Parcel at Langley HWDC

[Brettc73]

I ordered a Lenovo mobile phone from China mid January. It arrived at Langley on 2nd of February. It is now 3rd of March. I contacted royal mail with my tracking number and explained my concerns. They replied by telling me to contact the seller and instruct them to contact the Postal service they used and instruct them to investigate the matter. Ridiculous. The seller and their postal service fulfilled their services, obviously. So if RM have my item, why is there any need to contact the seller? Needless to say, I have sent RM a complaint and am waiting for a reply. It's been 5 week. What kind of service is this? It's a complete shambles.

You haven't posted the tracking or tracking number, so it is very hard for us to give you a proper answer. But if you mean that the item has been at Langley for the last 4 weeks then it is stuck in customs, and Royal Mail are yet to receive it. We can confirm this if you supply the requested information.

Ordering a mobile phone from China is fraught with difficulties, I would never recommend this due to the high chance of the goods being impounded and / or you being scammed by dodgy sellers.

I haven't received any grey card in the post and haven't had any real explanation about the situation. My tracking number is RF703509295SG.
I am completely mystified as to why it hasn't been delivered even though they know where it is. Any help would be very much appreciated.

[Snaggletooth]

It was sent from Singapore. Some of the larger Chinese retailers do this to get round China Post's ban on lithium batteries in the mail.

It has got through UK customs but has stalled once handed over to Royal Mail.

You need to apply for a refund from the retailer. If that doesn't work, you could ask for a chargeback from your credit card provider. If you had bought this from an EU-based retailer you would pretty much be guaranteed a refund, but in this case you are dependent on the goodwill of the retailer / credit card provider.

[angelprado]

I haven't received any grey card in the post and haven't had any real explanation about the situation. My tracking number is RF703509295SG.
I am completely mystified as to why it hasn't been delivered even though they know where it is. Any help would be very much appreciated.

Hi Brett, to be honest looks like we have ordered from the same country/place, scared to see that you are waiting from 1st Feb, hope I am more lucky than you, the only solution is to wait, open dispute, and claim money back, if not consider that we have lost the money (on my case £230) and do not do this again, but, it's not fair, I do not mind to pay VAT and fulfill the laws but "no reply"? is that fair?

[Brettc73]

I haven't received any grey card in the post and haven't had any real explanation about the situation. My tracking number is RF703509295SG.
I am completely mystified as to why it hasn't been delivered even though they know where it is. Any help would be very much appreciated.

Hi Brett, to be honest looks like we have ordered from the same country/place, scared to see that you are waiting from 1st Feb, hope I am more lucky than you, the only solution is to wait, open dispute, and claim money back, if not consider that we have lost the money (on my case £230) and do not do this again, but, it's not fair, I do not mind to pay VAT and fulfill the laws but "no reply"? is that fair?

Mate, I don't mind paying a few quid extra, but... lithium battery?? Don't we buy these things all the time from China? So why is it my lithium battery is somehow contraband??
Please explain, i apologize for my ignorance.

Brett

[Brettc73]

It was sent from Singapore. Some of the larger Chinese retailers do this to get round China Post's ban on lithium batteries in the mail.

It has got through UK customs but has stalled once handed over to Royal Mail.

You need to apply for a refund from the retailer. If that doesn't work, you could ask for a chargeback from your credit card provider. If you had bought this from an EU-based retailer you would pretty much be guaranteed a refund, but in this case you are dependent on the goodwill of the retailer / credit card provider.

Mate, I don't mind paying a few quid extra, but... lithium battery?? Don't we buy these things all the time from China? So why is it my lithium battery is somehow contraband??
Please explain, i apologize for my ignorance.

