Advice re Bad Postal Please

[Macaroon]

Some days ago I posted an offer of a knife in it's sheath on the GIO thread; the offer was taken up quickly, and in due course I posted said knife in it's sheath in a good quality jiffy-type
padded envelope, with my surname and postcode as a return address clearly written on a label on the back of the package. I asked for it to go 1st. class and paid the £3.00 standard small package rate. I wasn't asked what was in the package as I have been a lot lately; so all good.............

The next day I had a PM from the recipient, asking "are you surname/postcode?" I replied yes, puzzled by the question, and received another PM informing me that he had been delivered
an empty envelope! I've had no contact from Royal Mail, and on enquiring at the Post Office this morning was told that the best way to proceed was for the recipient to take the empty
package to his local sorting office and make a complaint; the clerk I spoke to said "it's unlikely to be theft as the envelope would not have been delivered at all in that event".

Just wondering if anybody else has had such an experience, or any idea at all as to how to proceed? I can't just let this go, on principle as well as the other member's knife............

Any ideas, anybody?................................atb mac

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

Did you state it was a knife when asked what was in it? My post office expect a knife to be in more than a sheath i.e bubble wrapped then into a padded envelop or box etc. They are cracking down big time. Could just be the envelope seal gave way. At any rate i think you've lost it and the hassle factor with RM wont be worth it.

 

[Macaroon]

Hi Paul - I wasn't asked this time what was in it and didn't feel the need to volunteer the information unbidden, and the Knife, in it's sheath, was sandwiched in cardbord and bubble wrap as well. It was packed at least as well as knives I've sent and received recently from Longstrider and Woodlore, for example. ..................atb mac

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

Fair play mate sound like you did your bit. guess either it was stolen, confiscated or the seal gave way. The advice you got sounds wrong though. I think if anyone should be complaining / seeking compensation it would be you not the recipient. Good luck but i dont rate your chances

 

[Macaroon]

It just gives me the 5hit5 to let them get away with it; all the money you spend with them and stuff just keeps going wrong.............but I think you're right, I'm probably gonna have to swallow it and see if I can offer the other guy something else to compensate for his loss...............I suppose I was posting more in hope than expectation.........thanks for your response,.......................atb mac

 

[xylaria]

I would launch a compliant of the loss of a wood carving tool. It depends if you said it was of value, saying that the only time i have had packaging damaged is when I have sent stuff which i have said is valuable. It looked liked some tealeaf had a good poke and decided lovespoons werent nickedable, or had no cash convertors value.

A knife is not a prohibited item of post, you broke no rules sending, they should of ensured it got there.

 

[digitracker]

I have just done a search on google for 'postman stealing mail' and narrowed the search down to this year only, I am shocked by the prevalence of this, every part of the uk has had postmen in court for stealing mail, and some of these mount into thousands of thefts per individual. Seems to me that Royal Mail are happy to employ more and more temporary staff with poor vetting procedures to iron out these people. I would report it to Royal Mail, even if they do nothing it may raise an alert in the system that stuff is going missing in a certain area.

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

It just gives me the 5hit5 to let them get away with it; all the money you spend with them and stuff just keeps going wrong.............but I think you're right, I'm probably gonna have to swallow it and see if I can offer the other guy something else to compensate for his loss...............I suppose I was posting more in hope than expectation.........thanks for your response,.......................atb mac

I keep promising myself im going to stop using them but for smaller stuff they still run cheaper than my hermes. My hermes get all my big parcels though now and are under half the price of rm for bulkier items. Ive had a good few bits go missing but ive never put a claim in as they make it such a pain and never pay the full value. Hopefully someone will introcuce a competitive service for smaller items

 

[Rod Paradise]

Had this happen with a phone I bought off amazon - got the box & phone case but no phone, envelope had been opened and badly sealed with sellotape. Seller tried to accuse me of stealing it and making it up. Amazon paid out to be (think you get a few no quibble guarantee payments before they mark you as unreliable) - I bought a new one as soon as I got the refund. Seller made a claim on Post Office, I filled in a questionnaire. Unfortunately I got no feedback on how the claim went.

Make a claim - clerk fobbed you off and was wrong - you make the claim & they contact the recipient.

Contents going missing is not an unknown problem.

 

[Macaroon]

Thanks very much for your input, everyone................I'm gonna go to the Post Office Mon. am and register a complaint for the loss of a woodworking tool; whether I get compensation or not is somewhat besides the point, to some extent, but you just can't let this stuff go without at least a shout of outrage, eh?

 

[dwardo]

You sent something legal in good faith and they lost it. Usually I am asked how much it's worth before I send it so the insurance covers it properly. If it's insured for X and you think it was worth it and can provide evidence it was then they have to refund you.

