I recently sold an item that I packaged in a large box. I purchased the postage through eBay, downloaded the QR code, and printed the label at the post office. Normally, I don’t do it this way, but I was in a rush.

At the post office, I put the box on the scales, 7kg (I guess to check I hadn’t underpaid), handed over the parcel, they stuck the label on, gave me a receipt, and asked me to add it to the pile of other boxes on the floor. Then I left.

The buyer messaged me saying that the postage label had arrived on a bag of clothes. Underneath my label was another label for a person in the same area.

It seems that my box has been lost, but the tracking shows it as delivered because my label made it to the right location. Somehow, my label got separated from the box and ended up on a bag, exactly covering the other label. Coincidentally, both labels were for Tracked 48 and were printed a day apart.

eBay has suggested offering the buyer a partial refund, and they will cover the rest so.

My question: I’m offering the buyer 6% of what they paid. Where is the evidence that eBay will cover the rest? It seems that if they accept this amount, the matter might be closed.

Hope you can help!

[roger_roger_over_and_nowt]

What has the buyer done so far and what does the tracking show ?.

"eBay has suggested offering the buyer a partial refund, and they will cover the rest so." In over 20 years i have never heard of that,where EXACTLY are you getting thst from ?.

[lucy_farmer]

The label came off your parcel and *exactly* covered the label on another parcel..... ??!!

(this sounds an awful lot like another problem that popped up on this board a while ago.... must go back and have a look for it.....)

Firstly, why the offer of a *6%* refund?

Secondly, where did you get the 'ebay will cover the rest of the refund' idea from?

Was it from an actual human being on the phone? if it was and this person was in the Philipinnes ebay base, you can ignore anything they said. (A lot of ebay CS will say what you want to hear or what will get you off the phone the fastest, so they can hit their 'calls answered within the time frame' target....)

[vintique*violet]

How bizarre - 

Regarding partial refund and  eBay covering the rest - I would say to eBay " You go first!" 

Sorry , but I just do not trust anything they say. 

[lujozo]

Firstly, the tracking information indicates that the label has been delivered.

Regarding the label swap, I can only speculate. 

If I'm being generous, perhaps the label came off, and the postie mistakenly stuck it onto the wrong parcel. Alternatively, someone might have deliberately taken the box and transferred the label to another parcel to delay any investigation, knowing the sender (me) would receive proof of delivery. 

Given the time of year, Royal Mail employs many agency staff who may not be as familiar with the job or as meticulous as long-serving staff. Since agency workers are likely on short-term contracts, errors or even theft could have occurred.

I spoke with an actual eBay representative who mentioned the option of a partial refund, (I know the old adage if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is) with eBay covering the remainder. I can choose the amount to deduct from my funds. My initial thought was to offer a very small refund (around 6%) as a minimal gesture, given that eBay would make up the difference.

The buyer has sent me multiple messages, along with screenshots and pictures. They’ve even spoken with their local postie, whom they know personally.

The buyer has since purchased a replacement item and provided evidence of this. 

After several phone conversations with them, I’m inclined to believe their account of the situation.

I feel that I will give a full refund and pursue the RM for compensation.

I can see it's difficult for me to prove potentially to RM, however my tracking receipt shows 7 kg. It's only the buyer who is telling me that this is what has happened, but I believe their story.

I’ll be calling eBay again to get further clarification on how to proceed.

[thesmokingrunner]

@lujozo 

This is the fourth or fifth thread I have seen in the last few months about labels which have not only mysteriously detached themselves from parcels in transit but then been miraculously attached precisely over other labels on completely different parcels. Here's just one of them:

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/My-Royal-Mail-label-but-on-a-different-parcel/m-p/764...

Why would a label which becomes detached from a parcel be reattached to another parcel which already had a label on it? Surely whoever "found" the detached label (let's say in the sorting office) would put it to one side and look for a parcel which was missing a label?

You wrote in your original post that you should have written the sender and recipient’s full names and addresses on the box. Both are shown on Tracked 48 labels - the sender's address is on the bottom right hand side, perpendicular to the recipient's address - but I digress...

What I would be most interested to know is whether you have checked the Tracking history of the label which was allegedly underneath yours. If that shows as being delivered by Royal Mail then your label was attached by someone after it was received by the addressee on that label, NOT by a Royal Mail employee.

I think this is an attempt to scam you. Be careful.

[ile136yz]

The Buyer did not receive the item they purchased, when they open an eBay case you will have to refund in full. Why would they agree to a a 6% discount for a bag of clothes?

You then put a Claim into the Royal Mail as the Postage Drop depot / Post Office did not apply the Postage label securely (from the downloaded QR you gave them).  The label attached itself to another parcel & the wrong box was delivered.  If you used RM 48 Tracked the delivery picture should show the postage label attached to the wrong parcel/box (you can use this in your claim).

This situation does not surprise me, I have watched Post Office Counter workers pack items / or apply postage labels with a small amount of sticky tape.

[lucy_farmer]

'The label attached itself to another parcel & the wrong box was delivered. '

I find this difficult to believe. How could the label accidentally attach itself *exactly* covering an existing label? (the probability of this happening accidentally is ludicrously tiny. And this is not the first time this has been brought up as a problem. So the chances of it happening more than once are infinitesimally tiny...)

I can see that perhaps a label may get stuck on the wrong parcel, but nothing like *perfectly*....

