goods not arrived

oompaloompa · #1 08-05-2009

opinions of this scenario, order about £250 of goods from a Uk supplier, have ordered once before and received goods. This time goods dont turn up, they say sent over 10 days ago, should be a smallish package of non-vero goods, they say was not sent with insurance, which I think is a bit daft, but then again I didnt actually check that when purchased, there was no postage to pay. Ive checked their terms and condition, nothing either way about postal loss or replacing goods etc. It does say will be posted 1st class RM , but doesnt give option to upgrade. They are definately a reputable company but they are quite small, I think its a UK agent for a bigger US company. Anyway they havent been rude or anything just say not their problem. Bit silly, as I will be a repeat customer if this is cleared up. Should I expect a replacement of goods? How do I make this happen...

Trafficzombie? You work for RM..

trafficzombie · #2 08-05-2009

Pleased to help

When an item is sent by 1st class the maximum compensation is currently £39 (it is always 100x the price of a 1st class stamp) and this I'm afraid can not be increased for 1st or 2nd class mail, even if sent by registered mail.

As for Insurance, you are only covered for compensation for 1st class mail if the sender has a certificate of posting, there are a few ways to get these, for example a receipt from a post office, an actual certificate of posting. This is the ONLY way to claim for a standard 1st of 2nd class postage item.

As I am sure you are aware to get Insurance for this amount it should have been sent by Special Delivery (which is standard £500 compensation)

Lastly Royal Mail classes an item as being lost after 15 working days. We will not pay out more the £36 for an item and we will only pay the cost price, not the sale price and lastly we do require proof of postage in some format.

So if the seller prints a stamp off, or sends by PPI or SmartStamp but does not get a post office receipt/certificate of posting. There is no Insurance.

Long answer but I hope it help.

if you need anything else anwered please ask away

oompaloompa · #3 08-05-2009

should have phrased it differently it isnt actually an RM technical question as such, yes I knew all of that, you dont get insurance unless you pay for it.

What I was wondering is if anyone knew the legal position or remedy in such cases when companies dont get insurance and dont replace goods.

I thought someone from RM might know this from anecdotal or because you may get involved in these disputes, or advise customers what to do when they try and claim from RM but cant.

trafficzombie · #4 08-07-2009

OK I understand ...

No Royal Mail wouldn't get involved in this what so ever, sorry to say.

We would only ever deal with the sender of the item anyway. Yes if we had tracking info we would help anyone, but when it comes to claims it is the sender who claims.

With regards to the legal side of it, is a tough one, was it an eBay transaction paid through PayPal?

As they have rules about sending stuff registered mail, there are alot of things to take into account, not only from you point but also the senders.

He said he sent it, which you have to take his word for as he doesn't have proof, but this works the other way round as well.

Are these goods that can be replaced by the sender? And at what cost.

GreenBean · #5 08-07-2009

No insurance on an amount over £100, gentle smack

make sure you insure next time.

When it's say 21 days overdue, contact the company & see what sort of deal you can arrange.... it will pretty much be an exercise in good faith. No doubt their TOS are well expressed to cover these glitches.

getaroundebay · #6 08-07-2009

How did you pay?

Obviously if PP you could file a dispute. If not, then hopefully you apid by Credit card, once 28 days are up ( a reasonable time to wait for your goods) contact your card issuer, explain you havent received the goods and have been refused a refund and that you want to do a chargeback.

The legal position is, the supplier is responsible to get the goods to you. By LAW, in the UK a business is not allowed to charge extra for insurance, the insurance is for the sellers benefit, not the buyer.

Obviously if you paid by bank transfer, maybe you could tell the bank it wasn't authorised? Cheque was lost?

oompaloompa · #7 08-07-2009

The legal position is, the supplier is responsible to get the goods to you. By LAW, in the UK a business is not allowed to charge extra for insurance, the insurance is for the sellers benefit, not the buyer.

ok, that bits interesting, it was paid by debit card, not credit..I kind of assumed if it got lost they would replace, I thingk I will pursue that route, I just wanted some back-up info on my rights......

getaroundebay · #8 08-07-2009

If it was Visa then you may be able to do a chargeback, have to contact the issuing bank.

Not always possible though.

If they are a reputable company, I can't see any proplems. Maybe they have no stock and are stalling you?

I have never heard of businesse's sending items of £250 value 1st class with no signature....

Although once, on eBay, a guy sent me £700 worth of PS3 console and games RM Standard Parcels.....if I was dishonest...could of got the money back....it did cross my mind lol!

trafficzombie · #9 08-08-2009

Yes getaroundebay is correct.

I too have bought something using my visa debit card and was able to do a charge back.

The bank will look at it as a individual case, just like they do with credit cards, I honestly don't think there is a difference.

oompaloompa · #10 08-08-2009

No, Ive emailed them and they will now replace, I think they thought I would go away!

I will tell you something though that Ive just thought of thats made me uncomfortable, this order, without giving away too much away, it was for very high priced health pills which Ive started selling in small numbers on ebay, as one of my stores is health/fitness/beauty stuff, they are expensive to buy and I get them from this place in Uk who have a professional website and responded to my questions stating they were registered authorised distributors, when I tried to doublecheck with manufacturer the head company didnt reply, so I left it at that. Im wondering, are they sending them out without insurance because they are fa*es, ie worth nothing, it seems odd that something that would cost a fair amount to get from manufacturer be sent out unisured.

Your opinions?

general fashion fa*kes is one thing but I wont do that with stuff people ingest, if I have doubts. Anyone know how to get these things verified? I tried once when I wasnt sure about a suppliers stuff because it came in foreign packaging to send samples for testing to the Food and drug equivalent here in UK (ministry of food and fisheries), they didnt confirm one way or the other to me, so they were useless, and I gave up but in the end I took them to a pharmacy who said they were ok, made some enquiries and said it was just a parallel import, so that was fine.

Ive got a bit of a dilemma now, I will persevere with contacting the manufacturer abroad..

getaroundebay · #11 08-08-2009

it seems odd that something that would cost a fair amount to get from manufacturer be sent out unisured.

I made that point in #8.

Who sends items worth that much normal post? Who would send a £50 item on eBay without a signature? (Unless they pay by Postal order)

I would be even more concerned if the next lot comes anything other than special delivery.

Anyway, either they were low on stock and they just wanted time, or your gut feeling is right.

I just can't get over sending that value normal post!

PM me, I may be able to help.

GreenBean · #12 08-08-2009

^^^Agreed. Very strange indeed. Some of those grey imports are dodgy & the companies tend to be evasive.

oompaloompa · #13 08-09-2009

First time I ordered thinking back it was sent ordinary post.

I know what you mean GB about grey market, Im not sure if this fits that profile, like fa*e hoodia etc. There are only a handful of online retailers of this product, its new and not something thats known about much so thats why copies didnt cross my mind, its not on ebay apart from one other seller in US, it seems unlikely, as its not a mass market thing, but as you say really odd, also the replacement turned up by ordinary post too, so they didnt even insure replacement! I mean if I was dishonest I could say it didnt arrive and get yet another sent.

Im a bit annoyed that manufacturer hasnt replied yet to my emails. I took some of the pills myself, the first time I ordered it, a few months back, as they had all sorts of health benefits and the research is legit and published, anyway if they are fa*es they are harmless as I didnt keel over...