Parcels confused by Royal Mail

[a.bavarian-72]

Hi everyone,

Sorry guys, long message, but I really don’t know what to do…

something very weird happened, I never thought that’s possible. I sold a milk frother on eBay, and as always, I sent it off via Royal Mail collection. It had been collected and I thought everything was good, but I haven’t got any notifications that the item has been sent out to the recipient. It was sent by 48 hrs tracked. After a couple of days there was still nothing, it’s now 7 days ago. Royal Mail told me I need to wait a couple of days more until I can report it missing. Unfortunately the recipient needed it as a birthday present soon, which is very unfortunate. 5 days after I later I sold a Phone (which was not cheap!!) to another seller. I sent it via Royal Mail collection (48 hours tracked and signed). I was a bit unsure about it all as the buyer of the phone had 0 ratings and recently joined. I’ve got today a message that the Phone was delivered and signed. 10 min later I’ve got a message, that he said he didn’t get the item. I immediately thought he wants to scam me. Then I’ve got another message he received a milk frother!! I looked at the delivery photo from in the Royal Mail app and I couldn’t see much, but it really does look more like the milk frother. I was thinking, how’s that possible, the milk frother has been sent out before I even received the order for the phone on eBay  (I can prove that all!!). I asked the buyer of the phone if he can send me the photo of the frother, but he just said I’ve scammed him and that he reported it to eBay and he opened a case and reported it also to the police. However - it seems Royal Mail confused both parcels (although they’ve been collected 5 days apart!!), and the phone is now missing. Such a mess! 

[a.bavarian-72]

Okay, so  my husband just phoned up Royal Mail and explained the situation (I'm not a native speaker, so I thought he can explain it better). They said, it's likely that they didn't label it immediately, it went to the post office and somehow got mixed up. They said it's something that happens now and then, which really surprised me. They said I need to get the milk frother returned by the phone buyer. But how shall I do it, he ignores messages ( I think he even blocked me) and just gave me a bad review, stating "she's a scammer, sent me milk frother instead of phone."

I guess I need to get eBay involved now...

Royal Mail also said, they need to wait a week, if the phone appears somewhere. If not, I need to report it as missing and they will investigate.

the whole thing is just stressing me out so much.

[myriad*seller]

You have to send a return label to the buyer now they have opened a case or they will get a refund and keep the frother

The buyer for the frother may have received the phone, but not realised it came from you, and are puzzled as to why an item they didnt order has arrived. The tracking may be wrong. 

Contact both buyers, issue return labels, get the items back and refund the buyers

[a.bavarian-72]

But he has opened the case as "he didn't receive item and wants a refund." If I agree to that I'll never see the frother again. He obviously needs to open a case that he received the parcel "not as described".

The other buyer didn't receive the phone (yet), it's missing at the moment. I have to wait a couple of days, then I can report it missing. 

[douglaspuglas]

He's opened the wrong case and should have opened a return because he received the wrong item.

As he's opened a not received case you enter the tracking number into the case.

As it says it's delivered you will win the case.

He should be able to open a return case after the not received case has closed.

[papso22]

Can you confirm whether the buyer who says he has the milk frother has actually confirmed with photographic evidence that they have the actual milk frother?

I think they have the phone, checked your listings, saw you recently sold the frother and have created a story around you mixing the items up in order to get a refund.   

I don't think they have a frother to return to you.  It's the frother that's gone missing and what RM will compensate you for.

My postman son says they could not mix up parcels in this way, particularly if they are collected 5 days apart and posted on RM48.  

[rjwilmsi]

Smartphones are a scam magnet. So as @papso22 suggests, it may be that the first item (milk frother) has been delayed, and the second item (phone) has been delivered fine but the buyer is trying to defraud you.

It's also possible that there has been some sort of Royal Mail mix up, but I'm not sure how. The chance of that given you didn't apply labels yourself does seem higher than with self-labelled items.

Keep an open mind I think.

As the phone buyer has opened an Item Not Received case you should: immediately add the phone's tracking number to the case that proves delivery. Add a message to the case stating that if the buyer has recieved the wrong item then they should open a "wrong item" case to return it for a full refund, and you will accept the return on such a case if raised (you have to anyway, but best to reassure buyer). Then wait and see what happens - you should win an INR case so if the phone buyer is genuine they will later open the return case.

In future I would suggest that having Royal Mail collect items is fine, but to avoid any confusion over labels, print and attach your own labels at home so you know everything has been done correctly and can take a photo of each box with correct label as proof for your own reference. Maybe you don't have a printer, but if you sell regularly then a 6x4 label printer (Zebra, Dymo etc.) is well worth the investment.

[a.bavarian-72]

Okay... I though I'd give you a little update. The guy write me yesterday morning a message, that he really just wants his money back and received a milk frother and wants to return it. He also sent photos of it. So Royal Mail really have the frother to him. I told him to close the case and open a new one, with "item not as described." I sent him the return label, after that he didn't reply anymore. I saw he sent the frother back today. 
Earlier, I checked again the Royal Mail app (this morning it said still "we've got it". The parcel had been actually delivered yesterday to him or a neighbour! I think it could be a neighbour as it was not his signature and didn't look like him on the photo. But it definitely was my phone, I can prove it as I even took a video how I packed it. So he clearly trying now to scam me, ignoring my message that he got the phone now (with photo evidence).  The problem is, we have now the case open with "item not as described". When I receive the frother tomorrow, will he be automatically refunded? I mean, he's got the phone now and I can prove it. I'll definitely call eBay tomorrow if he's not closing the case now, but is there anything else I can do? 

[a.bavarian-72]

Sorry for the bad spelling, I'm just very stressed out. 

[divine0606]

Personally i think your being scammed he most likely checked your most recent sold listings and then just said to you he received a milk frother because he can cleraly see you sold this recently and its not hard to get pictures of a frother and send it to you, trust me these scammers are getting clever day by day on ebay  we ship around 12000 items a week obviously not this account and i have caught so many buyers scamming its rife on ebay especially now due to the cost of living etc might as well call eBay fReebay. 

thats my opinion anyway. 

[a.bavarian-72]

I thought the same, but the photo from the first delivery looks definitely like the milk frother and is not the phone, The photo from the second delivery yesterday morning  is definitely the phone!  But I definitely think he tries to scam me now, and I guess that was always his intention. He obviously realised that I didn't see he's got the phone now, thankfully the tracking updated today. However, I'm just filling out a fraud report online, do you think it's the right thing to do?