And, no matter of the prevalence of temporary postal workers at this time of year, what postal worker would pick up an unattached  label and place it directly  and purposefully over the existing label on another parcel. ? If there was an un-attached label floating about, a lazy or dim postal worker would just ignore it.  (and the un-addressed parcel would disappear into the 'lost in the post' dept)

Or perhaps they'd carelessly slap it on to something close at hand, but not a perfect, pointless and what's more, *time consumming* replacement of one label over another one.......

I feel there is some sort of scam happening here, I just can't see how yet.  (there is a permanent  'arms race' between scamming techniques and how to avoid them, and this one isn't quite obvious yet, but it will be worked out in the end.)

[cobwebcottage]

Absolutely. You don't hear from sellers who have sold a child's plastic toy and the buyer says they have received a brand new designer bag!

[lujozo]

I'm  happy to do a full refund, but eBay said we'll pay the shortfall.

I was very skeptical on the phone, so they explained the reason was I had 23 year of loyalty & I'm a perfect eBayer. 

I don't buy this, however I've lost a chunk of money otherwise, as no guarantee RM will pay my claim. 

I'm calling them again, to see if I can get a straight story.

[thesmokingrunner]

@lujozo  You really are wasting your time calling CS. They will tell you what you want to hear. Follow their advice and you will end up both refunding in full and losing the item.

To repeat part of my previous post (#6) have you checked the Tracking history of the label which was allegedly underneath yours? If that shows as being delivered by Royal Mail then your label was attached by someone after it was received by the addressee on that label, NOT by a Royal Mail employee, which for the avoidance of doubt means that your label could not possibly have "fallen off" the parcel you posted. At least, not until it had been delivered along with the box to which it was attached...

Follow the Tracking.

[4_bathrooms]

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@lujozo wrote:

The buyer messaged me saying that the postage label had arrived on a bag of clothes.
  

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Has the buyer actually opened a case or just sent messages?

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@lujozo wrote:

Somehow, my label got separated from the box and ended up on a bag, exactly covering the other label.

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The Post Office label would have been a self-adhesive thermal label. I print my own shipping labels on exactly the same type of thermal label and they do not simply peel off once they have been stuck on properly including "slippery" things like those shiny grey mailing bags. Even if you accidently crease a corner so it is not stuck down properly trying to pull one of these labels off will cause it to tear. There is close to zero chance it has somehow become separated from your package and placed exactly over another shipping label on another package by chance or accident.

Does Royal Mail's tracking show a picture of the package they delivered? Tracked 48 should show a picture of the package on Royal Mail's tracking page. What does that show?

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@lujozo wrote:

eBay has suggested offering the buyer a partial refund, and they will cover the rest so.

My question: I’m offering the buyer 6% of what they paid. Where is the evidence that eBay will cover the rest?

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If you were given that advice by an eBay customer service representative they were just trying to get you off the phone as mentioned earlier.
  

[lujozo]

I've spoken with Customer Support (CS) again and have now fully refunded the buyer. They put me on hold four times during the call and sought additional advice to avoid any ambiguity. Hopefully, they got the information right this time.

On my previous call to eBay, I was misinformed, and I blame eBay for this. Quite a few of you focused on the 6%, which equated to £10. If someone said, "Pay whatever you like, and I’ll cover the rest," I figured the lower the amount I personally refund, the less I lose, so £10 seemed fair to me. Let’s not forget, eBay is worth $31.49 billion USD, so they shouldn’t mind.

I’m only allowed one attempt at a partial refund, so my initial low amount was rejected (I’d do the same). Unfortunately, I only have one shot at this and can’t try again, which is what I blame eBay for. What I should have been told is that I can offer a 50% refund, and under buyer protection, eBay would cover the rest.

I live and learn! I’ve never had a postage label jump parcels before on route.

[sml192]

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@lujozo wrote:

What I should have been told is that I can offer a 50% refund, and under buyer protection, eBay would cover the rest.

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That only applies where an item is returned in a different condition to what it was sent in.  It also only usually applies to business sellers, so I think you have been misinformed. 

[johnwash1]

Have you had confirmation from the buyer that they have received this refund?  Or only CS saying it's been done?

[thesmokingrunner]

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@lujozo wrote:

I've spoken with Customer Support (CS) again and have now fully refunded the buyer.

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@lujozo 

You did what??? Despite the misinformation given by CS previously and despite the advice given by previous contributors you have now refunded the buyer? Unbelievable. I genuinely cannot believe that you have been so naive.

At a guess the item was the Tascam Mini Disc player and the label from the box in which it was sent was removed and placed directly over an address label on a bag of clothes. Funny it was that way round isn't it? To paraphrase cobwebcottage, you don't hear from buyers who have received an expensive item when they're expecting something cheap, do you?

So you trusted that the buyer was telling the truth and you trusted that CS were telling the truth but you didn't take a blind bit of notice of any advice from those of us who have actual experience. The result is that you have lost the item and refunded the buyer, who now has a free Mini Disc player and will tell all his mates what a soft touch you are. And you never did check the other Tracking Number did you? - that, I can assure you, would have unravelled the buyer's entire story.

"I live and learn! I’ve never had a postage label jump parcels before on route."  You certainly have. This lesson has cost you around £175. Postage labels do not jump parcels. You have been scammed.

Maybe you'll listen - and more importantly act on - advice from those with experience next time. And considering the way you rolled over this time there will, believe me, be a next time.

[lighting_signs_and_vintage]

Just wow. That's the tweet.