Royal Mail lost my parcel with laptop which I sold on Ebay (£375)

[Morgarin]

Hi everyone,

First of all, I want to express my gratitude to all of you for your assistance in helping people protect their rights.

 

Here's a summary of my case:

On 07/18/2023, I sold a laptop for £375.

On 07/28/2023, ten days after the sale, the customer had not received the parcel, so I filed a lost claim regarding the missing parcel.

On 08/06/2023, Royal Mail sent me a mail confirming the loss of my parcel and included a cheque for £26 as compensation for the service failure.

On 08/08/2023, eBay issued a full refund to the customer due to their not receiving the parcel.

 

I want to receive a full refund for my parcel + shipping expenses. 

 

I kindly request your guidance on the next steps for claiming a refund from Royal Mail:

1. Send a Letter of Claim to Royal Mail.

2. If Royal Mail does not respond within 14 days, proceed to make a claim through MCOL (MoneyClaim Online).

3. Await their response and then determine the appropriate course of action.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

[whitelist]

Was this Royal Mail or Parcel Force?

Was it sent special delivery and with any of their so-called insurance?

 

 

Edited September 4, 2023 by whitelist

[Morgarin]

I assume I did it through Royal Mail because: 

* I used Royal Mail 1st Class Medium Parcel and dropped the parcel at the nearest post office. 

* The claim was on the Royal Mail website and mail reply I received from Royal Mail customer services.

I did not buy any additional insurance for my delivery. 

 

 

 

 

[BankFodder]

Send a letter of claim but I suggest that you start reading the stories on this subforum to understand all the principles.

Also read up on the steps involved taking a small claim in the county court.

Post a Draft of your letter of claim here before you send it off

[BankFodder]

Was the value correctly declared and was the item correctly declared as a laptop?

[whitelist]

As far as I am aware, the only Royal Mail service that covers consequential loss will be special delivery up to £750 compensation without the optional extra cover up to £2500.

Royal Mail has various crown immunity and claims with normal 1st/2nd class post.

You will also need to prove the true value of the item, not what you sold it for, as well as the original purchase price from new receipt..

 

You need to do a lot of reading. Not saying it is impossible, but you need a real understanding of what you are facing before submitting any claim.

[dx100uk]

eh? its not a consequential loss

and

you can only claim what you declared it was worth to the courier.

 

read the whole thread carefully and the various links people post there.

it appears the tort might not extent to an implied contract??

[Manxman in exile]

15 hours ago, Morgarin said:

...  * I used Royal Mail 1st Class Medium Parcel and dropped the parcel at the nearest post office. 

... I did not buy any additional insurance for my delivery. 

 

So you just used ordinary first class post and not tracked or special delivery guaranteed?

I don't think ordinary first class gives you an option to increase cover above the standard £20...

[BankFodder]

The level of insurance cover is irrelevant

[Manxman in exile]

1 hour ago, BankFodder said:

The level of insurance cover is irrelevant

Wouldn't it only be irrelevant if (1) the OP had accurately declared the value* of the laptop to Royal Mail when posting it, and if (2) he hadn't used just standard 1st class post?

Standard 1st class isn't intended for the carriage of "valuable" items as the maximum compensation is £20.  RM's T&Cs make this clear and suggest that "valuable" items should instead be sent Special Delivery Guaranteed.

While I'm all in favour of carriers being held to account when they don't provide their services with reasonable care and skill, I also think it's a two way street and that there's no such thing as a free lunch.  If RM specifically states that 1st class post is not appropriate for high value items and that Special Delivery Guaranteed should be used instead, I'm not sure that RM should be held responsible if consumers make a deliberate choice not to follow RM's advice and instead decide to use 1st class rather than Special Delivery Guaranteed.

Also, to allow purchasers of 1st class post to get compensation beyond that which they are entitled to under the  T&Cs only rewards freeloading behaviour and means that people like the OP benefit unfairly from being subsidised by those other consumers who do "play by the rules".   In the long term encouraging that sort of behaviour is to the disadvantage and detriment of consumers as a whole, and not in the interests of anyone.