Brett

[Brettc73]

I ordered a Lenovo mobile phone from China mid January. It arrived at Langley on 2nd of February. It is now 3rd of March. I contacted royal mail with my tracking number and explained my concerns. They replied by telling me to contact the seller and instruct them to contact the Postal service they used and instruct them to investigate the matter. Ridiculous. The seller and their postal service fulfilled their services, obviously. So if RM have my item, why is there any need to contact the seller? Needless to say, I have sent RM a complaint and am waiting for a reply. It's been 5 week. What kind of service is this? It's a complete shambles.

You haven't posted the tracking or tracking number, so it is very hard for us to give you a proper answer. But if you mean that the item has been at Langley for the last 4 weeks then it is stuck in customs, and Royal Mail are yet to receive it. We can confirm this if you supply the requested information.

Ordering a mobile phone from China is fraught with difficulties, I would never recommend this due to the high chance of the goods being impounded and / or you being scammed by dodgy sellers.

I haven't received any grey card in the post and haven't had any real explanation about the situation. My tracking number is RF703509295SG.
I am completely mystified as to why it hasn't been delivered even though they know where it is. Any help would be very much appreciated.

They can inspect the item. It's a phone. Once inspected, I'll pay the extra charge. Job done, we're on a winner, right?!

[Snaggletooth]

It was sent from Singapore. Some of the larger Chinese retailers do this to get round China Post's ban on lithium batteries in the mail.

It has got through UK customs but has stalled once handed over to Royal Mail.

You need to apply for a refund from the retailer. If that doesn't work, you could ask for a chargeback from your credit card provider. If you had bought this from an EU-based retailer you would pretty much be guaranteed a refund, but in this case you are dependent on the goodwill of the retailer / credit card provider.

Mate, I don't mind paying a few quid extra, but... lithium battery?? Don't we buy these things all the time from China? So why is it my lithium battery is somehow contraband??
Please explain, i apologize for my ignorance.

Brett

Lithium batteries have been shown to be dangerous to send in the mail. Fires traced back to lithium batteries have destroyed at least 2 cargo aircraft, killing several crew. In response to this, the International Air Transport Association introduced strict rules relating to lithium batteries being sent in the mail. These are incorporated into national laws, so in the UK for instance it is a criminal offence to send a lithium battery in the mail without following a whole series of packaging requirements, such as sending them in a rigid box, putting your return address on it... About 30 countries went further than that, banning Lithium batteries from the mail in all circumstances, the most prominent being Germany and the Peoples Republic of China.

You are right that huge numbers of lithium batteries are imported to the UK from China each year, I assume that these come by ship or train.

Lithium batteries are not contraband from a customs point of view but Royal Mail are obliged by law to undertake certain checks on compliance with the UK version of the IATA rules and destroy contents that don't pass.

[SpacePhoenix]

Found that video which shows what can happen if a lithium battery goes wrong

[angelprado]

What happens here is that, under the excuse of Lithium and it's dangers, is good to stop Chinese in order to benefit the UK economy as technology prices in the UK cannot be competitive against China, nobody speaks about that. Which is real is that customers have not the blame on that, If you do not want us to order from China, ban the suppliers but do not stop the parcels without reply or over delay the process, annoying.

Let's wait, I will write my experience once I receive any news as example for other users, hope I could write that I have received the parcel paying VAT or extra fee.

[Brettc73]

It was sent from Singapore. Some of the larger Chinese retailers do this to get round China Post's ban on lithium batteries in the mail.

It has got through UK customs but has stalled once handed over to Royal Mail.

You need to apply for a refund from the retailer. If that doesn't work, you could ask for a chargeback from your credit card provider. If you had bought this from an EU-based retailer you would pretty much be guaranteed a refund, but in this case you are dependent on the goodwill of the retailer / credit card provider.

Mate, I don't mind paying a few quid extra, but... lithium battery?? Don't we buy these things all the time from China? So why is it my lithium battery is somehow contraband??
Please explain, i apologize for my ignorance.

