Missing after delivery

[jellybirddesigns]

I have a buyer who has contacted me today to say that according to tracking, his item was delivered, but was not in his mailbox.

I've advised him to check with neighbours etc. It looks like he's in an apartment complex, so I'm guessing it's a communal mailbox and therefore entirely possible that a neighbour has pinched it.

Anyway, he has contacted Aus Post and opened a case with them and will keep me updated. 

Assuming he doesn't open a case with me, I wanted to know if Aus Post will refund him?

In cases where I can show a parcel has gotten lost, they refund me, but this is a first time I've had a buyer open a case with Aus Post.

[kopenhagen5]

From memory a parcel is covered for up to $50 for loss or damage irrespective of sender or receiver opening a case.

But I think it is easier for a regular AP sender to win a case than a recipient.

[twyngwyn]

A.P. wouldn't deal with me when I was the recipient of a missing parcel, supposedly delivered, They told me that the sender is their customer, and they have to do it.
A lot of time was wasted because they didn't tell me that until after they had investigated for about 3 months.....too little to late.

Eventually got a refund through PayPal

[jellybirddesigns]

Thanks Twyngwyn,

I remember seeing on the AP website that if the parcel goes missing in transit, the sender needs to open a case, but if it's recorded as missing after delivery, it's up to the recipient. Sorry you got the run around from them!

However, it may well be the case that AP tells the buyer to get me to step in, we'll see what transpires over the next few days.

[twyngwyn]

You could also lodge a claim from your end as well......makes it sound 'legit'....my seller was furious that PayPal refunded.....but she jumped up & down as well.....they refunded her too 🙂

[digital*ghost]

I had this happen with a package I sent recently. Stragely, the buyer actually lived in what looked like a failry isoluted, rural house (I googled the address, trying to figure out the liklihood of theft after delivery, but they literally had no neighbours and I doubt the road was travelled that often). 

I believed the buyer though - they had contacted AP before ever contacting me, so they already had a case open and Ap wouldn't provide me any real details on the matter because of that, unless the buyer authorised me to access the case details - which they ended up having to do because AP agreed the parcel had not been delivered to them, despite the tracking status, and stated they would send me the refund. (This really surprised me, because I thought for sure the buyer would be the one compensated in this case). The package didn't have insurance or SOD, but was only worth $40 so I got fully reimbursed the value plus postage (I had already replaced the order for the buyer at that stage).

If it helps, I know that people have successfully argued missing package claims that were "safe-dropped", because if it goes missing after delivery, it obviously wasn't safe to leave it. (My buyer actually said they thought their contractor was dodgy in my case, as apparently it wasn't the first time something like this had happened, so she gets stuff sent to her partner's workplace now). 

[queenwaldorf]

Hope he's not in Melbourne city, I'm having issues with a dodgy contractor misdelivering parcels right now. The first one was eventually delivered correctly after being sent to and signed for at the wrong address, the second one is still missing so far. It's not really your issue (or my seller's issue) once it states delivered, that's all on Aus Post. I get prompter replies when I bother them on Twitter with my enquiry number than any other way, so I'd recommend your buyer do that if they drag their feet.

[enigmabear]

Also

Former Waroona Australia Post employee fined for stealing parcels and mail

[countessalmirena]

I recently had parcels for electronic equipment left by a courier under the back garden steps - where nobody goes. To get there, the courier would have had to wrestle with a recalcitrant gate plus explore a part of the property that is private... instead of delivering the parcels to me (I was THERE!) ... or ... leaving them at the safe drop place which is clearly marked with a yellow sign saying

"Deliveries

     this

     way

       ⬅"

He signed the POD with a scribble that, a week later, when I received a forwarded copy of the Proof of Delivery note, seemed to me to be atl.

No indication of where the parcels had been left. (On POD, right under the dotted line for surname, receiver's signature and date and time is the following: ATL:delivery driver must note a description of where the items(s) are left.) No attempt to knock on the door. Let his eyes turn to mothballs and his tongue be consumed by scorpions, the miscreant.

ATL. Authority To Leave, I said to myself. Hmm. I set out on a trek worthy of of any story featuring Winnie-the-Pooh, almost as good as the one to the North Pole. Finally I found three large cardboard boxes, rained on but not sodden, sitting under those steps. Miraculously, the equipment (worth around $3000) was dry and in fine working order; it was all in plastic within the boxes.

I was too thankful to find that the equipment had been delivered and was safe to lambast the courier company, but the owner of the company from whom I purchased was not so sanguine and was apparently going to skewer the courier with verbal stabs.