Royal Mail Missing Items

[craig]

I sold a programme ( 320437621841 ) on 28th November, the seller paid the following evening and luckily requested to pay a little extra for recorded delivery. Popped along to the post office the following day and sent it off.

Hes emailed me today to say hes still not received it almost 2 weeks on!! Im relieved he requested it be sent by recorded delivery as he paid £12 for the programme but when i check on the royal mail website against the tracking code i have all i get told is;

"Item DV622671684GB was posted at 66 Plasmawr Road CF5 3JX on 30/10/09 and is being progressed through our network for delivery. "

Ive tried raising this with the Royal mail but all i get told is that i cant do anything until the item has not arrived after FIFTEEN WORKING DAYS!!!

Ive never had any problems like this before but if the programme doesnt turn up what will happen? Do i need to provide proof of value to Royal Mail and then they give me STAMPS to the full value or is it slightly more difficult than that?

Thanks

[paulo]

No idea Craig, but I in a similar situation (sadly without the recorded delivery), I sold a programme for a tenner, bought a really expensive mailer to keep it in mint condition and its not arrived after nearly 2 weeks!!!!

Why could it not have been a 99p programmes that went missing!

[foxes1]

What you do is wait for 15 working days (RM do not class it as lost until after 15 working days) and send a claim into Royal Mail. You can download and print of a claim form from the Royal Mail website link ftp://ftp.royalmail.com/Downloads/public/ctf/rm/Inland_P58_form_English_09.pdf or you can get a claim form from your local post office. They require to know what was in the envelope also size etc. They will also require if possible value of item (ie a Paypal invoice or some thing like that). You then send it off to the address on the form. Usually they send stamps but depending on the value of the item you may also get a cheque from them (I would have thought for something worth £12 you will get a cheque).
Paulo you can also do the same, have you a Proof of Posting certificate if so it has the same rights as recorded delvery for items of value under £30.
A word of warning always get a proof of posting certificate it is worth it in the long run, I always get one even for small value items.

FOXES1

[RJ Programmes.com]

I Agree foxes1, i post items everyday and although it takes a few minutes extra before i go to the post office i fill out a certificate of posting card no matter what the value is. Also its a good way of keeping a record of what you posted and when. I posted a programme and a mag out on the 5/11 to Johnlad and he PM'ed me last night to say he hadnt received it. To be fair with the amount i post out i havnt had to make a claim for ages but its still annoying when you do. Expecially now they have a "new" system it takes weeks to get your money back. Iv received stamps on the odd occation if it was only a few quid but iv mainly received cheques from the royal mail.

[paulo]

With three people saying they have problems recently it makes me wonder if the royal mail have a baglog.

The incoming post at work today was double its normal size, so I wonder if they might be starting to clear it?

[westyorksnffc]

paulo wrote:

With three people saying they have problems recently it makes me wonder if the royal mail have a baglog. The incoming post at work today was double its normal size, so I wonder if they might be starting to clear it?

my mate who's a postie has told me that there is a massive back log, so I think patience is the key!
_________________
Nottingham Forest Supporters Club
West Yorkshire Branch Secretary

Forest programme guide: www.nottinghamforestprogrammes.weebly.com (a steady working progress, any help or advice gratefully accepted!)

[Wullie]

I'm a postie and there is no backlog at the moment but getting busy pre Christmas.And all i can say is never use recorded delivery. Waste of money, you may as well just get certificate for free. I know that many recorded items are just pushed through the letter box. You've got to understand how big the walks have been made nowadays and if you have about 12 recorded items on top of packets etc you could be out all day. Yes this is a disgrace but this is the real world and postmen have families and lives to live outside of work. Always always use Special delivery for items over £30. Then you are covered for any loss. Sending anything recorded is advertising that something of value may be inside.And this time of year the post office employ a few dodgy christmas casuals with no job check history. Ps. i'm still waiting for a programme but lucky it was only a 99p item.

