Royal mail have binned my rear shock!

I need to return a faulty light switch to the supplier, but my solicitor has broken up for Christmas.

Shall I just wing it or am I better off using an alternative courier?

Bitterwallet love this sort of story – I’d contact them.

I’ve checked on Google maps. Edinburgh to Risca, 393 miles – far too dangerous for them to transport it there. Edinburgh to Chertsey, 411 miles – best take it there instead. I’m assuming the dangerous goods don’t magically make their own way to Chertsey. I think you have your first piece of evidence about the contractual terms being unreasonable right there if they’re claiming the reason they have to dispose of the shock is that they can’t transport it.

All sorts – many companies will pick up, several provide drop off locations at least as convenient as the RM – I use MyHermes a lot for ebay sales as they’re significantly cheaper than RM/PF for larger parcels (just sent a Rothan using them – less than half the price of PF with MyHermes).

http://www.parcel2go.com/ is the standard place offering a variety of different alternative carriers to the general public – compare and contrast.

BTW it occurred to me that the reason this thread has gone the way it has is that we’re all thinking “could have been me” – presumably pretty much everybody on here owns or has owned some sort of suspension component, and the vast majority of us have sent them off to be serviced (IIRC I’ve used 4 different companies and probably sent shocks or forks for service at least 10 times, all I think using RM or PF).

That’s watchdog been informed.

That’s watchdog been informed.

Excellent. Hope they get they get back to you. At the very least a change in policy by Royal Mail to explicitly state what can and cant be sent at the point of sail is needed, similar to checking in baggage for a flight.

Bitterwallet informed.

can someone with photoshop skills make up a scumbag royal mail logo.

Thats it, I’m so upset at this that I’ve just sold all my Royal Mail Shares

For a measly £600 profit as well 🙁

Hmm – might buy myself a new shock 😀

http://i.imgur.com/jOGSIO4

Careful, Ninfan – don’t blow it on a rebound purchase.

Can you post the email address of the CEO? I’d quite like to ask him a few questions…

Been done before… but:

Boris, it’s on page two or three. It’s a her.

Hi Paul, I don’t often post on here, but read this story via Facebook. I really feel for you,, but you have handled this situation exceptionally well and with dignity. I doff my cap to you sir, well done, I hope it all gets sorted.
Well done to Mojo too, top work guys, what a nice offer to the OP.

not just bike bits, looks like they dispose of cameras as well –

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18531344&highlight=royalmail

To everyone sending good wishes, thank you very much, this situation has been made much easier due to the support on here. Still can’t believe i’ve not had a total flaming…yet 😆

“STOP ‘IM, ‘EE’s GETTIN’ AWAY!”

</Photoshop_For_Beginners>

So I was lucky to send my Lezyne light and batteries to and from a shop for warranty

Clearly busy in the last hour at work.

Looking at that Wellers auction website, a lot of their auctions are for bulk disposal of what the RM would classify ‘dangerous items’. If these are all being generated through RM thats a hell of a lot of confiscated stuff – there’s 1’000’s of items on a daily basis, and obviously enough to warrant seperate auctions for bike stuff, electronics, perfume etc.

I mean, that is actually staggering – enough confiscated bike parts for a seperate auction 😯

Will be interesting to see the catalogue on line closer to the auction date – hope nobody bids on the OP’s shock!

Hopefully someone will shove it on Bikebiz and warn all retailers, wholesalers and consumers hit em in the pocket…. it the only way. Seems like a large scale scam which I assume generates a lot of cash…….get it on Jezza Vine!!! 😯

Discussion about Royal Mail stealing property started on Moneysavingexpert http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4850864

Overclockers thread contained a couple of useful bits:

James Eadie, Director of Product & Services PR
Royal Mail Group
07850757271
James.r.eadie@royalmail.com

Tim Cowen, Director of Consumer & Business Media Relations
Royal Mail Group,
07720412143
Tim.cowen@royalmail.com

Mobile numbers….!

They also seem deem perfume and aftershave as dangerous falls under flammable……..ibidder has huge lots of stuff from RM, seems they get rid of an awful lot of peoples property!!!!

..this is just another example of how companies operate under the umbrella of complicated and implied T&C’s.I’m not saying it is right but they will defend the case by stating that all their actions are highlighted in their T&C’s.

I don’t see why one party to a contract should be able to insist that their undisclosed T&Cs take priority over the other party’s. If I write some T&Cs stating the terms on which I will employ a carrier to transport my goods, and the carrier doesn’t ask to see them, can I claim that they are valid? So maybe they have a sign saying their terms are on their website – what if I publish my terms on my website, and wear a badge saying “please see my website for my terms of business” but they don’t notice the badge?

Probably an equally worrying thought is who the hell buys perfume/ bike parts/ cameras not in their original manufacturers packaging in bulk and where does it go after the auction? Who is the resident Dom Littlewood on STW and are you up for the task? 😀

Go for the real Dom Littlewood.

dom@flametv.co.uk

Probably an equally worrying thought is who the hell buys perfume/ bike parts/ cameras not in their original manufacturers packaging in bulk and where does it go after the auction?

eBay.

