The Post Office gave my parcel to someone else and won't refund

kissenger

kissenger

kissenger

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10 Apr 2008
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I say 'my', but this is actually something I'm looking into for a family member... She bought something on eBay, paid for it, and it was then delivered. She was at work, so the postman left one of those cards. My aunt went to her local post office about 2 weeks after that (it was near Xmas and she was busy) and when she tried to collect it she was told that someone else (a man, whose name she didn't recognise) collected it.

The manager told her to contact Royal Mail head office, but all they did is say she should claim the money back off the eBay seller, but because they auction ended more than 45 days ago I don't think that's an option -- and besides, it's not really their fault that the PO gave it away.

Is there anything she can do here? My hunch is that it's an 'inside job': some dishonest PO employee saw that it hadn't been collected and thought they would help themselves to it by fabricating a record of someone already having collected it.

TL;DR PO gave my aunt's parcel to some random guy and won't reimburse. What can we do?
 
I just checked and it's been 171 days since the auction, so just in time. But I can't find anything on Paypal's site (or elsewhere) which says you get 180 days to make the claim.
 
kitfit1 said:
For someone to collect any signed for parcel from the post office, they would have needed the card that was posted through your mums letterbox and an acceptable form of ID.
Your mum was in possession of the card, so how could anyone else have possibly have been given the package ? To me, this has all the hallmarks of theft within the post office.
In all the years i have been collecting parcels that have to be signed for, i have always been refused unless i produced that card. You need to go and ask the post office in question why they handed a parcel over without the production of the card ? I'm guessing they won't be able to give you an answer because they know full well it has been stolen by one of there own employees.
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Yep. My aunt still has the card the postman left. They had to have either given some random bloke the wrong parcel (i.e., he came in with his own card to collect his own parcel, but got given the wrong one) -- but in that case the bloke would have surely went back and returned it so he could get his own one -- or someone from the PO nicked it.
 
I've told my aunt to request a refund through Paypal. Is that all she'll need to do?

The seller has not been helpful so far (when my aunt told the seller about it they apparently washed their hands of it and said, 'this is between you and the PO'), so I doubt they'll authorise the refund. Would it then be up to Paypal to do something?
 
ADT said:
So it took you nearly 6 months to realise that you need to chase up a parcel, really?
How would you feel if you were in the seller's position? Being chased up for an item nearly 6 months later.

You are clearly not desperate for the item, so either write it off or take it up with the PO yourself.
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No. Did you even read the thread?

It was chased up more or less immediately. The seller was contacted and refused to do anything. My aunt, who is in her 50s, then got given the run around by the PO and asked me to help as a last resort. I could care less how the seller feels. My aunt paid for something and didn't get it. I'm going to help her get her money back.
 
ADT said:
Apologies, skim read the whole thing and though you only chased it up now.

Sticky situation there, seller sent item and it's the PO that lost it. Was it sent insured?
Probably best to work something out with the seller to see if he can claim from them, but in any case open up a dispute on Paypal before the deadline is missed.
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No worries. I think it had some insurance, because it was sent tracked, so the seller should be able to claim from the PO. I think they've been hesitant to help just because of the hassle and they assumed my aunt would just forget about it after a while.
 
Right, so a bit of an update on this. I told my aunt to request a refund via Paypal. She called them up and she didn't get it because they apparently said they would find in the seller's favour, because he fulfilled his obligation by posting the item and he has proof of that. They apparently said there is an option of requesting a refund through the bank but there's a time limit of 120 days on that so she's SOOL.

What's the next thing she needs to do? Call back and demand to go ahead with the refund request? I.e., because they can't possibly find in favour of the seller if they can't present proof my aunt signed for the parcel?
 
Sudden said:
Check policy. I don't think they need proof of signature if it's below a certain amount - only proof that it was delivered/delivery was attempted. How do they know your aunt didn't collect the package and is just trying it?
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Because the PO have acknowledged that my aunt was never given the package.
 
al4x said:
If accept the loss

I don't think it's reasonable to expect the seller to deal with something half a year old
Besides they wouldn't be able to claim for this after this long.

It's definitely your responsibility to sort this immediately after you knew of the problem
To the seller the item was successfully delivered half a year ago
You knew there was a problem half a year ago

If I was eBay I would find in favour of the seller.
If I was you I would just let the 50 go.

Of the three parties (rm, you, seller) the seller is least at fault with this RM fail
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Did you read the thread?

Seller was contacted months ago. Refused to help. Told my aunt to speak to PO. She was given run around.
 
I'm at least going to try to get the money back. But what are my actual options at this point?

Paypal says you have 180 days to make a refund request and I can't see how the seller can just wash their hands of it so long as they 'made an attempt' to deliver. I thought that until something is delivered to the person who paid then the contract of sale has not been fulfilled?
 
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