Reply With QuoteI've only ever claimed for late delivery.
I hope you get this sorted.
Looking for some advice.
Does any body have any experience of claiming against Royal Mail Special Delivery, upto £2500? Watch that I sent off for a service has gone missing.
Cheers
James
I've only ever claimed for late delivery.
I hope you get this sorted.
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
As above, only claimed for late delivery, which just gives you the cost of postage back.
It is a pretty simple process, so hopefully it is also for you James [fingers crossed].
How long has it been overdue? I presume it was insured up to £2500
They ask you to wait 10 to 14 days before assuming it is missing.
I used to work for Royal Mail and yes you can claim for the loss of item and its value. However you have to give Royal Mail enough time to investigate the disappearance. Special delivery is signed for by every individual who comes into contact and handles the package. So, you take the package to the post office, you get a printed receipt, next along comes the postman picks up the package and he/she has to sign for it,
So now it's in his/her hand and he/she is responsible for it. They then take it to the sorting office where the
Postman hands it to another postman of higher grade (PHG) who works in a secure locker/room he then signs and takes it off the postman. He then packages it up along with other packets/letters what are also special deliveries going to the same destination as your package and security seals the sack placing a sheet telling the receiving office how many special deliveries there are altogether. The delivery driver then has to sign to say he has received the sack/pouch. When it arrives at its destination office the driver then takes it to that delivery office's secure locker where it's signed for yet again by their PHG. He then prepares it for following morning delivery where the delivery postman has to pick it up and sign for it. Then off he pops on his delivery until he reaches the place or personal address where the item is destined for and finally the public/personnel sign for it.
So what I'm trying to say is that yes things can go missing using Royal Mail but because at every stage the item has been signed for, Royal Mail can usually see where the error was made and trace it back from there.
That's why over 90% of the time it's usually either turns up or its been signed for and then people phone up saying they haven't received it and try and say it's been misdelivered. But even if it had been misdelivered they would just ask the postman.
Hope this helps
Thanks for the replies.
It was insured.
Its been going on since late July but the watch was held by customs as I declared the full value and did not have to pay VAT as it was just going for a service with Bremont, it was my MBII, all documentation I had to submit was done. Both Royal Mail and Bremont who were in contact with RM said it will take a few weeks to clear, kept chasing and getting told the same thing.
They are now saying to claim as its been too long and if I leave it much longer I can't claim.
I just want the watch back, if I cant get that I want the £2.5K i paid for it, obviously have the receipt from WF as evidence.
James
So have you submitted a claim, or have you just been speaking to CS reps to see if their internal tracking system is any better than the public facing one?
Assuming so, get the claim submitted without further delay.
Moreover, when you use the tracking page, you can select a link to see where your package has been – what’s it say for the last entry?
Have you tried contacting Customs & Excise to see if they can shed any light on the matter?
You should do, even after you’ve started the claim against RM.
No personal experience but surely you can make a claim and then the onus is on RM to prove that they have the watch somewhere or that it has been delivered. Failing this, they should refund the value of the item. Should it subsquently turn up back at your address or at Bremont then you could always withdraw the claim, refund the payout or allow them (RM) to keep the watch?
I once claimed against Royal Mail ,it was only £150,an eBay item I posted ,I'd insured it ,had to wait about 21 days in total but they paid up after the period without any hassle
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Don't think RMSD covers insurance outside of UK though - how is customs involved? . Good luck thoughOriginally Posted by champagne_james
Jersey is covered according to the Royal Mail
"You can send mail to the Channel Islands or Isle of Man for the same price as mail to UK destinations. This includes next day delivery for 1st Class mail. Some services are not available or subject to different guaranteed delivery times, however customers in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man can access all of the UK products via their local postal operator."
There is a table which clearly shows all services are available to/from Jersey including RMSD, although Guernsey cannot have RMSD guaranteed by 9am.
That's good news then. Wish you well but I would formally lodge your claim against RM as the watch has not been received in due time. Fingers crossed.