 

*It's not clear from what the OP has said if he did or not.  He may have done so but he hasn't said.  If I were the OP and I had done so, I would certainly have mentioned it in my post, so I suspect he didn't.  If he was asked at the PO counter what the value was and he correctly declared it, it would be interesting to know how that conversation continued...

Edited September 5, 2023 by Manxman in exile

[BankFodder]

4 hours ago, whitelist said:

As far as I am aware, the only Royal Mail service that covers consequential loss w...

And for the record, an example of "consequential loss" might be where the item is lost and so the purchase of the item is unable to fulfil some other commitment to somebody else that they needed the item for. That would be consequential loss and it is almost impossible to argue it to the extent that it might be recoverable.
 

[BankFodder]

The level of insurance is relevant only to the extent that where it is insured, a value has been declared. It is the declared value which is relevant.

If the post office accept an item for which the value has been declared at £200, then it is reasonable to hold them responsible for the loss at a liability level of £200.

[Manxman in exile]

8 hours ago, BankFodder said:

The level of insurance cover is irrelevant

 

6 hours ago, BankFodder said:

The level of insurance is relevant only to the extent that where it is insured, a value has been declared. It is the declared value which is relevant...

I hadn't said that the level of insurance cover was relevant.  I was confused that you had responded to my earlier post with a "Sad Face"  .  I had only asked the OP for confirmation of what service they had bought.

6 hours ago, BankFodder said:

... If the post office accept an item for which the value has been declared at £200, then it is reasonable to hold them responsible for the loss at a liability level of £200.

I wouldn't disagree with you.

But can you point out where the OP has said that they did declare the value of the package to be £375?  (I certainly would have done if I had been sending it, but the OP has not said that they did.  I would prefer to go by what the OP has actually said rather than make assumptions about what they haven't said... )

[dx100uk]

12 hours ago, BankFodder said:

Was the value correctly declared and was the item correctly declared as a laptop?

MIE... BF already asked before you came to interrupt yet another thread ...

[Morgarin]

Hi guys,

 

Thank you for your messages. It took a while to read about the law process. I think it's better not to reply to each question one by one and instead make a short summary of all of them in one post. So, here are the answers:

 

1. Proof of true value.

The value of the item was proven to the Royal Mail in the initial claim. I attached the purchase receipt, and the sales amount was visible through the eBay item number. So, I believe I have provided sufficient proof of true value.

 

2. Royal Mail immunity to claim.

I did not find any confirmation of immunity from RM in my case. I sent it within the UK, purchased the service from RM, and did not request any additional compensation for losses. I am only seeking a refund for the lost parcel. If you can guide me to a similar case, I would appreciate it.

 

3. So, you just used ordinary first-class post and not tracked or special delivery guaranteed?

Yes, I used first-class post only. This is my mistake because I assumed that 1st class already included a tracking number or something similar.

 

 

I have written a claim letter and would really appreciate it if you could help me check it before I send it to the Royal Mail. I also have some questions regarding the claim:

1. I addressed the letter to the Royal Mail based on the registration office. Did I do this correctly, or should I send it to the customer service where I received the reply letter?

2. Do I need to refer to the specific law for which I am requesting a refund, or is simply requesting a refund enough?

3. Should I attempt to resolve my case with POSTRS, or is it better to go straight to MCOL?

 

I have attached the reply from RM regarding the missed parcel and my claim to RM.

 

Claim To Royal mail Sample.docx Claim To Royal mail Sample.pdf

[whitelist]

Postal Services Act 2000

WWW.LEGISLATION.GOV.UK

---

An Act to establish the Postal Services Commission and the Consumer Council for Postal Services; to provide for the...

Royal Mail does not have insurance policy against loss, it is a compensation policy.

Unless they sent the item tracked or special delivery, you are going to have problems

Edited September 14, 2023 by whitelist

[BankFodder]

None of the parcel delivery companies provide "insurance". They all call it something else – but it is insurance