Just posting this in case anyone sees the card for sale on any platforms . I sent the card from the UK and it made it all the way to the buyer's local post office , was out for delivery and then in the words of USPS when replying to the buyer's query " It has been brought to our attention that there has been some mail theft/vandalism in this area . Unfortunately this mail piece was among one of the items involved "



It's from the Cult Adult Contemporary Erotica preview set .

oh no, thats really bad news for you.

It is very weird for the USPS to issue such a specific statement about a lost item. Usually they claim delivery, say it was left at the address, and IF someone else grabs it, that's not their problem. To acknowledge the theft, and then say a particular package was involved, means they were robbed to me. They know what happened, either at the Post Office itself, or with the mail truck, or at the carrier level. Otherwise, it's just lost in the system, no one knows where, or its somehow the fault of the recipient.

On the plus side, if the package was insured, it should be very easy for you as the sender to file the claim and get the money back, since they aren't disputing that it was lost.

The sketch may still turn up somewhere, sometime, but it's going to be very hard to prove that any third-party seller knew anything about the theft. Or it may already be destroyed and the Post Office knows it, as the word "vandalism" could also imply.

quote:

Originally posted by Triple-Frog:
Just posting this in case anyone sees the card for sale on any platforms . I sent the card from the UK and it made it all the way to the buyer's local post office , was out for delivery and then in the words of USPS when replying to the buyer's query " It has been brought to our attention that there has been some mail theft/vandalism in this area . Unfortunately this mail piece was among one of the items involved "



It's from the Cult Adult Contemporary Erotica preview set .

I don’t know where you were sending it to - but, I got a newsletter/email from my Congresswoman saying that there have been complaints of mail theft in our district. I can’t imagine it’s an isolated problem.

We get warned about using the mailboxes on the street to post. Even though they have tamper proof slots, "fishers" are getting in there with wire and glue and pulling letters back out. They find checks, wash out the ink and write over the payee's name and amount. If only people put as much effort into working as they do into stealing.

I always take all of my mail directly to the PO and use their inside slot. Then at least I know it made it that far.

This sketch disappeared on the back end, at point of delivery. I don't see how they know for sure it was among the items involved in theft or vandalism, unless it went missing while they still had it. Otherwise, they'd just say it was delivered and we don't know what happened after that. Not that "this mail piece was among one of the items involved". What item? Maybe they stole the whole mail truck! Now that would be a rough neighborhood.

Here's an article that will inspire confidence.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/u...ctors-don-t-n1241179

I don’t know where you were sending it to - but, I got a newsletter/email from my Congresswoman saying that there have been complaints of mail theft in our district. I can’t imagine it’s an isolated problem.[/QUOTE]

It is indeed in the NYC area .

quote:

Originally posted by Triple-Frog:
It is indeed in the NYC area .

You think the mail has problems, try taking a subway ride.

Aside from the irreplaceable loss of the sketch, do you know if either you or the buyer will be getting any of your money back from the USPS, or eBay, or anybody? Or isn't this package covered now that it's really gone MIA?

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

quote:

Originally posted by Triple-Frog:
It is indeed in the NYC area .

You think the mail has problems, try taking a subway ride.

Aside from the irreplaceable loss of the sketch, do you know if either you or the buyer will be getting any of your money back from the USPS, or eBay, or anybody? Or isn't this package covered now that it's really gone MIA?

Once I saw the response the buyer got from USPS I immediately refunded him . Now I have to put in a claim with Royal Mail which is always fun . I expect I will get the funds back eventually as tracking shows it was never delivered but doing the online form where you have to send photos of the card , the postage receipt , the Ebay invoice , when and where it was sent from as well as where it was going to is a real chore .

Yes, all the refund guarantees always sound great until you actually have to make a claim and get into the process. Then you find out about all the things you need and all the exclusions that they didn't mention, same with any insurance. They're happy to take in the money, but they don't want to payout.

All kidding aside, it's not just in New York and the USPS is still a safe system to me, but more things are happening besides the usual screw ups. Even using other mail carriers, they often filter into the Post Office at the point of backend delivery. All you can do is get that tracking to lessen the risk. Sorry for your bad luck, hope you get reimbursed soon.