 

[Joonsy]

Having posted hundreds of parcels through Royal Mail I can only forward my own personal experience and that is if package is clearly addressed it is actually very rare indeed for parcels to get lost in post, in your case package was not lost as envelope was delivered which can only mean it was stolen by someone (not necessarily the postman or indeed any Royal Mail employee) or it accidentally fell out of it’s packaging unnoticed by anyone (which is so unlikely that you can really dismiss that), if the package was considered ‘suspicious’ by royal mail and items confiscated they would have let you know of their actions. Did you ask the recipient if the package has been tampered with in any way such as opening and re-sealing etc or any resealing attempted with sellotape etc, ask for a photo of the condition of package when received, how well do you know the recipient could they be trying it on themselves (sorry but it has been known). Regarding compensation for items sent by 1[SUP]st[/SUP] class they are covered but only up to £20 maximum for standard 1[SUP]st[/SUP] class post, more expensive items should be posted either recorded delivery or special delivery to ensure tracking of package and a signature from recipient upon delivery and includes a higher compensation rate. Indeed for lost items claims of low value sometimes royal mail compensate by sending out books of a certain amount of stamps NOT actual cheques for cash value (this has happened to me personally). Reading your post I have to say it is very unlikely a royal mail employee would have stolen the item and then delivered an empty envelope as the package was only standard 1[SUP]st[/SUP] class hence untrackable so if it had been stolen by RM the envelope would have just been thrown away. Was the package left with a neighbour raising further suspicions. Is the recipient indeed trustworthy, people can be very devious I’m sad to say and if it was an expensive item are they trying it on hoping for a refund even though they have actually received the item (it does happen sadly) Learn a big lesson from this, standard 1[SUP]st[/SUP] class post is not trackable and is only covered by compensation up to £20 maximum, for higher value items always post by either recorded delivery or better still special delivery and put your trust in no-one but yourself the extra cost of recorded or special delivery is worth the peace of mind.

 

[Macaroon]

@Joonsy; the item was not of great monetary value, as stated in the OP it was an offer I sent from the GIO thread; I have no reason at all to think that the other member of this forum has behaved in any way other than
100% honesty and frankness - why would he do otherwise? I can assure you that it didn't fall out of the packaging, I took all care to pack it properly...........

I think it's been pinched, and I'm gonna make my (token?) protest and complain..............it's not about value, it's about paying for a service and not getting it............a service so basic to us all that we should be able to rely upon, and always could in the past; remember when the Royal Mail was little short of sacrosanct? As with so many other things this is no longer the case and we, all of us, are much the worse for it, atb mac

 

[rik_uk3]

If you must use RM make sure its signed for, better still use a courier service.

 

[AndyD]

I would launch a compliant of the loss of a wood carving tool. It depends if you said it was of value, saying that the only time i have had packaging damaged is when I have sent stuff which i have said is valuable. It looked liked some tealeaf had a good poke and decided lovespoons werent nickedable, or had no cash convertors value.

A knife is not a prohibited item of post, you broke no rules sending, they should of ensured it got there.

How can the postman know if the item you're sending is valuable or not?
Items sent in Europe don't have a customs label attached which shows the contents and value,therefore,it's not possible for the item to be identified.

 

[AndyD]

more expensive items should be posted either recorded delivery or special delivery to ensure tracking of package and a signature from recipient upon delivery and includes a higher compensation rate.

For expensive items use Special Delivery,Recorded is NOT tracked,it is only used so the sender can see that the item has been received by entering the barcode into the track and trace system and viewing the time and date that the delivery was received.

 

[AndyD]

Contents going missing is not an unknown problem.

You'd be surprised at the amount of items that fall out of the packaging!
When you see how some of the stuff is packaged it's not surprising!

 

[xylaria]

How can the postman know if the item you're sending is valuable or not?
Items sent in Europe don't have a customs label attached which shows the contents and value,therefore,it's not possible for the item to be identified.

What postage you payed for it. The post office clerk asks if the item is of value, depending on the value you say will try and sell you £8.25 worth of postage when £2.60 and enough brown tape will get it there and £3.70 will get it signed for at the other end. It is the only company apart from the DVLA that makes money out out of how much they can stuff up.

Saying that my postie and local post mistress are really good. The only mail that has gone missing was because it was left at the vicars and he stole it. Out of all the midge repel and bug oil I have sent out, I have had only one go missing and two that took over a week.

 

[ozzy1977]

signed for is still not a guarntee that you get the item, a couple of years ago I took out a mag subscription free gift was a reel, after a month it hadnt arrived so I contacted the mag company and they said it had been sent but they would send another by recorded delivery. A week later it hadnt arrived and I contacted them, they said that I had signed for it, which I hadnt, they did send me the tracking number so I could look on line at the signature on the royal mails track and trace service, it wasnt my signature, just my name. We contacted royal mail and it turnes out that the postie had been signing for people goods and leaving them as normal post. We have another postie now. But I have noticed quite a few items recently not getting through, mainly off ebay, not a major problem as paypal covers it but what I am worried about is if I make too many cases for missing goods and they let the police know and I get a knock on the door.

 

[dwardo]

Only ever had one package arrive without its contents and that was a knife blank. Perfectly understandable too as it was poorly packaged and you could see where the knife had poked through, just lucky a postie didn't hurt him self on it. Sellers fault who rectified the problem and sent it properly the next time.