(To be posted by Royal Mail obviously 🙄 )

Have we suggested sending this thread and a precis to Private Eye yet? – strobes@private-eye.co.uk

Twodogs – Member

Whether terms and conditions are legally enforceable isn’t a police matter…That’s for the courts to decide
Posted 1 day ago # Report-Post

In theory – however Getting It To Court means either starting a private case at risk OR getting the Police to take action – and even if they investigate, the Crown Prosecution Service could shut the whole thing down by deciding it was not something that they wanted to prosecute for a whole range of reasons

DaveyBoyWonder – Member

I too wont be risking sending anything with RM again. Horrendous customer practice.

This.

Impressed by Mojo, will be giving them work in the future

And this.

What are the alternatives to popping down to the post office and asking for them to (try to) send a parcel though?

Couriers a plenty.

Collect+ are mentioned already and seem reasonable, plus (ho ho) you can send stuff from your corner shop/petrol station etc.

I’m a fan of Interlink – have used them without issue plenty of times – just be careful which options you choose.

There are any number of alternatives if you live in a town/city – villages are a bit trickier but still possible if someone is at home.

I will happily join a Royal Mail boycott until they sort this mess of ‘service’ out. However it’s dressed up and regardless of teh frontline Police response, it’s highway robbery – and of the Royal Mail no less.

Do collect + deliver to the recipients door or do they have to collect from a similar shop/petrol station their end.

If someone were now kind enough to supply us all with old shock boxes we can all take a shit in them and send them by Royal Mail to Royal Mail.

Paul – pretty sure you’ll get your shock back. Haven’t read all 14 pages here in case there’s updates in the middle saying the same.
I had the same problem and a week later the shock ended up at Mojo (who by the way were very aware of this as I spoke to them on numerous occasions) but it may be a different person you spoke to or they’ve just forgotten.

Anyway – here’s how it goes:
Parcel is detected (new guidance issued late summertime to staff) and package is sent to Ireland which is the only place they deal with suspect packets now. It’s checked there. I think this all happens surface mail too.
Once it’s checked it’s often just sent on to its original destination with a letter apologising for the delay and that there’s nothing wrong with your package after all.
You have to unfortunately ignore the process crap that you go through and I know how bad it is – I thought for a week I’d lost a CCDB. No one in Cust services can tell you anything as they don’t actually know anything. Only someone in Belfast can and you can’t speak to them.
IMHO in a week or two it’ll arrive at Mojo (mebbe later this time of year).

You got my number ? PM me or gimme a call if you want. I think you should have it from the Dudes weekend?

Cheers, Martin.

Can I try and summarise?

The shock is a dangerous item which they can’t transport.
However they’re quite capable of transporting it to Surrey to sell it, clearly that’s not actually true then.

Ah, but it contravenes their stated T&Cs
Well actually that’s not the case either. The T&Cs (http://www.royalmail.com/sites/default/files/RM_General_TermsConditions_Oct13_1.pdf) refer you to http://www.royalmail.com/prohibitedgoods which redirects to http://www.royalmail.com/personal/help-and-support/Tell-me-about-Prohibited-Goods. The wording in that is:

Gases
Gases that are compressed, liquefied or dissolved under pressure, permanent gases which cannot be liquefied at ambient temperatures, liquefied gases which become liquid under pressure at ambient temperatures, dissolved gases which are dissolved under pressure in a solvent.
1. All flammable compressed gases are prohibited e.g. blowlamps; butane; lighters and refills containing flammable liquid or gas; ethane; gas cylinders for camping stoves; hydrogen; methane and propane.
2. All toxic compressed gases are prohibited e.g. chlorine; fluorine etc.
3. All non-flammable compressed gases are prohibited e.g. air bags; scuba tanks, carbon dioxide; fire extinguishers; neon and nitrogen.

No mention there of empty gas containers – that’s the bit they’re making up. The bloke from RM dangerous goods says:

Because the product is charged by filling with compressed air and whether it is full or not it is deemed a prohibited item under the above guidelines.

Except the T&Cs don’t actually say that, so if they claim that you agreed to them, then that still doesn’t justify their actions. IANAL, but I’ve spent time recently interacting with barristers (including being cross-examined by one) and I am sure that one would completely shoot down any claim that their T&Cs say empty containers are prohibited. It simply doesn’t say that, and implying it isn’t good enough – the exact wording is important. Any catch all involving the bit at the bottom about reserving the right to refuse any other item is quite clearly an unreasonable term, as how is the customer supposed to guess what non-dangerous items they will deem come under that?

Finally I note that in the reply form the RM dangerous goods team he quotes T&Cs section 4.9.6 where it says:

we may deal with such item in our sole and absolute discretion (without incurring any liability whatsoever to you or your intended recipient) including destroying or otherwise disposing of such item in whole or in part, or returning the relevant item to you.

…note the last phrase – I can’t see any justification at all for them selling your goods rather than doing that.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-462606/Royal-Mail-set-sell-lost-post-items-Ebay–pocket-profits.html

Totally agree aracer, the issue is getting Royal Mail to listen to us little folk. Hopefully if enough pressure is applied we can change their procedures and policies to ones that are more realistic and with a dose of common sense.

Martin, no chance of me getting the shock back. Sounds like you were very very lucky. I’ve been told by rm that my shock has already been sent to auction. I only posted it last Tuesday!

Fingers crossed but this may now be on a news desk at the Daily Wail.

Every now and again, the end does justify the means….

Nice one Mojo and, as has been said, well done Paul for staying so calm.

This morning i received 10 c02 cartridges i purchased off ebay – delivered via royal mail!