I recently bought a quite expensive bike frame off of here and it hasn't turned up. The guy who I bought it off seems genuine and has supplied proof of postage but it was not sent recoreded/special delivery, just as tandard parcel.
It has thus gone missing on route. It being a bike frame size box, there is no way this has fallen down the back of a machine/delivery van's seat etc as a letter could.
I suspect some dodgy (probably contracted – not full time) postie has thought they would have it for them selves but obviously have no proof/cannot prove this. As it was only standard, it cannot be tracked, so I'm guessing there is no way of knowing how far across the country it got before 'going missing'.

What I want to know is can I take any form of action, possibly involving the Police. It was a good buy and a rare frame (no longer in production) so the chances of getting the same again are remote, and its pi**ed me right off !!!!!

Cheers

Michael

given that you have no evidence of a 'crime' other than the fact that an untracked parcel was received at point a and you have said it never arrived at b why would the police get involved?

it's unfortunate for you but it's unlikely to get the police searching every posties house between the sender and you.

What a total ar5e – but rather daft not to send it recorded delivery.

Royal Mail .

but rather daft not to send it recorded delivery.

Unfortunately +1.

Standard parcel is covered to something like £90-100 but You would have to file in a claim. Something similar happened to me but with cheap Hayes brakes. I thought that the parcel was lost and the seller told to wait until he can file in the claim (14 days more or less after the posting) so on the 14th day and at just after 7am (never had a postie that early) postman came and gave me the parcel, somehow was found.

Not all hope is lost it may still show up. How recently was it? Standard parcel can take up to 5 working days (but sometimes even more) to arrive. Once the claim for lost parcel is made they should investigate.

Next time ask for a service with insurance covering the full value.

Don't I know it ! I even stated in the paypal transaction it was to be sent recorded !

Not a happy chappy.

If the guy you bought from has not sent it recorded and it's been lost, I think it's down to him/her to refund you.

What a total ar5e

Why?
Seems a reasonable question – even if the practicalities are starkly obvious…

At one of our previous addresses we very rarely received any mail that looked remotely like birthday cards.

After one birthday (my son's second?) went by with no cards / pressies we checked with relatives as to what had been sent. Only fairly little gifts etc, but the conclusion was obvious – some thieving scumbag was siphoning anything interesting looking out of the mail.

We complained to the appropriate bits of Royal Mail and basically got laughed at. A few years later there was a local TV news clip about an invetigation and prosecution of local delivery team members who had been systematically "redistributing" the mail… 👿

Frankly, someone should take these sort of issues more seriously – and if it needs Police action to increase the profile of this issue, then so be it. RM management seem to accept that it will happen – and based on a few reent TV "investigations"* some RM personnel seem to regard it as some sort of unofficial bonus scheme.

* May or may not be true depending on TV company's susceptibility to over hype their own investigations and findings…

If he didn't post it recorded and insured its his problem – the contract is you pay he delivers the goods – he has not done his part of the bargain.

Its not been 14 days, so I can't post a claim as yet. I was told by the seller that 'standard parcels' covers upto £500. If this is not the case, then there could be further trouble between him and I.

Well mieszko, I hope you are right and it suddenly turns up out of the blue.

Here's hoping (but not holding my breath).

Michael

I posted some Fox36's back in 2006 that went missing. Short version. Royal Mail kept on sending me letters requesting more information with the caveate 'if we dont hear from you within 2days of this letter we will assume the matter is closed'.

A fair few I'd say- So I rang up to speak to the Distribution/Ops Manager and asked for the Police to be involved as there was something dodgy going on in their Portsmouth distribution office IMO. Two days later I had a cheque.

Mine was recorded/insured.

Fwiw, Mieszko is a good guy. Hope this gets resolved.

File a dispute through paypal and reclaim your money. If you asked for it to be sent recorded delivery then you are entitled to a refund.

Yet1man – It's not for you to claim anyway (IIRC). It is the seller who has the contract with RM, not you. RM owe you no contractual obligation at all.

When we had the "issues" described above re birthday cards, we were told straight that we could not place a formal complaint – only the sender could do that, as purchase of the postage stamps constituted a contract between RM and the sender.

As TJ states, it's up to the sender to sort out where the frame is with RM, and / or reimburse you – especially as the sender did not send recorded as advertised / agreed.

Mieszko is a good bloke, not met but dealt with and bought from.

