Royal Mail - Prohibited Items Overseas & Lost Packages

[cwguk]

Hello

Looking for some advise please.

Im a sole trader and trying to run a small business. I sell semi precious gemstones and crystal specimens, nothing of great value.

I send to customers international weekly and recently had a larger order go missing to China, which I insured for £250 via RM Signed for service.

Put in a claim and of course Royal Mail denied responsibility and pointed me towards there inaccurate prohibited items list.

Now, I have claimed successfully with RM for 2 similar lost packages last year to China, albiet for only £50. So I was expecting it to be straight forward this time

Semi precious gemstones are not in fact a prohibited import to China, there's even an HSCODE for the customs decleration.

Im a little annoyed with this being a small business its a large loss. In fact Royal Mail list that my semi precious gems are "prohibited" in 80% of the countries in the world, when in fact they are not.


Is there any recourse I have for changing this or at least claiming my lost money back ?

[Snaggletooth]

I sell semi precious gemstones and crystal specimens ... recently had a larger order go missing to China, which I insured for £250 via RM Signed for service ... put in a claim and of course Royal Mail denied responsibility and pointed me towards there inaccurate prohibited items list ... semi precious gemstones are not in fact a prohibited import to China, there's even an HSCODE for the customs decleration.

I guess that this is the part of the prohibited list that you refer to:

Platinum, gold and silver, whether manufactured or not, precious stones, jewels or other valuable articles

I can see how there could be confusion or interpretation problems over the definition of precious versus semi-precious stones.

Is there any recourse I have for changing this or at least claiming my lost money back ?

If you think that RM have made a mistake in denying you a compensation, which can happen where the difference between two things is not obvious to the non-expert, there is a dispute resolution process. First you go through RM's escalation team, then if you are still not happy you can take it to the Postal Review Panel. You must do these things in the correct order. More details are here:

https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app ... UyMSUyMQ==" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[cwguk]

Snaggletooth - Just wanted to thank you for your advice.
I followed the escalation and was successful in the claim.
Many thanks to you