Damaged Items During Delivery - who should claim?

[Katianne]

I received an email today from someone who bought one of my mirrors from Ebay, but on arrival the mirror is cracked in 2 places. Obviously it wasn't like this when I sent it so must have happened in transit. He asked what needs to happen about this so I explained he needs to make a claim through Royal Mail, as the mirror was covered up tp the cost of £34 (he bought it for £30. The buyer has emailed me back to say he is disappointed with my response, but I don't feel I am being unreasonable.

From personal experience of making a claim through the postal service, they ask you to send them the packaging, photos of the damage and proof of postage. As he has the packaging and mirror, the claim needs to come from him. I have offered to send / email him the proof of postage and explained why he needs to make the claim. I have explained the he will be sent a pre=paid envelope to attach te the parcel so will not need to pay postage.

Am I being unreasonable? I don't think I am but the way he has responded has made me feel quite upset.

[colourart]

Your not being unreasonable imho, it makes sense that he needs to make the claim, I expect you explained to him what you've explained to us.

I guess the alternative is to have him send the item back to you and for you to make the claim and decide whether you want to pay for that as a gesture of good will. Can you rise any negative feedback? Sorry I can't been much help, I can see what an awkward situation it is, RM has alot to answer for.

[Katianne]

If it results in negative feedback I think thats very unfair, as I think what I have said is fair. I know it is a pain to make the claim but the mirror was covered should something like this happen so he should get his money back shouldn't he?

[Peter]

You are right - it was damaged in transit, so it's the carrier's responsibility, and the only person who can prove it's damaged is the recipient. There wouldn't be anything you could do even if you wanted to, all you can supply is proof of postage, your client is being naive as well as unreasonable!

[Katianne]

Would it be safer to use a courier instead in the future? I would have to up the postage as it would cost more but that must be better if there's less chance of things like this happening. How do you go about finding /organing for something to be sent via courier?

[Katianne]

You are right - it was damaged in transit, so it's the carrier's responsibility, and the only person who can prove it's damaged is the recipient. There wouldn't be anything you could do even if you wanted to, all you can supply is proof of postage, your client is being naive as well as unreasonable!

Thank you Peter! You can't imagine how much it helps to hear people agree with what I have said. I thought I was being reasonable but he was so negative it has really upset me. If he does give me negative feedback because of this (which would be very unfair, is there any way I can challenge it?

[colourart]

If it results in negative feedback I think thats very unfair, as I think what I have said is fair. I know it is a pain to make the claim but the mirror was covered should something like this happen so he should get his money back shouldn't he?

I agree that a neg. feedback would be unfair and you are being reasonable it would be quicker and easier for him to claim, and its something that was not your fault. I hope he doesn't give you a neg. feedback, you definately wouldn't deserve it.( a supportive smiley)

Perhaps you could tell him he would receive the money back more quickly if he made the claim, as he would have to wait for the parcel to be returned to you before you could claim.

[colourart]

You are right - it was damaged in transit, so it's the carrier's responsibility, and the only person who can prove it's damaged is the recipient. There wouldn't be anything you could do even if you wanted to, all you can supply is proof of postage, your client is being naive as well as unreasonable!

Thats very interesting. That would resolve your problem.

[nattynetty]

I may be wrong here and you may not want to hear this but I was led to believe that the sender is the only person able to make the claim. Casting my mind back to when I claimed for a lost parcel the form was quite detailed and probably only the sender would be able to answer all the questions.

Had a quick looksee on the Royal Mail website and it said this

"Once your claim is received, our customer services team may also ask you for any inner or outer packaging if your item was damaged when it arrived at its destination."

So it sounds like you make the initial claim and if RM want to see the packaging your customer would then have to forward it on - so make sure he keeps hold of all the packaging. If I was you I'd ask at your Post Office tomorrow morning - they should know the score.

Would it be safer to use a courier instead in the future? I would have to up the postage as it would cost more but that must be better if there's less chance of things like this happening. How do you go about finding /organing for something to be sent via courier?

Knowing how my parcels arrive when the courier delivers them here I'd say stay well clear as the boxes frequently have tears or are squashed, but if you did want to go that way give me a PM as I go through a broker which is very competitively priced.

[beadsbydesign]

When a similar thing happened to me, I asked for the buyer to supply mw with the photos etc. I then put the claim in. The insurance cover was purchased by you. Therefore you need to make the claim.

You don't need to refund the money up front, but inform the client that should you receive a payment from royal mail then you will refund him.

If you had purchased somthing from a company and it had arrived broken then you would expect to be refunded.

[Katianne]

I may be wrong here and you may not want to hear this but I was led to believe that the sender is the only person able to make the claim. Casting my mind back to when I claimed for a lost parcel the form was quite detailed and probably only the sender would be able to answer all the questions.

Had a quick looksee on the Royal Mail website and it said this

"Once your claim is received, our customer services team may also ask you for any inner or outer packaging if your item was damaged when it arrived at its destination."

So it sounds like you make the initial claim and if RM want to see the packaging your customer would then have to forward it on - so make sure he keeps hold of all the packaging. If I was you I'd ask at your Post Office tomorrow morning - they should know the score.

Thanks for this - have had a look at the claim form on RM website and it seems either can put the claim in. You do need info such as where and when the parcel was posted, but I have emailed this to the buyer and have agreed to send him the proof of posting. RM then send the person that makes the claim a pre-paid envelope (which can be attached to a parcels), asking you to send the packaging. Because the buyer has this, it makes more sense that this goes to him and therefore he makes the claim? They also state they may ask to insoect the item, again as he has this it seems to me that its easier to do this from his end. I suppose the other way of doing it would be for him to return everything to me, but then he would have to foot the bill for the postage, so as a result it would cost him more overall?

I feel really deflated about al this at the moment, it takes the enjoyment after doing crafts when you have to go through things like this.

[Katianne]

When a similar thing happened to me, I asked for the buyer to supply mw with the photos etc. I then put the claim in. The insurance cover was purchased by you. Therefore you need to make the claim.

You don't need to refund the money up front, but inform the client that should you receive a payment from royal mail then you will refund him.

If you had purchased somthing from a company and it had arrived broken then you would expect to be refunded.

So if RM won't refund the money, I will have to?

[Katianne]

Has anyone had experience of making a claim and did they pay out?

[beadsbydesign]

have pm'd you!

[icecreamgirl]

Just thought i would put my two pence worth in.
I can understand all you are saying, it sounds from what you say that it is easier all round for the buyer to make the claim....
But i think from the buyers point of view, they have payed you for the postage and so i can see why they would expect you to be the one to sort t out. They paid their money to you. You were the one that paid the money to RM.

I think if it were me i would get them to post it back and sort it from your end. It's very unlucky and the nature of your product means that it's more likely to get damaged than other products, but i really think that you should keep the customer happy.
I read somewhere that a dissatisfied customer will tell about 20 people about their grumble.
Which in the long term will have more effect on your business than if you were to just refund the customer.
Any way that's just my tuppence, i'm sorry for you, hope it dosnt happen too often!!