Royal Mail compensation - Xbox 360 - will I win?

I sold a 360 to a guy on ebay last week. I sent it via special delivery with £500 insurance and I'm glad.

They've destroyed it, the console was packed in a box surrounded with bubble wrap and newspaper, within another bag. When it arrived the entire side case (the bit with xbox 360 embossed on it) has been completely caved in destroying some of the insides. Not only the console has suffered, all 3 of the included games were shattered or scratched, and to top it off the hard drive doesn't work on another console never mind the original.

Now I called royal mail and told them what happened. They told me that it was the buyers responsibility but before they let me hang up they informed me that it was unlikely that I would receive anything back as it sounds more like an issue with packaging than damage through transport, which to be honest takes the piss, you'd have to kick an unprotected 360 around a bit to get it like that.

I've contacted the buyer...who is being very patient, and he's taking the machine to the PO and filling out a claim form in the process. My biggest concern however is that the claim will not be honoured, the guy seems like he's going to push me for the repair costs if that happens, something I can't afford to deal with.

Has anybody had any experience with Royal mail compensation claims? And can anyone suggest any useful tips/methods for making sure this all gets sorted?

I've even contemplated microsoft warranty, but I think the damage goes a little beyond RLOD although the cosmetic damage has only been described to me, I haven't actually seen the extent of the infliction.

 

being a government funded it's very rare that they'd honour it I guess, but it will come down to

a) who you're dealing with and how they interpret their code

b) doing your best to prove that the packing was sufficient and that you insured the item to avoid this very situation in the first place.

 

Best thing would be if the buyer made pictures of the damaged packaging and insides (also showing that it was packed good) if you would present this and claim somebody must of been playing soccer with it to get it in this state then I guess they should pay for it.. that's the whole idea behind paying more for insurance! but I live in the Netherlands so I can say much about RM except for some packages that never arrived.

 

If all else fails, bring a boomstick to "negotiations".

 

Wrong country, but thanks!

In response to the whole issue of packaging, well they've asked to see everything that arrived in person, all of the contents and the packaging as it arrived.

 

All the stories i`ve been hearing and from first hand experience it seems like enhanced compensation is a complete waste of time of something gets damaged as the postal service claims it was improperly packaged regardless of how many boxes it was in :-(

I wish you the best of luck with your claim though, hopefully you can prove me wrong.

 

Well, I know of someone who purchased official Royal Mail packaging (box, tape and bubblewrap) and RM still said the item was poorly packaged, so that just goes to show it's a standard brush off.

I am swiftly becoming of the opinion that Royal Mail will no longer be sufficient for parcel needs. It might be cheap (Hmm, questionable), but the service is crap!

So many alternatives exist these days from providers that actually have some form of customer service. Have you tried calling RM? Nightmare!

It's the typical British bullshit of customer service somehow being an incredible minefield rather than a smooth procedure. Although we might have the comfort of a years warranty & guarantee on most goods, we still have to suffer the most grumpy bastards behind counters, poor service, little assistance, distain from people once the deal is done and no come back when things go wrong!

So often I am hearing "compensation was not granted" where RM is involved.

Good luck!

 

Normally writing a letter threatening legal action after such a 'Improperly packaged' letter works, although you must show that the item was sent according to their rules. The royal mail has this webpage for wrapping advice. http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=400044&mediaId=400251

For electronic goods it recommends 10cm of cushioning material (just wrap the bastard in 10 layers of bubble wrap) and make sure the box is padded out with polychips or newspaper balls, also write "Fragile" on the box too. As long as you do that then they don't have a leg to stand on. I normally send things in double walled corregated cardboard boxes for strength. Remember that things will get thrown, chucked, dropped and have things dropped on it so pack accordingly...

Although seriously damaged parcels are generally enough to warrent them giving you compensation (as long as you write 'FRAGILE - HANDLE WITH CARE' on it). If they still refuse to compensate you then writing again to the manager dealing with your case and asking to see them, also works.

The Royal mail get a lot of claims for damaged in transit goods with some of these being fruadulent, so most of the time they cite imporper packaging.

If I get a parcel that has damage on it then I always write 'Recieved damaged and unchecked' on the signature slip, although other couriers that have electronic signatures do have a form you can sign to say the goods have been recieved damaged. I also take photos showing the damage before I open the parcel.

 

We sent a PC back to the retailers at one place I worked and the same thing happened, looked like someone used it as a wrecking ball, the case chassis was physically bent...

They wouldn't budge on the "adequate packaging" thing and we had to buy a whole new PC.

 

Say that the receiving the post office at your end did not say anything about the packaging being insufficient when they accepted your money and the insurance payment.

They should be responsible for accepting something that they deem not packaged. In this case they made no such effort and implicitly agreed by offering the mail service that the packaging was sufficient.

Could take pictures of the undamaged side , if there is one, to show packaging was good.

In practice I've worked in post office and they will literally walk across a hooper of parcels when the hooper gets clogged up. I've seen this many times and would swear in a court of law.

 

Sigh still waiting to hear of the buyers luck with the PO. However a new problem has developed, he's told me that he's had the unit repaired before taking it to the PO. So if they ask to see the damage he can't show them it because it's gone.

Secondly I asked him to keep any reciepts/proof of having it repaired...he's used a dodgy cash in hand bloke to fix it who refuses to hand over any paper work for fear of getting caught (he's only 17!).

Nightmare.

 

Contact ebay through their live chat service on the ebay homepage. explain everything that happened and provide emails as proof if you can. Explain that he got it repaired before filing a claim.

More then likly they will side with you on the spot and make sure he dosent screw you over. This will also help if you have to deal with paypal.