I might have known Royal Mail would make it as difficult as possible to get a refund . Two weeks after I sent in the claim they have written back saying the package is " out for delivery " .

Even a cursory investigation just by looking up the tracking number shows the item was out for delivery 1st April and then the USPS opened an investigation 15th April .

I can't make up my mind whether it is just incompetence or they are just trying to make it as hard as possible and hope people give up .

Either way I've sent them another e-mail with all the various communications and asked them to review the claim . I didn't say it this time but if I don't get the refund soon I will be threatening them with the postal ombudsman .

quote:

Originally posted by Triple-Frog:

I can't make up my mind whether it is just incompetence or they are just trying to make it as hard as possible and hope people give up

Both, if the one does not work they hope the other one will.

The saga continues . I just got back from a week away to find a cheque for part of the value of the card . The letter with it says this is " the maximum for the product used " and referring me to the terms and conditions .

It would really help if the person who had sent the letter was familiar with the terms and conditions as I had paid extra to cover the full value and sent a photo of the receipt issued by the post office confirming this .

Now composing another e-mail to them requesting the rest of the refund and considering charging them for wasting my time !

So here's where you are going to have to be careful composing your letter because there may be something in those terms of conditions that caps your recovery money. It can also happen when people make insurance claims. You as the claimant have to prove the value of the item lost to the insurer's satisfaction, which is always going to be lower than your estimate.

This was a sketch and sketch value is not constant or set anywhere. You probably insured it up to the amount the buyer was going to pay, but as a claim, you now have to prove it was worth that much. The US Post Office will allow me to insure a package up to any amount and take the fee, but if it gets lost, I must prove I paid that much for it, not that I was getting that amount.

Also there will be caps, depending on the merchandise. If the PO didn't do that, some people would over insure every package as though it was worth a fortune and try to get away with a fraud later. I'm pretty sure that the Royal Mail has similar policies, so there could be a cap that they didn't tell you about, or a sketch may fall into a gray area of value according to them. Whenever they have to pay out claims the situation usually gets a lot more complicated than advertised when there was no claim.

Hope you get it resolved to your good and please let us know what happens.

In any case, watch Ebay for the card.

quote:

Originally posted by Triple-Frog:
The saga continues . I just got back from a week away to find a cheque for part of the value of the card . The letter with it says this is " the maximum for the product used " and referring me to the terms and conditions .

It would really help if the person who had sent the letter was familiar with the terms and conditions as I had paid extra to cover the full value and sent a photo of the receipt issued by the post office confirming this .

Now composing another e-mail to them requesting the rest of the refund and considering charging them for wasting my time !

Just to put an end to things I finally got a cheque today for the rest of the value of the card . As I said at the start I was always confident of getting the refund , just that it would take time and involve jumping through multiple administrative hoops .

Hopefully it will be a long time before I have to do it again !

Hurray.

That's good news. I'm still hesitant to order from UK sellers on eBay. How is the situation with Royal Mail and customs now? Are they still working through a big mail backlog?

I don't want to buy and wait for months to get the cards, if I already know that there are still long delays.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
That's good news. I'm still hesitant to order from UK sellers on eBay. How is the situation with Royal Mail and customs now? Are they still working through a big mail backlog?

I don't want to buy and wait for months to get the cards, if I already know that there are still long delays.

As far as I am aware it's back to normal now , no backlog at all beyond what is usual for Royal Mail .

Mail and parcels from the UK to the US are pretty much back to normal and have been since about April...from my own experience, anyway.

However sending from the UK to the Netherlands and Republic of Ireland has become a bit ridiculous. I had one recently to the latter, that sat in Irish Customs for over 2 weeks, despite all the correct paperwork and postage labels. If you live in the UK then we know it's probably all to do with that blasted protocol thing they've been arguing over for months.
I'm not sure why the Netherlands one took nearly as long in their Customs, but I had heard that Dutch Customs were getting a bit awkward about stuff. Again, despite all the corrent paperwork, showing that my buyer had paid VAT, he still got charged Customs again. Hopefully he can reclaim it from ebay.
Brexit...a barrel of laughs!