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Amazon Return, item stolen or tracking not working?

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For information about any other mail or if you have a complaint or general query, we first suggest you contact Royal Mail, see the link HERE.
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Lordmetro
Posts: 11
Joined: 11 Apr 2013, 16:44
Gender: Male

Amazon Return, item stolen or tracking not working?

Post by Lordmetro »

Hi there,

So long story short, I think the shop clerk didn't scan my item and kept it for himself :sad:

Amazon have told they haven't received anything, I returned it using their prepaid postage, which is a Royal Mail tracked 48 hour service. I returned it on the 13th March and then bought the same item as it was defective.

On Sunday, my usual local post office is closed, so I thought I might as well go to the Post Office corner shop. The receipt is legit and has the same tracking number.

The tracking is XC262712275GB.

Image

I did return various other items using Amazon's prepaid labels, and they had tracking information on the same day but this has been nearly a week. I think the shop clerk was also dodgy as he was quite young and looked like he didn't know what he was doing with all the typing in his machine.

I had a look, and all I can see is that eBay's prepaid stamps also have the same problem with tracking not updating, but Amazon's labels have worked before, so I'm taking that excuse. I did see him put it in the sack to be returned.

What are my steps now? Shall I file a lost form (requires 10 business days, so not yet but soon)? Call RM? I believe he has stolen it, as the system doesn't recognize the number at all and I double checked. If it was scanned, it would have given some information of it being received.
Lordmetro
Posts: 11
Joined: 11 Apr 2013, 16:44
Gender: Male

Amazon Return, item stolen or tracking not working?

Post by Lordmetro »

Amazon CS told me to email them back with the proof of sending receipt, so I resolved the problem now.

I shall report this to Royal Mail as it's unacceptable for a tracked 48 hour service to be delayed and not updated with a tracking number when it's a tracking service! I still believe he has stolen it.
swindonandy
Posts: 126
Joined: 26 Feb 2010, 16:26
Gender: Male

Amazon Return, item stolen or tracking not working?

Post by swindonandy »

Lordmetro wrote:Amazon CS told me to email them back with the proof of sending receipt, so I resolved the problem now.

I shall report this to Royal Mail as it's unacceptable for a tracked 48 hour service to be delayed and not updated with a tracking number when it's a tracking service! I still believe he has stolen it.
If the picture you put up is what you put on the parcel then it isn't a Tracked48 service.

It has "r48" on it which is used for high volume returns and is not tracked through the network.
Snaggletooth
EX POST OFFICE
Posts: 2220
Joined: 13 Sep 2011, 20:17
Gender: Male

Amazon Return, item stolen or tracking not working?

Post by Snaggletooth »

Firstly, you have a receipt that you sent it back, so you are completely covered under the law. Amazon specified a return service, you used it and kept the proof, any further disputes are between Amazon and RM.
Lordmetro wrote:So long story short, I think the shop clerk didn't scan my item and kept it for himself ... The receipt is legit and has the same tracking number.

The tracking is XC262712275GB.
The fact that you have a receipt with the correct tracking number on it proves that the clerk scanned the item. On Horizon, the Post Office's till system, there is no way of generating such a receipt without scanning the parcel into the system. There is also no way of voiding, cancelling or reversing this transaction. So the receipt is proof that the clerk did scan the item in.

As Swindon Andy says, the service used here is r48 not Tracked 48, so the item does not get tracked all the way through the system. It is treated as second class mail and travels in a pipeline that doesn't have barcode scanning equipment most of the way. That said, the item should be showing up as having been scanned in at the relevant PO and to be "progressing through the system". The fact that it isn't showing up at all suggests that this is an occurance of a known intermittent fault with the RM tracking system, in which items which have definitely been scanned in do not show up at all. I saw several examples of this fault while working for the PO.

Since the tracking has clearly failed, nobody can say if your item has gone missing at the PO, within RM or within Amazon. However, you are covered so there is really no need to be concerned.
fb1969
EX ROYAL MAIL
Posts: 1693
Joined: 29 Aug 2012, 08:38
Gender: Male
Location: hiding on the backstreets

Amazon Return, item stolen or tracking not working?

Post by fb1969 »

That item is now showing as delivered at 1005hrs on 19/03/16 from the Edinburgh Office.
Royal Mail
failing the workforce, failing the public and deliberately failing mail on a daily basis for too many years.
Lordmetro
Posts: 11
Joined: 11 Apr 2013, 16:44
Gender: Male

Amazon Return, item stolen or tracking not working?

Post by Lordmetro »

fb1969 wrote:That item is now showing as delivered at 1005hrs on 19/03/16 from the Edinburgh Office.
Thanks :)

I had realized why there is a tracking issue now. The tracking number is different from the one on the receipt, it looked similar but the receipt has a couple of digits moved by a offset (my eyesight is quite bad at looking on the small font). Anyhow, I did get refunded by Amazon through the proof of receipt. If anybody has troubles with returns you can contact cs-reply@amazon.co.uk and send in a JPEG attachment of a scan.

However, I will now look through the receipt and ensures my future postage contain the same tracking number. It is weird that a different one was assigned.

And yes you guys are right, Amazon mislabeled the return from a 48 hour service to a tracked return service (it was described as a 48 hour return, but im guessing the prepaid label they've processed was a normal one for me).

So I'm here wondering now, why is the receipt showing a different tracking number to the one I've stuck down that Amazon has given me. It looked fairly similar, but the last digits and some in the middle are different. The receipt tracking shows that I've posted it through the local Post Office; it has no other tracking details. I'm guessing they have just inputted the original tracking number on delivery.