I wish you the best as someone who was in your postion once. Stand your ground, as long as it wasent your fault you have nothing to worry about.

 

ah, things got even stickier.

I d say that your chances of getting a compensation are slim - the other party acted in a manner that would seem that the damage was passable. The best thing he (not you) could ask for from Royal Mail, is damages equal to the ones he paid for repair - which is a paradox at the moment since the guy who did it doesn't want to give-out an official break-down of costs and repair progress.

To be pragmatic though, in my experience with similar cases as a law student back in the day, your chances of getting something were slim, now they re almost non-existant thanks to what the buyer did.

 

You have no chance of compensation.

Royal Mail's compensation scheme works like 'most' others i.e. you have to prove damage.

You can't prove damage now, thus there is no avenue open to claim.

To start with u literally have to take pictures of the damaged item before you have even opened the packaging (physically impossible???), then u need loads of pictures and descriptions of the packaging.

...Oh, and 'yes' I have dealt with RM before and believe me they need 110% proof before they will even say 'good morning' to yer :banghead:

 

I've not read through this thread with the greatest of care because I have a stinking cold today and feel like crap, but it strikes me that "perhaps" your young buyer is taking the piss, trying it on, pulling a fast one, trying to yank yer chain!

Who the fuck goes and gets an item repaired prior to proving it was damaged, uses a dodgy repairman (oh yeah, why doesn't he want to get caught, not like the fecking CIA will swing into action because someones unofficially repaired a 360) and then gives you all this grief about no proof of anything?

What does he want from you now, compensation for having it repaired? Without a reciept? Without being able to prove to you what damage was allegedly caused to your unit? It's repaired off his own back - he got it repaired, job done as far as I am concerned. You never forced him into it!

How easy would it be to pull this off on someone and then say "I don't know what I am doing mate, already had it repaired, no proof, no paperwork, no receipt, used a dodgy repairman..." and it somehow costs about the amount to buy Halo3 and PGR4 - hmmmmmmmm, I wonder?

Keep his emails to you, if he leaves negative feedback, get it over turned by eBay as he's not got a leg to stand on and I feel something isn't right about this one.

Only my opinion considering he's your buyer, you'll have built up a picture through your discussion or maybe I am just being mean because I have a stinking cold? :evil:

 

^ *Offers Parris a honey and lemon drink* ^

 

Thanks mate - drops in some whiskey...........ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! :033:

 

Yeah I'd say its in his hands now - I'm sure if he tries to get any money off you now ebay will side with you in any case.

 

Ok here's a new update.

The post office have refused compensation but I don't know on what terms. He left me an answerphone message this morning saying he had bad news...which is obviously the denial of the claim.

I haven't been in touch with him yet because he only ever wants to discuss things via telephone as apparently he's dyslexic and not good with emails....it was when I thought about that this morning that I realised that there may be more to this...if I call him all the time I don't have any record of what he's been saying.

The other thing that doesn't add up is the fact that he seemed to have it repaired within one day, and havew a lot of parts replaced...it was a Halo 3 etd Xbox...I'm sorry but no 17 yr old I know could get a load of parts (and casing) to repair the internal and cosmetic damage so quickly, unless they were registered as a wholesaler/breaker or lisenced repairer.

I think my plan of action is this:

1. Demand email communication only.
2. Demand Photographs of the console in its current state. Including packaging and the boxes (games and console) which were apparently ripped to shreads.
3. Offer his full money back if I receive the console.

I'm not sure what he seeks to get out of me at the moment, but I'm guessing it's going to be the repair costs, I would imagine he will try to take these through paypal who unfortunately will back him as they always support buyers 100% due to a issue involving credit and debit card policies.

Everyone who has written in this thread so far
has been really helpful. If anyone can recommend anything else before I jump head first into a war it would be much appreciated.

I have two major remaining concerns...1. He initiates paypal disputes. 2. He deliberately sabotages packaging and boxes but not the console in order to screw me over.


One more thing...can anyone tell me where to go on ebay UK, to begin a form of contact with ebay? They seem to have no way of protecting or helping sellers who are victims.

 

This my dear friends is why I hate PayPal. If you want to scam someone, PayPal is just wide open and as a seller there seems very little you can do about it!

1) To have a limited edition repaired and all the parts replaced in 1 day, is impossible! Especially by some back street store. They'll have piles of parts, but an LE casing? Uh, no! Doesn't the Halo3 have an HDMI port too. Thus he can't just dump it into any bog standard 360 casing. I'd be really surprised if many spare HDMI boards and cases were floating around as they'll still all be covered by 1yrs warranty or the 3yrs deal. Plus, it takes time to repair these things.

So you are being led to believe the repairman found a "spare" limited edition casing and repaired it as he stood in the store smiling at himself? Nah, the guy is trying it on.

2) If he is able to obtain, read, use and purchase items through eBay & PayPal then he is more than capable of using email. I know several people who are dyslexic, including a member of my family. True, they may not be as confident writing, but what is the first thing anyone who is dyslexic is offered when they are needing assistance.... a laptop as it contain Word, plus a Word Check! My family member types things in Word, then copies them over. You'd never even know!

This is turning into a right dodgy setup. I would stall him to buy yourself more time, but say you really do need to see the damaged parts etc. He would have to be a complete moron to not think about retaining those from this so called mystery repairman.

All I am seeing is the giant word SCAMMER in big bold lettering emblazened across this purchasers forehead.

He has had this repaired and in the terms and conditions of PayPal, where does it say that the item should be refunded if the buyer repairs it? You NEED him to email you!!!!

On the other hand to get rid of this idiot, just refund him ONCE the item turns up and is checked on your doorstep! Otherwise at this rate I am feeling that PayPal will refund him and you'll never see that 360 again.