Autistic boy's birthday present stolen in alleged Royal Mail scam

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/au ... en-1092668" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The family of little Haydn bought him a birthday present on eBay - but a stranger picked up the parcel and hasn't owned up


Little Haydn's family are appealing for the person who "stole" the item to "do the decent thing".

Suzanne Weaver, 39, ordered a dinosaur backpack for her five-year-old nephew's birthday - but it never arrived and Royal Mail later confirmed it was picked up by somebody else.

Royal Mail is now investigating the matter.

Haydn, from King's Tamerton, has autism and has taken a particular liking to dinosaurs and often "loves to pretend he has a tail", which prompted his Aunt to order the backpack which featured a dinosaur tail.

Suzanne, who lives in Cumbria, said: "It was meant to arrive on January 5, and his birthday was on January 9.

"There was problems when they sent it and we were going back and forth. I don't think they sent it when they said they did.

"This was not an expensive item and was only part of his presents but Haydn has autism so his presents are specific to him.

"This was a big T-Rex back pack as he has a love of dinosaurs and also loves to pretend he has a tail."

The item was purchased from an eBay seller who has since not been in communication with Suzanne and has ignored messages, which prompted eBay themselves to step in.

The selling site provided a Royal Mail tracking number to Suzanne, which showed that the item had been signed for by someone by the name of "Lane" on January 11, 2018.

Suzanne was told that the item was collected at West Park sorting office, after not being able to be delivered the first time- but Suzanne's sister, Stephanie Kirby, did not receive a card through the door.

She said: "Through investigations it transpires someone else in the Plymouth area received the delivery card from the post office, then took themselves to the West Park sorting office and knowingly took a parcel that was not addressed to them."

Stephanie, who lives in King's Tamerton, said she was "just very disappointed that someone can be so dishonest and not care that they have ruined a little boys birthday present".

Suzanne said: "I think it's really bad to steal something for a child, you can see it's for a child, it's a toy.

"I just want the person to do the decent thing and give it back or apologise. It's disheartening that someone could do that."

She added: "I will be ordering another one but I feel someone should absolutely own up to this. Why take something that isn’t yours and why keep it when you see it’s for a child."

Royal Mail have been contacted for comment and are currently investigating the matter.

Royal Mail’s website states: “We’ll leave one of these [something for you] when we've attempted to deliver something to your address but nobody was in.

"The card explains why we couldn’t deliver and shows how you can collect your item or arrange a redelivery.

“The fastest way to get your item is to collect it from your local Customer Service Point. Your card will give details of where this is and the opening hours. It will also tell you how long to wait before trying to collect.

“We’ll hold items for 18 days, or 21 days if they're international items. If they’re not redelivered or collected in that time, we’ll return them to the sender.”

What Royal Mail says you need to collect your parcel
Information from Royal Mail website

To keep your mail as secure as possible, we'll need to see proof of ID before handing any item over.

Please make sure you bring:

· The Something for you card. Without this you can’t collect your item.

You’ll also need one of the following items, in the name of the person the item is addressed to:

· Credit or debit card

· Bank or building society cheque/savings book

· Valid passport

· Driving licence

· NHS medical card

· Photo ID card (foreign national, military, police warrant, Royal Mail employee, NHS or senior citizen bus pass)

If you can’t bring any of the above ID in the name of the person the item is addressed to, you can still collect. This also applies if you are collecting an item addressed to a child.

You’ll need to bring:


· The Something for you card

· Your photo ID (passport, driving licence, foreign national, military, police warrant, Royal Mail employee, NHS or senior citizen bus pass)

· Proof you live at the address on the Something for you card (bank statement, driving licence, TV licence, utility bill or home insurance certificate)

[fishtank]

It's a strange one, the P739 ends up somewhere it shouldn't which is very unusual and whoever got their hands on it managed to convince whoever was in the locker to hand over the item without any ID or proof of address which should be impossible?

[Lounge Lizard]

It's a strange one, the P739 ends up somewhere it shouldn't which is very unusual and whoever got their hands on it managed to convince whoever was in the locker to hand over the item without any ID or proof of address which should be impossible?

AND "The item was purchased from an eBay seller who has since not been in communication with Suzanne and has ignored messages, which prompted eBay themselves to step in."
even though "This was not an expensive item"

[Celgar]

I often find the most common reason for an item not being received is that the sender has not actually posted it yet. Although that probably isn't the case on this one.

[fishtank]

If she's not got the card and someone else has the seller has put the wrong address on it. Possibly as a multiple sell scam, possibly in error.

It's the only thing that explains the missing P739 and the fact that whoever picked it up must have had ID and address details that matched what was on the parcel.

[Lounge Lizard]

If she's not got the card and someone else has the seller has put the wrong address on it. Possibly as a multiple sell scam, possibly in error.

It's the only thing that explains the missing P739 and the fact that whoever picked it up must have had ID and address details that matched what was on the parcel.

Yes, and given that "an eBay seller has since not been in communication with Suzanne and has ignored messages" it's more likely to be a multiple sell scam than an error but either way Royal Mail gets the blame as usual.