Royal Mail Special Delivery compensation result.

[x-posted ukrm & upce]

Back in November I sold some tickets on eBay. I'd bought them earlier
in the year (face value £156) and nearer the time we found we couldn't
go. The tickets sold for £161, with P&P thrown in.

The auction ended a week before the actual gig, so as soon as I'd
received payment, I posted them. The PO staff suggested I use Royal
Mail Special Delivery as the tickets would then be covered in the event
of anything happening to them en route. So they said, anyway.

They still hadn't arrived at the destination the day before the gig, so
I refunded the buyer his money, and set about claiming compensation.

Three weeks after I sent the forms off, I received a letter from RM
stating that I would have to send them the delayed tickets & original
packaging, as their records showed they had been delivered.

It turns out they had arrived on the 11th Dec, three weeks after I
posted them. Obviously by the time they turned up they were just
useless pieces if cardboard, so the buyer had chucked them.

Several weeks of correspondence with RM Customer Services followed,
eventually with a CS Manager. Three times they sent me a cheque for
£15.05 - £5.05 for the "service" plus £10 compensation for the delay -
and three times I sent it back stating that it was unacceptable,
thinking that if I kept it it could be an construed as acceptance of
their compensation, even if I didn't back it.

Finally, I referred it to the Postal Review Panel[1]. My "case", such
as it was, was that it is unreasonable to expect the recipient to have
known to keep the tickets once they arrived, and it was purely down to
negligence on the part of Royal Mail that this happened. Plus, if the
counter staff suggest using Special Delivery, then the full terms &
conditions should be made clear at the time of posting.

Yesterday I received a cheque for the full value of the eBay auction
sale plus the cost of the special delivery.

So, two points: firstly, for time-critical items, ensure that the
recipient knows to keep hold of it in the case of delay - you'll need
it to claim compensation.

Secondly, don't let the bastards grind you down, {tm}Normal Stanley
Fletcher, HMP Slade.

[1]
http://www.royalmailgroup.com/portal/rmg/jump1?catId=23200532&mediaId=82000734

 

<snip>

Well done.

"You are an habitual offender...."

 

Good work, that man.

Nice to see Stanley is normal now.

 

Yeah, he's Going Straight now apparently.

[note to self:bugger]

 

I thought you didn't like that.

However - self-buggery, that's impressive.