Ebay delivery help and advice!

[Pheebs]

Hey peoples!

Rather confuddled as to what to do here:

1. Sent an item via Parcel Monkey (City Link) to an eBay Buyer.
2. Item was tracked and recorded as delivered.
3. Buyer contacted me and said item has not been delivered. I gave them the tracking details and they went to City Link.
4. City Link state they left the parcel in their secure location - a gas cupboard outside the persons address. When the manager speaks to the delivery guy he apparently states "Oh yeh, that was the playstation I delivered". The buyer did not mention it was a PS3, nor have I, so a bit dodgy!
5. The buyer has a big A4 sign outside their house stating "Please Leave all Parcels in the Gas Cupboard Thank You" which has apparently been there for years. City Link have sent me a photograph of this sign too that they took when delivering the item.

How do I try and resolve this? The buyer is clearly upset, City Link are claiming they have delivered to the secure location (it states on their site that they will leave items in customers secure location if it has been stated to/obvious to).

Can I make a claim? I don't think I have a leg to stand on for it really as City Link in theory have done everything they set out to do. I'm suspicious of them knowing it was a PS3 (wrapped with bubble wrap in an irregular shape). Is it for the buyer to make a claim?

Insurance wise I asked for cover for £150 but I'm not sure they'll cough up!


Is it for me to resolve? I will do my best to sort it but just want to know where I stand on this? Really don't want negative feedback either on my eBay! Or does the buyer need to file a complaint to City Link? Or claim on insurance?

Haaaalp!!

[lostkat]

You had the contract with city link, not the buyer so it must be you who files a claim.

However, if the buyer has nominated a safe place and the item has gone missing from that safe place then I think city link renounce all responsibility...as they can't control who has access to that safe place.

That being said, it's worth questioning how he knew it was a PlayStation as that sounds very dodgy indeed!!

[Kitten]

If you filled in the usual forms and mentioned anywhere on there it was a PlayStation, I'm guessing the driver will have had access to that information. I'd like to think if there was something dodgy going on, they'd be smart enough to think 'I'm not supposed to know what's in that package so best not say 'OH THE PLAYSTATION' the first time I'm asked about it'.

To be honest, if the person who bought it has the sign in the window I'm pretty much sure he's abdicated responsibility from City Link and they will tell him to go whistle for his delivery.

What I find odd though is that I was told by Royal Mail Parcelfarce that it's illegal under the data protection act for them to give the intended recipient of a parcel ANY information on delivery, and that you had to go to the sender who would then have to contact them, find out what's happening and then pass on the info to the intended recipient.

If this is true (who knows whether they're telling the truth), you might be able to subtly blackmail them into coughing up, but imo the guy you sold it to is totally at fault and eitherway, it's actually got nothing at all to do with you and you are completely blameless & will be able to get any neg feedback removed from eBay if he leaves any.

[lostkat]

the data protection thing is probably down to the contract being between the sender of the parcel and the courier Kitten. The recipient isn't a party to that contract so I guess it makes sense that they don't/won't pass on any info.

I agree though. The buyer is at fault here for nominating an unsafe safe place.

[Pheebs]

Couple of problemos (I think?)

1. City Link *will* leave a parcel in a designated "safe place" so it states on their website, however, this has to be agreed and organised by the account holder / sender.... naturally I didn't agree to that.

2. I *think* the service I purchased was one which required a signature. I'm not sure as when you buy a service on Parcel Monkey it doesn't give you the full details after.. just consignment numbers and delivery details (how unhelpful).

So... if it has been delivered, without my permission, to an unsafe location, unsigned for and has subsequently gone missing... I think it's going to be my responsibility to claim for and sort out.

Reference the delivery guy apparently mentioning it was a playstation (note, I am very dubious of second hand info here), City link do not get told any information about the parcel. They only receive a consignment number, delivery address and sender address. I confirmed this on the phone with City Link today. The parcel was heavily wrapped with bubble wrap, brown paper and then fully edged with parcel tape!

Hmmmmm. HUuUUUuMMM...

Ugh. Really don't need this whilst we're sorting out our trip and selling the house!! Pain in the arse!

[Kitten]

Originally Posted by lostkat

the data protection thing is probably down to the contract being between the sender of the parcel and the courier Kitten. The recipient isn't a party to that contract so I guess it makes sense that they don't/won't pass on any info.

I agree though. The buyer is at fault here for nominating an unsafe safe place.

I get that Kate, but they told Pheeb's recipient?

I still don't see how you're responsible Pheebs. You put an address on it. The recipient asked them to leave it somewhere else. You didn't. They didn't deliver to the recipient, they left it in a safe place of his asking. That abdicates their responsibility and yours. Its totally his fault. The fact that the knob tells not only the delivery company but the entire literate world that any parcels he *might* have received are in his gas box leads me to think it's probably him that's *arranged* to have it picked up so he can claim it never arrived.

Has he got any history of bought items going missing on eBay? I wouldn't be surprised if it's a scam.

[lostkat]

I spoke to Leon last night. The data protection thing is bollocks. TNT won't give out the sender's address, but they can give out info to the recipient about who the parcel is from etc.

Pheebs at the end of the day, the contract is between you and City Link. You didn't instruct City Link to deliver to the recipient's "safe place", so I do actually believe you still have a claim regardless of how stupid the receiver has been. The City Link T&C's that I found don't mention a safe place or anything similar. The only problem I see really is the value you can claim for. If you didn't pay for enhanced liability to insure the item you were sending, you could end up getting £10/kilo, which is pretty standard from what Leon's said in the past.

[Justsomebloke]

I don't understand this at all. I thought the delivery men wasn't allowed to leave it anywhere other than the address they were given & they have to get a signature to leave an item anywhere.
Reading through this it seems I am wrong.

[Kitten]

I thought it might be Kate. Only thing is, with me it was Parecelfarce who fall under RM & from what I've read they are under different T&Cs from private couriers, like TNT & CityLink. Like they can't leave it in certain places that private couriers can etc. And there is something in buying something from a retailer, I read a legal thread the other night after seeing this and it did state that if the item hasnt been delivered, i.e. no card, RM aren't allowed to give our any details to recipients. But I don't know enough about it to say with any authority whatsoever.

[Pheebs]

Thanks for all the advice! In short, I've taken heed of all I can, put what has been found out/advised to me to Parcel Monkey and City Link... the ball's in their court! I've updated the guy every couple of days with no news heard yet and yeh. He's going to have to be patient!