A UK-based photographer criticized Royal Mail's services after a lens he sold on eBay arrived "looking like an elephant had trodden on it.”
Jacob Hawkins, 24, was selling his Tamron SP 70-300mm to help him fund new gear and carefully packaged it using polystyrene and bubble wrap.
But a week later, the bad news arrived in the form of photos from his buyer showing the damaged equipment. He lodged a complaint with Royal Mail after having to reimburse the buyer with £200 of his own money. Hawkins claims it took them over a month to acknowledge his complaint.
My best guess is that one of their cars ran it over because if you look at the package you can see the rock indentations down one side where it's been on the floor.
It must have been on the floor because rocks have pressed into it. The whole thing is just smashed to smithereens.
After he finally got a response, he says the company at first refused to cover the costs. It wasn't until the involvement of UK press that they allegedly had a change of heart and offered to reimburse the photographer as a “gesture of goodwill.” Despite a statement issued by Royal Mail, Hawkins says he is still out of pocket two months later.
On the occasions in which Hawkins' equipment arrives safely, he takes some pictures which you can see on Instagram and Facebook.
Images used with permission.
[via Mail Online]
Not impressed. Try insurance.
Really? Of course you should get insurance but this wasn't incidental damage like a nick or scratch. If someone bumps into me, I'll overlook it. If they run over me with their car, not so much.
You could have stated that as a new thread, and furthermore it's not about you. Please stay out of my threads, please start your own. Better, find a damned chat room!
Maybe "they" agree with you. My previous response was deleted for some reason. It would be nice if a private message were issued to explain the offense in such cases.
Come on, guys. Be professional. Play nice.
I honestly have no idea what I've written that was offensive. He attacks me after I responded to a comment by Bob Brady and I'm not playing nice? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
No accounting for wackos, that's for sure. Stay the course. Attention seekers need us or they'd get none.
I didn’t see anything that was inherently offensive in any of your responses. There’s a reason why I entered this thread by replying to one of his comments, and not to one of yours. The only thing that I could see on your end would be to simply stop engaging him. It really wasn’t helping anything. Of course we value good debates and insights, but once you saw the conversation begin to devolve, that would have been a good time to just let him be upset for whatever reason he was feeling upset, and to just let it be.
I have asked this defacto stalker politely to not be trolling me, I invite YOU to encourage him away to waste YOUR time, kill your threads talking about himself and playing dumb.
This is not two "guys" it's my well thought out writing vs an unwelcome troll. He contributes nothing, every thread segues to yap about himself. Read the damned threads this idiot kills on other stories I have commented on. He replies incessantly with junk. I'm sick of his trolling!
Sam's initial response was relevant; I have no idea how it devolved so quickly and aggressively from there, but regardless, both of you need to stop. There's no need to mock someone by trivializing mental health issues, nor is there a need to call someone an a**hole (whether you censor it or not). Getting numerous abuse reports because of the incessant and wholly unnecessary bickering is wasting our time.
I'm sorry if you thought I was trivializing mental health issues. My adult daughter has issues and She and I have both put a lot of time, money and energy into her getting help. I take these things seriously, even when attempting to add some levity so as not to give the appearance of attacking anyone.
I'll check and report back.
Royal mail insurance is a joke. It is almost impossible to get any kind of compensations with their insurance. I've had several postage lost and they were all track and signed for and insured, but all I got from them was a Pack of First class stamps (£4 or £5) for £200 an item and there were many more which they just decline the claims even though they were all INSURED. SO Started to send items which priced over £100 with other services such as DHL etc....
I totally agree that you should insure your gear when you send it. But I do think there's a point where if the company totally neglects it and treats it like that....come on. If they lose it, that's another issue (in which case, always insure because they could easily have just "lost" this package before delivering it like that). But still. That's pretty darn neglectful. Putting it in a bag to deliver it was kind of the cherry on top for me. HA!
But also, insurance won't always pay out the full amount, either. That isn't as easy as it might seem/as you would hope. But still better than nothing.
Royal Mail website:
Basic compensation for actual loss:Up to £50 for the Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am™ service and £500 for the Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm™ service or the market value whichever is the lower and the fee repaid.
Evidence of posting is required. Claims must be submitted within 80 calendar days of posting. Consequential Loss for up to £10,000 is available to purchase at the time of posting at an additional cost.
Evidence of Consequential Loss purchase is required. Claims must be submitted within 14 days of posting.
All the damaged packaging and contents must be retained and presented to Royal Mail upon request.
So where is the box it was shipped in?
that will buff out for sure.
Hahaahahahahaaa... best snarky comment award! :)
It was insured - it was sent via royal mail's premium Special Delivery', which covers up to £500.
The point here is that they wouldn't pay out for this cover.
Wow! That makes their negligence even more agregious. Gees! And this is why we have the expression... "going postal."
Incidental damage, especially from insufficient packing is one thing, blatant and abusive destruction is another.
This isn't just an "oops, we dropped it" situation. The level of damage, to me, seems to have to be deliberate. A disgruntled postal worker, perhaps?
Insurance/protection-money aside... it seems to me the provider of services would take responsibility for maintaining their reputation for quality.
The sad commentary for me is... it seems working for the government, these days, is permission to avoid responsibility and accountability. Kind of like those who label themselves "anonymous." Derp!
Wow. Comments got heated.
Meh... it's just a Tamron :p
The is why I'm nervous about buying second hand online. : /