Not so Special Delivery

[Deleted member 71556]

Sady I have to report that we are once again having a Royal nightmare with Royal Fail's Special Delivery service,

It's bad enough that their flagship service is unable to deliver valuable items to their recipients without either losing them or them getting stolen by theiving postal staff, but now they are refusing to honour claims too.

We posted a vintage 1935 Longines watch last month. It failed to reach the customer, we duly put in a claim waiting the required periods etc. and substantiating the claim with correct proof of posting, receipts and details from our website of the sale price of the watch.

We had a letter back today saying they will not cover the sale price and will only pay the cost of the watch from our 'supplier'.

OK, so how exactly do I replace a 1935 Longines watch from our supplier, given that in our case there's only one watch, a valuable item which can't be replaced. Also given our suppliers are most of the time, private individuals that don't supply invoices, we are not in with much chance of substantiating the claim. Then there is the restoration work we did to the watch and the loss of sale of course.

The only way I can see to get round this is by instructing our customers to make the claim as they can cover the full amount but for one I'm not sure where we stand legally on this one and secondly, it's seems like we are passing the buck.

Any thoughts?

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

Antiques are generally not insured by any carriers (RM included) for exactly this reason. You cannot get a piece of paper with a "cost" and you can't simply go out and replace it.

Regarding restoration, cost is invoiced at hourly rate plus parts.

Regarding the invoice for cost - that IS something that you need to address, if you get a tax/vat inspection they'll come down on you like a ton of bricks on this one. There are margin schemes set up that dictate requirements for this, and if I were you, even if you're not VAT registered, I would set up purchase invoices that comply with this. Currently you are leaving yourself totally exposed as being a buyer of stolen goods.

We used to buy and sell antiques (in a previous life) so I know the issues that you are facing. But you do need to address the purchase invoice side of things.

 

[Deleted member 71556]

Hi Boxby, thanks for the reply.

Can you point me in the direction of the terms and conditions where it expressly says you can't post antiques or collectables?

We have complete records of all purchases made, receipts and stock ledger etc to VAT standard etc. as we will be using the SH margin scheme but these are not provided by the people we buy stock from.

This is fine for IR purposes but unlikely to be accepted by Royal Mail

 

[deniser]

We have similar problems in quantifying the value of our products as they are part of a large consignment. The price is made up of several factors including purchase price, exchange rates, credit card used abroad fee, import duty, VAT, shipping fees etc.

We have sent in our best estimated calculation - not substantiated - and this has generally been accepted.

I would just set out the calculation on a sheet of paper and send it in.

 

[roydmoorian]

If an item is simply unique and irreplaceable you ought to be sending it by a dedicated delivery service such as http://www.sameday24-7.co.uk/ & not through a " hub & spoke " system.

Ask for a quotation and then you can decide how "unique" and valuable the item really is.

 

[Deleted member 71556]

That's reassuring thanks Deniser

 

[filmsec]

Royal Mail do have in their FAQ's
"Please don't send any of the following, as they're not covered by compensation: antiques (an object that is over 100 years old) articles made largely or wholly of gold, silver, or other precious metals."

 

[Deleted member 71556]

I can't see anything in the SD t&c's that states that. I think this applies to general mail.

 

[Deleted member 71556]

The plot thickens:

I have just downloaded a copy of Royal Mail's terms for the SD service available here:

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content3?mediaId=22700549&catId=400026#doclist

Not only does it not mention any restrictions on Antiques or collectables but it specifically states in Section 6.1.1 that

The compensation will not be more than the lower of:

6.1.1 the market value of the item (not including the market value of any message nor the information it carries) at the time the item was lost;

It appears they don't have a leg to stand on legally and I shall be reminding them of their own T&C's very shortly.

I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[MartCactus]

Royal Mail do have in their FAQ's
"Please don’t send any of the following, as they’re not covered by compensation: antiques (an object that is over 100 years old) articles made largely or wholly of gold, silver, or other precious metals."

Seems a curious definition of antique - a 1935 watch isn't 100 years old, but I'd still consider it an antique.