The claim has now been submitted with Guernsey Post and Royal Mail. I did insure it for £2.5k so hope to get that back, what it doesn't cover she hassle, being with out the watch for months and finding another MBII at that price point at a year old. To be fair i'm a serial watch flipper so getting the money back is fine :)
Same here, also for a smaller amount - definitely get an official claim registered, can't remember exactly what I did but had to wait 20 - 30 days and then they
paid out
Royal Mail set the terms on which they pay out compensation for loss or damage. They are actually authorised to do this for RMSD by Act of Parliament, so are bound by statute and no other terms of reasonableness that might apply to services.
Just as a matter of interest, is the watch worth more than £2500 at market value?
You are in the position of claiming for an item that has been lost but which was not being bought or sold, so its compensation value will depend on market value. Have Royal Mail asked you to provide proof of value yet?
Make sure you avoid Parcel Force as watches are specifically excluded even if you've paid for the extra insurance
^^^ (Reply to burnsey66) Current value is not necessarily what was paid for it previously, in a case like this where the item was not actually being bought/sold at the time of loss.
Royal Mail requires that items are valued to their satisfaction in order to pay out compensation. In the case of a watch lost in the process of a purchase/sale, establishing current value to RM's satisfaction is relatively easy: The amount paid is the value of the item and Royal Mail explicitly states that PayPal receipt, bank statement, etc. will be adequate as proof of value. However, in cases like this, where the item was not in the process of being bought or sold, establishing current value might be a little less clear (and as I recall RM offers no suggestions as to valuing guidelines or suitable proof of current value in such cases).
It should also be noted that the amount of compensation requested is certainly not evidence of value of the lost item.
It will be interesting to see what, if any, proof of current value they ask for in this case. Maybe they will just value it themselves. Maybe they will ask for proof of what was paid for it. I don't know how they'll do it but I am certainly curious to find out.
Last edited by markrlondon; 9th September 2016 at 15:09.
Sorry Mark, in this case I’d say it’s cut and dried.
That said, I know James only bought this watch very, very recently and the reason it was in the post to Bremont was to tidy it up - the price paid reflected the condition.
So, in this case, the value is as paid. Any other option doesn’t exist in reality - RM will not pay replacement value of a new one, but accept they may ask for evidence in certain cases - recent sales - forums/Chrono24/eBay etc., but they certainly will pay the price paid as that price is the value.
If I sold a watch on the forum for £2,600, RM would have the option to refuse the claim, as it would have been uninsured, but in this case, the value is provable without doubt.
I don't disagree at all with how you are assigning current value to the watch but what counts is what RM will decide is the real current value or what is adequate (to them) proof of current value. We can only wait and see what they say/ask for.
As I pointed out, what RM considers to be "the value" (or proof of value) can depend on the circumstances. It won't necessarily concur with common sense or your entirely reasonable basis above.
Like it or not, this is for Royal Mail to decide. They set the conditions as to what what they will accept as proof of current value. They might well accept without quibbling that proof of a "very, very recent" purchase price is adequate proof of current value. They might not even bother to ask for proof of value (i.e. they might assign a value to it themselves based upon their own research). Or who knows. We'll just have to wait and see.
I don’t entirely agree mark, but think we are singing from the same hymn sheet, however, if RM were not to accept a receipt from a week old purchase, they should withdraw the product from the market.
I would say, for others reading this, it does paint a confusing picture, when there isn’t one to paint - on this occasion.
Ask for proof, pay claimant, case closed. And I’ll happily bet £2,500 on that.
I think so.
That is a sensible, simple, common sense assessment. But as far as I know there is nothing requiring RM to be so sensible in its proof of value policies. Maybe it will be as simple as that. I would certainly hope so but I am waiting to see.
I submitted the receipt from Watchfinder as I only had the watch in my possession for about a week after purchasing it. I see it very simply as a £2.5k claim as thats what I paid from an established retailer a week prior to posting.
We'll see, it will be interesting to see how they handle it.
On a positive note I had a Breitling Aerospace turn up today.
James
Indeed, it will be interesting to see. As Steve says, you'd would think that such a recent receipt would be adequate proof of current value for RM but we'll see. I can imagine they might ask for evidence of actual amount paid (e.g. PP or bank statements).
Update, found in customs collecting dust, I sent in a return to sender request and 2 days later it shows up at Bremont for its refurb.
2 months wasted but at least it was found.
James
good news!
ktmog6uk
marchingontogether!
Wow, that's a relief!
Good old postal ' service '...
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