Thread: Royal Mail Legal action for delaying compensation claim

Royal Mail lost a package that I sent abroad last June. The item was sent using the international signed for service. I was assured by the Post Office that I would be covered if the package was lost, which it has.

I completed a Royal Mail compensation claim around 2 months ago and I have received nothing. I contacted Royal Mail who just informed me that there was a backlog for their compensation enquiries.

This is not good enough. If it was any other company they would have sorted out the problem. I am now considering writing to Royal Mail and to give them fourteen days to compensate for my loss.

Has anyone else threatened Royal Mail with Legal Action before? or am I wasting my time?

Afraid it is true. Compensation claims for Internation Deliveries take at LEAST 12-16 weeks to process, and that is BEFORE any backlog caused by strikes.

You'll be seen as being unreasonable raising legal agtaion before they have completed their investigations. Do rmeember, the have to contact the foreign postal service(s) as they attempt to trace where it was lost. It is compensation (not insurance) so you'll be stuck until they report back.

My case took 10 weeks untill I heard anything from them, they then asked that I post a copy of the receipts to the foreign office in france!!! No chance was a using royal mail, I decided to pay city-link to do it for me.

I put in a claim for an international signed for item they 'mis-directed' to Australia, (it should have gone to Thailand) and now after claiming back in May it is now 4 months and despite repeated phone calls I have received nothing from Royal Mail. They have told me that they are busy and will get round to it, however, last week, I finally spoke to someone who promised I would receive the compensation cheque by Monday 6 Sept 2010 latest. Today, wednesday 8th sept, I called again and no-one has any knowledge of that call at all. they are just a bunch of cowboys.

Next week I am going to take out a summons against them - Have had enough of all this.

Don't spend too much money on the pursuit (in other words, don't rely on getting the money back). The compensation paid is always viewed as a bonus not a right, and in many cases will use the Postal Services Act in order to avoid a payout when pushed. (This retains the old 'crown immunity' protection they enjoy). It may be better to keep on hassling them, as this is cheaper and may eventually lead to the promised payout.