[craig]

Wullie wrote:

I'm a postie and there is no backlog at the moment but getting busy pre Christmas.And all i can say is never use recorded delivery. Waste of money, you may as well just get certificate for free. I know that many recorded items are just pushed through the letter box. You've got to understand how big the walks have been made nowadays and if you have about 12 recorded items on top of packets etc you could be out all day. Yes this is a disgrace but this is the real world and postmen have families and lives to live outside of work. Always always use Special delivery for items over £30. Then you are covered for any loss. Sending anything recorded is advertising that something of value may be inside.And this time of year the post office employ a few dodgy christmas casuals with no job check history. Ps. i'm still waiting for a programme but lucky it was only a 99p item.

Thanks for the tip!

What would happen though if i posted someting with just a certificate of postage and then the seller says the programme never arrived? Im assuming i dont have any cover then?

Very good point about the "Recorded delivery" sticker advertisting the value of something. Its sad to think but obviously when you employ as many extra people at xmas as the Royal Mail then there are bound to be some bad aples.

Good luck sorting out the issues regarding your jobs too It is a great job that you all do

[Geddon]

What is a certificate of posting?

I sometimes have to go into the post office to post items and I always get a receipt with the date, post code sent to and cost of postage when I do, is it something more than that?

Thankfully I've never had to make a claim yet.

[craig]

A Certificate of Posting is just a little sheet, basically you put the persons name, house number and postcode on there... You can fit about 15 people on the front of the paper but just keep writing on the back too. Then when you post the post office sign the front to say that you posted all those items.

[RJ Programmes.com]

Craig i would have to check but im sure with a certifiate of posting it covers you upto £34. Or something like that

[craig]

RJ Programmes.com wrote:

Craig i would have to check but im sure with a certifiate of posting it covers you upto £34. Or something like that

To be honest i thought it did too but then it occured that it was open to abuse as you could send something to yourself with a certificate of postage, wait a weekand file a case saying your item which was worth £34 hasnt turned up to claim back £34?

[RJ Programmes.com]

No Craig i think they thought that through. You have to wait 2-3 weeks before making a claim and then you have to submit your certificate of posting and proof ie. a paypal payment to prove the amount.

[craig]

RJ Programmes.com wrote:

No Craig i think they thought that through. You have to wait 2-3 weeks before making a claim and then you have to submit your certificate of posting and proof ie. a paypal payment to prove the amount.

Well the certificate of postage wouldnt be a problem as you would pay the 39p to post it and its easy enough to get a paypal certificate by paying into a friends account or something... Anyway, ive probably thought too much about this and infact if you did want to try scamming the Royal Mail then you could always pay the 75p for recorded delivery anyway and still try and scam back thirty quid.

[foxes1]

A proof of posting form allows you to list 10 items on it only (Well they do if you get one from the Post Office).
I have had to claim 3 times on it in approx 2 years and have always got my money back, inc on some stuff that I sent to Switzerland.
They date stamp it and the cashier also signs it.

[Wullie]

Well the main point again is the difference between recorded delivery and special delivery.
A recorded item is usually used by solicitors and police etc. to send documents and they need a signature to prove the person has accepted it . Recorded items are treated as normal mail and as such have no special treatment. Special deliveries on the other hand have to be counted and signed for by the postie before he starts his round. They are kept in a locker away from other mail. Once signed for the postie is supposed to take extra care with it, If I was to lose some mail I would be upset but it wouldn’t be the end of the world. If I was to lose a special delivery letter I would be horrified and could possibly lose my job. So you can see the difference. Well worth paying the extra £4 or whatever it is. When I see people on Ebay selling programmes worth £100s then saying they will post recorded delivery I think they must be insane.

[Molineux Phil]

£4.99 at my local Post/Office,But well worth the extra IMHO ,if only for POM.

[craig]

Item finally arrived today 20 days after i sent it first class!!