Thread: Goods paid for, sent and signed for - just not by me!

Hi

I bought an item from a business via ebay and paid via paypal.

They sent the item via recorded delivery and it has been delivered and signed for, but I didn't sign for it and nobody I know (neighbour etc) did either.

What can I do?

Any help much appreciated

Thank you

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Via Royal Mail?

Get in touch with them and explain the situation and also inform the seller as he will need to speak with them too.

RM employ a lot of casuals this time of year but they don't train them properly.

Hi.

Will do that.

Where do I stand legally.
Who is responsible?
Who needs to make any claims?

etc.

Thanks

They are saying that because the item has been delivered and signed for the responsibility has now passed to me. As far as they are concerned the item has been delivered as required!

Open a paypal dispute asap; they will usually side with the buyer.
It's worth asking for the ref. no from the recorded delivery slip as you can see online the signature if whoever signed for this & I think there might be a time on it too.
At least this way you can show it's not your signature, then paypal will advise seller to take it up with royal mail but will most likely refund you in the meantime.
I had similar situation with ASOS, I got refund in the end as the item had supposedly been signed for while I could prove I was at work 20 miles away!
Check out ebay community pages they're usually helpful
good luck

Never trust that the person you spoke to actually checked before giving you an answer.

I know some-one who was told it was "lost". Then it had been signed for. Needless to say she demanded proof of signature. Meanwhile, her postie did remember taking it back to the sorting office and bless him, went out of his way to retrieve it, leaving his own mobile number for them to phone him to deliver. 3 cheers for that postie. The parcel was in fact inthe sorting office, it was just a case that the person who looked earlier simply read the return address, and the signature, well you can guess that was simply a porkie.

1) Phone again - complaints department tend to be more alert
2) Demand a copy of the alleged signature
3) See if seller tracked the item online, as they may have more info.

As someone who both buys and sells on eBay, I've experienced this problem from both sides. As a seller, it can be extremely frustrating, especially if, like me, it's just a hobby rather than a full-blown business. It's hard to tell if someone has genuinely not received the item or is just claiming they haven't so as to get a refund and a free item. I once had a dispute with one customer who actually described the item in his dispute, a pretty good feat considering he supposedly had never received it! Nevertheless, paypal sided with him, and I had to give a refund. At the end of the day, PayPal do favour the buyer more than the seller, so you should get a refund. As a seller or buyer, theft happens and it's just one of the risks: it doesn't matter where from, you could have ordered this item from anywhere, the risk is the same.
As a buyer, I've had items not turn up at all, the seller accuse me of theft, false signatures in my name etc., again, I've always got a refund from PayPal. As a buyer, Royal Mail are particularly unhelpful: they consider that their only contract is with the seller, as they paid for the item to be posted. It's faulty logic, as it's usually the buyer who is paying the seller for the postage prior to the item being posted. RM will only refund the seller for lost mail, not the person who actually paid for the item. It's then up to the seller to refund you. So the chain usually goes: You start a dispute, PayPal refund you, PayPal chase seller to reimburse them, seller claims refund of postage from Royal Mail. It's usually the seller who ultimately loses out in these disputes, as they lose the item, as well as have to give a refund to the buyer, despite the loss being the responsibility of the carrier.

At the end of the day, it is incredibly easy for someone in the delivery chain to steal items. 'Proof of delivery' is hardly ever real proof. It's only in cases where the item is absolutely unique, and a search of a suspects house reveals just that item, can charges of theft be brought. RM really need a better system in place.

The Post Office will not accept a complaint from the intended recipient of the item, as I said before, they will only accept a complaint from the person they consider they had a contract with, i.e. the person who actually took the item to the post office and bought the stamps, the seller. I know, it's happened to me too. If the seller chooses, for whatever reason, not to make a complaint with the PO, then there is little the buyer can do to force Royal Mail to act. The only other options then are to bring legal action against the seller.

Originally Posted by Alastrum

The Post Office will not accept a complaint from the intended recipient of the item, as I said before, they will only accept a complaint from the person they consider they had a contract with, i.e. the person who actually took the item to the post office and bought the stamps, the seller. I know, it's happened to me too. If the seller chooses, for whatever reason, not to make a complaint with the PO, then there is little the buyer can do to force Royal Mail to act. The only other options then are to bring legal action against the seller.

Not the case here I'm afraid.

The item has been sent to the recipient via recorded delivery and allegedly signed for by the recipient.

The recipient has to make a complaint to Royal Mail as somebody is/has obviously impersonated the recipient. The seller can make the complaint too but Royal Mail will still investigate the matter raised by the recipient-after all, it is the recipient who has to give a statement of the facts of the matter that they never signed for the item.

Should the seller refuse to make a complaint then what you suggest is that the recipient has to continue with the threat of having future mail go astray.

And no contract is ever formed with the PO/Royal Mail in sending recorded delivery mail.

I don't wish to contradict anyone here, all I am speaking of is my own direct experience of exactly the same problem. If there is no standardised procedure, I can't help that!
But in my case, I was specifically told by Royal Mail that I could not instigate a complaint. I thus had to ask the seller to make the complaint. In my case, the seller readily agreed to make a complaint, and duly did so. A month or so later, forms arrived from Royal Mail for me to fill in details of my side of the complaint, and to confirm non-receipt of goods. Obviously, I cannot speak for what others have been told, or whether the particular person I spoke to at Royal Mail was correct in the advice given to me, but in my case it had to be the seller who instigated the complaints procedure, and only later was I given the opportunity to confirm the sellers complaint.
I might add that in my case too, the item was sent by recorded delivery, and also signed for by someone impersonating me.

And I was specifically told that RM consider the purchase of postage to be a "contract" (exact word used) between the purchaser (i.e. the sender of the item) and RM.

Based on a recent experience:

Originally Posted by barracad

Sounds about right - as the recipient RM will have little interest in your complaint and will most probably refer you back to the seller to make the complaint.
My friend was told this and indeed the seller became involved. As soon as the seller knew the item had been signed for then they deemed their contract complete, as delivery had been made. It was then left to Royal Mail. My friend also spoke to the person at Royal Mail and was told the same, ie had signed for it. In reality, Royal Mail also claimed it was "lost" . It was only after involving the postie himself that the parcel was then delivered. Looks like the Royal Mail helplines got rather confused twice in my friends case alone.