The Complaint Shop

I sell Collectables and China on Ebay and I recently posted a parcel with the Royal Mail who, so far,

In line with ebay policies the buyer had paid me promptly for the 1920’s vase including the postage ( £4.63 ) and I duly posted the parcel and, as always, obtained a receipt as proof of posting.

Three weeks later, the parcel had not arrived at it’s destination and I filed a claim with the Royal Mail and asked them to investigate. They came back quite quickly to me and admitted that they presumed the parcel had been lost and they enclosed a cheque to the value of the lost item but did not include the postage of £4.63.

I wrote back and thanked them for their prompt reply and pointed out that they must have made a mistake as I had to return to the buyer the value of the vase and the postage leaving me personally out of pocket of £ 4.63 as I had paid this amount to the Royal Mail and as I also had to give this amount back to the buyer who had not received the vase.

“under the terms of our compensation scheme, the cover provided with our Standard Parcel service is only for the replacement cost of any lost or damaged item; It does not cover for any refund of the postage paid”

This was in the same week they were fined a total £11.7 million pound for their failure to provide an efficient service under the terms of their license and despite pointing out to the Royal Mail that they have clearly breached their contract in failing to deliver my parcel they were adamant that they would not compensate me for my loss which clearly was totally outside my control.

So here I am, I am now £4.63 out of pocket and this could happen all over again if they loose any more of my parcels which is most likely as, according to Postcomm they had a total of 14.6 million letters, packets and parcels lost, stolen, damaged or interfered with during 2004/05.

I lost this money because I was ignorant and I was honest when I filed my claim but I have learned my lesson and it won’t happen to me again as any further claims will include the postage as part of the replacement value.

Add the postage to the value before you submit your claim and don’t allow them to

use their conditions to rob you of your money.

You paid them for a service they did not supply and, consequently, they are not entitled

to charge you for something they failed to deliver.

Complaint Status: closed		Overall Efficiency
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		Final Outcome