Royal Mail Not Providing Compensation For 129 Lost Goods

[Tom Gill]

Hello everyone!

I am in need of some advice as I can't find any online.

Back in December and November, we sold a popular item on eBay and Amazon and we used Royal Mail as our courier. Since then they have lost 129 items worth around £2,700 which has had a negative impact on our eBay and Amazon account along with the cost of sending out more items.

I have filled in the claims form and sent it to there claims department but they are refusing to compensate me for the lost goods. Apparently, it is because we used Royal Mail Click and Drop on the Royal Mail 48 service, they said compensation isn't available on this service because it is VAT exempt. It is worth noting that this service was using there new 2D barcode scanner, which provides us with a tracking number to see if the item has been delivered or not.

When Royal Mail helped me set up my account they told me to use either Royal Mail 24 or 48 as that was the best option for bulk postage, nobody ever told me I couldn't get compensation on it, nor does anywhere on the click and drop website.

Where do I stand with this legally, can I fight them to get compensation for the lost goods?
It is also worth noting I have an invoice which is outstanding for £1,879 which I've told them I am refusing to pay until this gets resolved.

It's so frustrating that I paid this company £18,000+ between November and January and then when I ask for compensation for the lost goods they refuse to help.

Thank you for your time

Tom

 

[Mr D]

Your contract with royal mail - does it say anything about compensation?
If they are providing a service that they specify in the details has no compensation and you use it then you accept their terms?

Don't think you are going to get very far.

You chose a service that doesn't have compensation (tracked does, untracked does not it appears). So you benefitted from cheaper postage.

 

[Page]

Sadly I would have to say save your time and move on

 

[Nico Albrecht]

Read your contract with them! By either signing or using their 24/48 service you accepted their TOS . Section:
4.7.1 we accept no liability in respect of such Item (to avoid doubt, if we lose or damage such Item then we will not make any compensation payment); and 4.7.2 you must pay us for any costs (including legal costs), expenses, claims, losses, damages and awards we incur as a result of such breach. You signed a contract by using their service and point 4.7.1 explains it. If you use such a service you need a 3rd party shipping insurance cover which can be bought very cheap.

 

[pelparc]

they have lost 129 items

We find Royal Mail fantastic in regards of loss and damage, pretty much nothing goes missing (about 1 in 10,000). The biggest issue we find is that customers fill in their addresses wrong, particularly a problem with the use of auto fill. Very time consuming but we make a point of checking each address has a house number, street and matching postcode.
That said one of the postbags the postman brings us to use had a couple of hundred Christmas cards in it last week.
Unfortunately they stopped providing compensation about 6 years ago for business accounts.

 

[antropy]

4.7.1 we accept no liability in respect of such Item (to avoid doubt, if we lose or damage such Item then we will not make any compensation payment)

Seems pretty clear to me unfortunately.

 

[Mr D]

You take the benefits of cheap service you take the problems the cheap service gives you. Whether its mentioned by sales staff or not is irrelevant.

A separate insurance on the items, or using a royal mail service that has compensation was possible but not taken.

Not paying the bill means RM can withdraw the credit facility and shut the account - chasing for the debt.
They don't have to accept a new account even with prepaid payment for services.

 

[MikeCC]

Was this one consignment or over a period of time? Our losses with Royal Mail are effectively nil, so that's a lot to go missing. I suspect the only issue you might be able to force is an internal theft investigation.

 

[bigbuzzbelfast]

We find Royal Mail fantastic in regards of loss and damage, pretty much nothing goes missing (about 1 in 10,000). The biggest issue we find is that customers fill in their addresses wrong, particularly a problem with the use of auto fill. Very time consuming but we make a point of checking each address has a house number, street and matching postcode.

You want to try sending goods to the Republic of Ireland what a nightmare while they have a eircode system of sorts, not every address has one and not everybody knows what theirs is. It's a nightmare and I swear at times they are still using a horse and cart delivery system

 

[pelparc]

We send quite a few parcels to Eire and again never had a lost parcel problem. Agree that delivery is often very slow. For all non UK parcels we use a signed for service, which is expensive. Probably lose a few orders due to the amount we charge but our market is really the UK as most items can be bought from inside their own countries anyway.

 

[Mr D]

You want to try sending goods to the Republic of Ireland what a nightmare while they have a eircode system of sorts, not every address has one and not everybody knows what theirs is. It's a nightmare and I swear at times they are still using a horse and cart delivery system

Its not usually that bad.
Local posties appear to know their patch pretty well and know exactly which house is which.
In the countryside anyway.

Have had one lost to Eire, to Dublin as I recall. Eventually made its way back to us with half the address ripped off. If that was done before it got to Dublin I can understand why it didn't get delivered to the buyer.
Probably in excess of a thousand parcels sent to Eire. Its not the greatest EU market outside the UK but its OK.
We never bother with international signed for service to Ireland.