Crud!

[ffutures]

The calculator I sold on eBay has gone missing somewhere in the Italian postal system, and the buyer claims to need it for an exam on the 18th. Royal Mail track and trace is about as much use as a chocolate teapot, all it shows is that it arrived in Italy on the 1st. There appears to be no way for me to trace it beyond that.

I'll phone Royal Mail customer service tomorrow to see if there's some way to do this, but if anyone does happen to know a method it would be great if you could tell me!

update - Royal Mail customer services say to make a claim at least three weeks after the estimated delivery date. I've told the buyer to start an "item not delivered" claim once eBay let him, I'll refund as soon as they let me and make a claim once Royal Mail allow it. I will not hold my breath waiting...

Comments

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

66% of the packages I've sold on Ebay to Italy never got there. I've actually now put in a ban on all Italian bidders. I simply can't afford those loss rates.

But yes, all RMs track and trace service does is track when parcels arrive in their destination countries. Beyond that it is indeed, as you say, chocolate teapot.

Sadly if it ain't there, it's almost certainly gone. The only good news is Track and Trace might have sufficient compensation attached to it that you'll get your money back eventually from RM.

Sympathies.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that's pretty much what I feared.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Apparently a part of the problem is that a lot of Italian blocks of flats don't have individual mailboxes, they have one big communal mail drop off point in the lobby, into which everybodies mail goes. So it's too easy for somebody to walk past and pick up the interesting looking packages.

And the other problem is there are a lot of low-paid poorly motivated delivery people. (Often on miniscule wages because they are frequently drawn from the immigrant workforce, so they have a lot of incentive to just help themselves because workers who feel exploited tend to feel less moral qualms about exploiting the people they are working for.)

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I'm beginning to wish I'd used Ebay's Global Shipping instead. It's expensive, but that's the buyer's problem, not mine, and they claim that it's tracked and accountable all the way.

Oh well, too late now.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've always avoided it out of fear of getting negative feedback for postage costs. Plus, I can't imagine many international buyers are going to be prepared to pay ~that~ much in P&P costs. But, yeah. Beware Italy. Arguably the single worst country in the West to send mail to.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

The package is now showing as being in the system in Milan, which it wasn't before, so hopefully it may still get delivered.