28 replies to this topic

[roberts]

Good morning TMF,

Has anyone experienced problems with packages going missing in the post recently?

No necessarily from us, simply any package.

We have had 6 packages 'magically' disappear in the last month, to put that in to perspective - in the previous 4 and a half years of Optimise Automotive ZERO packages had been lost in transit.

All have disappeared in different locations across a spread of company's (Royal Mail x2, FedEx x1, UPS x1 and Parcel Force x1) and they are both things that we have dispatched and also things we have ordered (from suppliers).

It could be a complete coincidence, but, just in case - as a word of warning, if you are ordering goods at the moment we highly recommend that you take out additional postal lost item/damaged item insurance to cover yourselves in case something does magically disappear.


Thanks
Andy @ Optimise Automotive

Website: www.optimise-automotive.com
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +44 (0) 1782 579 080

Edited by roberts, 14 February 2013 - 10:33 AM.

[The Matt]

Yup, we send out around 20 per week on average. Since around November we've had an average of 2 per week go missing!

We are only posting out £10-20 items and it's not worth the hassle of us chasing them up though, so we just end up replacing the missing stuff. Most annoying though!

[AVV IT]

Yup, stuff I order from Amazon regularly goes missing. Where the hell does it all go? Is there an EC lost parcel mountain somewhere?

Edited by AVV IT, 14 February 2013 - 10:40 AM.

[roberts]

Yup, we send out around 20 per week on average. Since around November we've had an average of 2 per week go missing!

We are only posting out £10-20 items and it's not worth the hassle of us chasing them up though, so we just end up replacing the missing stuff. Most annoying though

Well at least we are nowhere near that % of items going missing, that's ridiculous. Who re you using to dispatch?

Yup, stuff I order from Amazon regularly goes missing. Where the hell does it all go? Is there an EC lost parcel mountain somewhere?

Yeah, that pile is called the private eBay account of a courier service employee I reckon.

[MaxAndPaddy]

Yep and sent it recorded delivery!!

Didnt insure it and cost me £400 to replace

My advice now is always insure if what your sending has a value!!

[Old Bob]

We use Royal Mail. Send out 50 - 100 packages - second class post - each week and expect a lost rate of one in every thousand. We also get a similar percentage returned, usually due to package being too large for the customer's letter box and customer failing to then collect from their local sorting office within three weeks.

People knock Royal Mail but in our experience they provide a damn good service.

Bob

[roberts]

We use Royal Mail. Send out 50 - 100 packages - second class post - each week and expect a lost rate of one in every thousand. We also get a similar percentage returned, usually due to package being too large for the customer's letter box and customer failing to then collect from their local sorting office within three weeks.

People knock Royal Mail but in our experience they provide a damn good service.

Bob

Yeah that's the kind of % that we would usually expect - as above, not a single item has been lost in 4 and a half years, then 6 in the space of 6 weeks.

[JustSteve]

I've never ever had an item lost. I haven't sent thousands of parcels, but quite a lot really.

[Tommyboy12]

I used to have birthday cards with money go missing every year. Then the local sorting office shut and they stopped going missing...

[JimminyBob]

I work in a Post Office and I've noticed that recently a few people have been asking for lost mail forms/complaining about lost items. I sent a few parcels at the same time last week and one took 4 days to arrive even though it was 1st Class Recorded.

[The Matt]

We use Royal Mail, it's only been in the last couple of months that it's been a real issue, we've changed the Post Office we used and as if by magic the problem has gone away.

To be totally blunt about it. it's a country PO (yeay for keeping the local post office facility running), which passes you the 1st class parcel stamp when you've paid your £2.70 fee, you stick the stamp on yourself and then leave it in the front of the counter for the postie to pick up.

You realise this isn't a brilliant idea when you go into the post office on the next day, the door bell rings and it takes them about 2-3 minutes to appear behind the counter from out of their house (attached to the Post Office). During that 2-3 minutes I often have a look at who else has put parcels out there ready for someone the postie to take. It was a joke so we stopped using it. So open to parcels going missing as they don't really even handle the parcels themselves. Any old Joe at random could walk in off the street and nick stuff from there.

[The Matt]

I used to have birthday cards with money go missing every year. Then the local sorting office shut and they stopped going missing...

Probably around half of our Xmas cards had damaged envelopes that looked like someone had toyed around with them. Some were even ripped open and then the flap poked inside the envelope or taped back down. It looked to me like some cheeky Xmas rush worker had been checking if there were any notes/vouchers or whatever in the cards. That's happened the last two years now. I know of at least 3 people that sent me a card that never got there too.

[M J W J]

How do you know they are missing? Have you been able to track the item?

I've had a couple of people claim that parcels have gone missing but after checking found out they have been delivered. I have also had a few people over the last few months claim items have turned up broken but when you ask them to return the item (and offer to pay for the return postage) or send a picture of the broken parts you never hear from them again.

Because of the way Pay-pal works I reckon more and more people are trying it on so they end up with the part they want and their money back. I've started to avoid pay-pal wherever possible.

I keep using the royal mail and send everything by standard parcel. So far everything has arrived fine.

[Carlos W]

I sold 2 seat belts on here to 2 different people, I posted them both at the same time, and one arrived and one didn't!

It's so frustrating, but I always get proof of postage so hopefully if the item doesn't turn up I can claim

[miniyellowmini]

I had a number of lost parcels just before Christmas (sending and receiving) I bought 12 items off one seller and the lot went missing. He replaced them at his cost and told me that every package he sent that day also never arrived, he's a high volume seller 50,000+FB and it must have cost him a fortune. I'd suspect the postie who collected the sacks from the PO that day.

You can claim back from RM but the problem with with that is you depend entirely on the recepient signing the claim form and with eBay you normally get some awkward sod who isn't prepared to work with you to resolve and just claims the money back through Paypal then leaves you a negitive comment for something totally out of your control.

Edited by miniyellowmini, 15 February 2013 - 10:54 PM.