Parcels posted on 13th Dec still not arrived

[Kate39]

Hello All

New here and arrived by googling for what is probably a familiar problem....

I sold eight items on Ebay on 12th December and posted them out on 13th. Four parcels arrived within four days, the other four haven't arrived at all. I'm now at the point where the buyers' patience has (understandably) worn thin and I have promised to refund them on Saturday if the parcels haven't turned up by then. I posted from south Cumbria and I spoke to the lady on the Post Office counter I sent them from this Tuesday who said that there had been problems at Preston. The lost parcels were going to Barrow in Cumbria, Orpington, Bordeaux in France and Belper in Derbyshire.

Stupidly I sent the parcels standard second class/international rather than tracked, but I do have proof of posting (although whether that will do me any good and whether I can claim for the the lost parcels is another matter). I was just wondering what the chances were of the parcels being delivered by Saturday. I can't believe that they are still sitting in a mail centre 22 days after posting....

Obviously I run the risk of refunding the buyers and then the parcels arriving and not getting paid back and not being able to claim for compensation - I'm hoping the buyers will be honest about it.

Anyone got any news to comfort me, or pointers about the best way to claim for lost parcels... I'm only a very occasional Ebay seller and I'm gutted that this has happened.

Cheers all and thanks for providing this open forum, it's really useful to get information direct from the posties....!

[NWBusiness]

I posted from south Cumbria and I spoke to the lady on the Post Office counter I sent them from this Tuesday who said that there had been problems at Preston.

I can't believe that they are still sitting in a mail centre 22 days after posting....

Preston Mail Centre has been dire since early December, some RM Tracked packets I sent through there on 6th December have been delivered this week. I still have many outstanding from 13th. The guy I spoke to at Preston MC said they simply couldn't cope with the volume.

The problem is the Royal Mail's policy of processing new mail before the backlog meaning some packets taking over 3 weeks to be delivered.

[POSTMAN]

Have asked the guys hopefuly someone from where they are going(minus the France on lol) will give us some info.

There is still a backlog in the pipeline and 'some' offices are still struggling whether the 3 mentioned are like that we will hopefuly know soon.
They will not be stuck at Preston they would of moved on from there.

The France one would/should be over there,the planes did not fly for a while because of the weather and of course there was a backlog anyway.

[Kate39]

Have asked the guys hopefuly someone from where they are going(minus the France on lol)

Thanks for the information Postman, hopefully your peeps will have some information about the situation at various mail centres, it would be useful to have some info.

It's a really frustrating situation, but understandable because of the weather, I just wish that I'd been one of the lucky ones and my parcels had got through.....!

[ronpetetrevchris]

Have asked the guys hopefuly someone from where they are going(minus the France on lol)

Thanks for the information Postman, hopefully your peeps will have some information about the situation at various mail centres, it would be useful to have some info.

It's a really frustrating situation, but understandable because of the weather, I just wish that I'd been one of the lucky ones and my parcels had got through.....!

Regarding the Derby hub for the belper missing parcel, i hear from fellow posties that this (although officially denied) was in a whoefull mess pre Christmas regarding packets.

Whether they have made headway since i cant really say, sorry and good luck.

[mr.floot]

I'm having a problem getting my stuff too! I ordered from Amazon.co.uk and they sent my packet out on the 31st December 1st class, and Amazon's estimated delivery date was the 4th and I'm still waiting.
I live in Newcastle.

The annoying thing is, my housemate ordered something from a different website like 3 days ago, and it arrived today. Anyone know if Newcastle is affected by this backlog?

[Kate39]

Just found out that the parcel to France arrived today, so that's a huge relief!

Now just waiting for the three UK parcels which weren't delivered today. I wonder where they are being held hostage?!

[bag69]

As much as RM will deny it there are still major problems. Delivered parcels today fom the 6th(december that is).

[Darren Bent]

it is bad as we doesn't know if the parcel is lost / stolen / stuck in the system. If you can delay payment refund until Tuesday then refund. As load of parcels usually come on Tuesday.

You could refund but will the customer resent payment if it arrive on Wednesday for example.

[Kate39]

Thanks all for your comments, can't believe that RM are indicating no problems when there obviously are

I'll have to refund tomorrow as I promised, but I'm hoping that the buyers will be honest if the parcels do turn up next week and repay me. I'll probably wait until the end of the week to see if they've received them before seeing if I can claim from Royal Mail.