Thanks Swift but I'm not the one who sent the frame 🙂 But always happy to do business with You again 🙂

[edit] Thanks Hora 🙂 But like I wrote before I'm not the seller, just wrote about my experience with delivery taking very long time with standard parcel. Also I had some parcels going awol from my doormat (where postie was leaving them) when some chavs moved in. 2 race face jackets were lost. Also once the postie left a signed for parcel on my door mat and wrote "I signed it for You" on the parcel 😀
[edit]

The Police will never investigate the Royal Mail as both organisations are full of Freemasons. 🙂

Aah lol good.
You sold that lovely 'dale frame yet?

I'm in the process of getting the Police involved in our post delivery as our Voting Cards were left in a neighbour's garden. It currently seems to be involving the Electoral Registrar, the Police, my current MPO/ whoever my MP ends up to be and a board member of the Post Office.

Me? The very nice F400 with a mint Headshok Ultra I put on it? 😉 Nope, my OH loves it to bits and with a recent addition of disc brakes she loves it even more (but there is a problem, black fork doesn't match the silver frame and she wants the old fork). God bless American students going home and selling off their bikes cheap 🙂

Now back on track, hope the frame gets delivered. Sending it with a postage not covering the full value the seller put the risk of covering the excess value, saved probably £4 on postage…

our voting cards weren't delivered by RM. An old dear in a blue anorak brought them around one evening.

+1 on the seller claiming. if I don't send something via recorded, does that mea RM have no obligation to look after my parcel and somehow lose it and when challenged, they can turn around and say 'tough luck mate, you should have sent it using our traceable service'! bullsh1t.

if you send something, you expect good service regardless of the method of postage!

Thankyou for all your replies.

Just for the record – mieszko is in no way involved with the transaction and is obviously in no way to blame. I just merely commented on a his reply to my thread.

mieszko – my apologies for any inconvinience/misunderstanding that may have been taken from my posting mentioning you name.

No worries. As most folk are at work now no witch hunt was started. Normally with STW standards I would have people standing outside the flat with pitchforks and torches by now. 😉

if I don't send something via recorded, does that mea RM have no obligation to look after my parcel and somehow lose it and when challenged, they can turn around and say 'tough luck mate, you should have sent it using our traceable service'! bullsh1t.

No, it means that their liability is limited to whatever you've signed up to (eg paid for). Obviously they have a duty to try and fulfil their side of the contract but you're similarly taking a risk if you don't want to pay the amount that covers you in case something goes wrong.

If you don't like it or you think it's too expensive for the value of the item you're sending, you're free to choose a different company to deliver.

Yet1man, my fault for being a numpty.

Mieskzko, yes, if you ever sell that, I want it for my OH. And I have 3 weeks off work now, so want me to dig out some torches and pitchforks for you, so you don't feel left out? 😉

When I've looked at posting with Royal Mail it seems that you have to have a receipt for the posted item in order to claim – is that the reality? I've got put off using them as I usually send older things that I have no receipt for.

you have to have a receipt for the posted item

I think that you're referring to the posting receipt (eg to prove that you did post it), not a receipt for when you bought the item you're posting.

Hmmm – I'm not but will double check

Edit – well it seems to have changed since I last looked as it used to talk about a max of so many 1st class stamps without proof of the item's value

From RM:

Evidence of value includes but is not limited to original receipts, invoices, Paypal records, manufacturing costs, auctioneers valuation and repair costs in the case of damage claims

From my experience, so long as they don't think you're trying it on, you'll get refunded.

I'd rather actually receive the item than a refund, but if its truely lost, then a refund will have to do.

Recorded delivery, in itself (without insurance) is no more secure than standard parcels.
One possible reason the police tend not to get involved is that RM has its own specialist investigation branch, with some greater powers of search than the police. However, in order to save money and be more like its competitors RM has scaled it back a fair bit.
Hopefully it turn up though, IME, most 'missing' stuff is either incorrect or illedgible address, wrong postcode/ sent to the wrong hub etc and eventually turns up, often after RM has payed compensation.

STD compo is limited to 100 x the price of a 1st class stamp.

If you paid via Egg credit card you are covered up to £5000 in transit automatically per year. There are some real benefits to always paying by credit card over the internet etc I dont work for Egg.com

(know this was private deal but just in case you paid via paypal and CC)

Also

Purchase protection insurance covers items over £75 bought with your Egg Card anywhere in the world against theft or damage (excluding damage caused by normal wear and tear). It's valid for 90 days from the date of purchase and covers items up to £1,000. Other features include:
A £2,000 limit per claim to a total limit of £5,000 per cardholder per year.
Items stolen must be reported to the Police within 36 hours of the loss. Excludes items that are not carried by hand by you or a person known to you or that are left in an unattended vehicle. Some transactions are not covered.
£25 excess.

Claim through PayPal as undelivered and ask for a refund. I have on a couple of occasions and they have always paid up without question