Brett

Lithium batteries have been shown to be dangerous to send in the mail. Fires traced back to lithium batteries have destroyed at least 2 cargo aircraft, killing several crew. In response to this, the International Air Transport Association introduced strict rules relating to lithium batteries being sent in the mail. These are incorporated into national laws, so in the UK for instance it is a criminal offence to send a lithium battery in the mail without following a whole series of packaging requirements, such as sending them in a rigid box, putting your return address on it... About 30 countries went further than that, banning Lithium batteries from the mail in all circumstances, the most prominent being Germany and the Peoples Republic of China.

You are right that huge numbers of lithium batteries are imported to the UK from China each year, I assume that these come by ship or train.

Lithium batteries are not contraband from a customs point of view but Royal Mail are obliged by law to undertake certain checks on compliance with the UK version of the IATA rules and destroy contents that don't pass.

Will Royal Mail send confirmation and explanation of this so that it can be used as evidence for my supplier in order to receive a refund?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Probably, but to be certain you'd need to ask them directly. We can't 100% confirm what Royal Mail will or will not do, as we are an unofficial site so its informed guesswork that gets it right most of the time.

[Brettc73]

Probably, but to be certain you'd need to ask them directly. We can't 100% confirm what Royal Mail will or will not do, as we are an unofficial site so its informed guesswork that gets it right most of the time.

I've contacted Royal Mail again without any reply.Royal mail?? Royal pirates more like, hijacking technology to stop us saving money on overseas products. It's criminal.

[Brettc73]

What happens here is that, under the excuse of Lithium and it's dangers, is good to stop Chinese in order to benefit the UK economy as technology prices in the UK cannot be competitive against China, nobody speaks about that. Which is real is that customers have not the blame on that, If you do not want us to order from China, ban the suppliers but do not stop the parcels without reply or over delay the process, annoying.

Let's wait, I will write my experience once I receive any news as example for other users, hope I could write that I have received the parcel paying VAT or extra fee.

Its ridiculous that an item which as not caught fire, be detained AFTER arriving in the UK. It should be delivered with a warning about buying such items in future. As I was not aware of the dangers, it seems completely unfair that I should be penalised this way and without any correspondence from Royal Mail about it.

[angelprado]

What happens here is that, under the excuse of Lithium and it's dangers, is good to stop Chinese in order to benefit the UK economy as technology prices in the UK cannot be competitive against China, nobody speaks about that. Which is real is that customers have not the blame on that, If you do not want us to order from China, ban the suppliers but do not stop the parcels without reply or over delay the process, annoying.

Let's wait, I will write my experience once I receive any news as example for other users, hope I could write that I have received the parcel paying VAT or extra fee.

Its ridiculous that an item which as not caught fire, be detained AFTER arriving in the UK. It should be delivered with a warning about buying such items in future. As I was not aware of the dangers, it seems completely unfair that I should be penalised this way and without any correspondence from Royal Mail about it.

Completely agree with you, but we cannot do anything now, just wait and see what happens, but is annoying anyway, we could have a product in 5-7 days, and will take 1 month or more!! God knows how long we will have to wait,

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I hasten to add we work for Royal Mail though this site is an unofficial one. Perhaps calling our company pirates kind of limits how we can help as under UK employment law we can be dismissed for bringing the company into disrepute.

However, Royal Mail do their best to inform people what can and cannot be sent and post a comprehensive list of Restricted and Prohibited items at:

https://www.royalmail.com/sites/default ... 410530.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and even warning you of the consequences https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app ... il/a_id/96" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you send prohibited goods or restricted goods (and you do not comply with the relevant terms and conditions), we may deal with your items as we see fit, including but not limited to, disposing of the parcels concerned (in whole or in part). Please note consequential loss cover is not available when posting any restricted items.

As to ICAO rules after arriving in the UK. The Royal Mail sends a substantial amount of mail all around the country by Air, so, unfortunately, the rules still apply.

Your anger is aimed at Royal Mail because they obey the rules, when really, in my opinion, it should be aimed at the sender for not checking the rules, and the Postal company they used in not applying them correctly.