Royal Mail - Lost item, are they going to compensate?

[sy8111]

Hi, all:

 

Royal Mail lost my 1st class Recorded Delivery item over 1 month ago. I filed compensation claim with all required documents. Today I received letter from them saying sorry for the failure and "I have, therefore taken the following action:

* Logged and reported the full details of your complaint

* Passed these details to my colleagues in our delivery operation

I hope that the action and explanation above resolves your enquiry and concludes this matter."

 

What does this mean? Are they going to compensate me or not? Anyone experienced same situation and knows what next step they will take?

 

Thanks

[silverfox1961]

Hi,

Did you not receive the standard book of 6 first class stamps?

This is Royal Mails standard response when they lose a RD letter.

If it contained valuable material, it should have gone by special delivery. If it was just a letter, what is your actual loss?

[sy8111]

Hi, I didn't receive stamps only a letter I mentioned. My post is Packet about 400 grams, and worth about 40 GBP. I see that 1st RD may compensate up to 41 GBP. I've included my certificate of posting, and item purchase receipt. How can I get compensation?

[IdaInFife]

On the letter does it not give the direct customer care telephone number?

[silverfox1961]

If you write back to RM and reject their letter, it will get escalated. They may need proof of the value of the letter before compensating you. If that fails, you can take it to independant review. I did this for one letter which got lost and they upped the compo to my estimate of loss- only £6.15 but better than the offer they sent me (6 stamps)

[sy8111]

IdaInFife, It gives customer service number. I dialed today but very busy and didn't get through. I will call later.

[buzby]

Forget phoning, the operation requires a paper trail.

 

Your letter from them should have in its last paragraph stated that they hope you are satisfied with their response and will close the case if you do not respond within 10 working days (usually, pretty rich as they take 25 working days to respond in the first place).

 

All you do is write back to their FREEPOST address, quoting the reference number, stating that having already provided the proof of posting and receipt for the item, you now require them to pay out the compensation claim in the form your returned earlier.

 

Look upon it as a filtering process.......

[sy8111]

@buzby, thanks for advice. They didn't even mention how many days I have to respond. I phoned them this week and someone told me the case is reopened and I will receive their next letter within 10 days. But I won't rely on this answer because I think you are right. I will follow up with another letter to them, including with my photocopies, and request compensation formerly.

 

Hope I can get good result.

[Vermillion]

I have had two items lost recently. I was under the impression that they would be covered up to £41.

The first I claimed for was to London. It never arrived. It was not a new item being from my mother's estate but they still wanted a till receipt. As I sold it on ebay the paperwork I sent from that was not recognised as being in any way valid. I was also classed as a business seller which I wrote and said I objected to. I was given postage compensation but am I right in thinking that any used item will not be compensated?

My second item was a tube of Boots Face Cream to Australia. The proof of value was from Boots website, again the till receipt only was required. It seems to me that it is misleading to state that insurance is £41.00 when it is made almost impossible to claim.

My local post office has said they even had special delivery lost. Nobody mentions 'stolen'. Where does all the 'stuff' end up??

[sy8111]

@Vermillion, I think I begin to experience exactly what you experienced. Today I received second letter from them claiming that my ebay transaction summary is not proof of value. I have to provide proof of value of selling cost, which is what I paid for the stock and labor cost, not what I sell for. You are right that they try to escape most cases because most sender wouldn't have good proof of cost.

 

Anyway, I will try to produce proof and see what will happen.

[buzby]

We have to remember that Royal Mail only talk about 'compensation' and not 'insurance' for items lost within the mail. For items actually stolen (rather than simply 'lost') RM is protected by Crown Immunnity from fraudulent actions by employees, which is an amazing catch-all that means they are not liable for actual loss, only the compensation limits.

 

As to the eBay conundrum, it is interesting that the claim form REQUIRES the claimant to provide a print out of the relevant eBay page, which begs the question why? If they are going to ignore this evidence and insist on the sellers original purchase receipt, NOT what he sold it for.

 

This resulted in the interesting situation that I sold an item on eBay for £38.80, and it got lost. It was this amount I claimed for. This was rejected by RM, who wanted my original purchase receipt. This I had, and showed £47.50, so I amended my claim to reflect this amount. I'll let you know whether they continue to try it on, but I expect not to have them remind me of the £41 limit and pay this, but settle for the £38 as originally claimed.

 

The other aspect is to let the PURCHASER make the claim, in which case their only paperwork will be the eBay sale page, which a seller cannot rely upon. This does seem to be rather disingenuous.

 

I'm no stranger to taking RM to court (Small Claims) and find that they invariably settle when pushed.

[Yorky2008]

This resulted in the interesting situation that I sold an item on eBay for £38.80, and it got lost. It was this amount I claimed for. This was rejected by RM, who wanted my original purchase receipt. This I had, and showed £47.50, so I amended my claim to reflect this amount.

 

Hehe I like it, that will teach them not to pay up!

[gigs]

Ugh royal mail is a real pain. Hope it all ends up well for you guys.