Posted 7 December 2023

Royal Mail potentially lost phone

I sent off my phone to sell to Webuyanyphone.com last Friday (1/12) and tracked it today to see it’s still not left the Post Office.

I thought this was a bit strange, so checked the other parcel I sent at the same time to see that was delivered on Saturday (2/12).

I’m concerned the parcel has been lost, and according to We Buy Any Phone their postage is only insured up to £150.

Has anyone else had a similar issue? With Christmas round the corner I could really do with not losing £300.
Community Updates
New Comment

19 Comments

sorted by
's avatar
  1. Pájaro's avatar
    It's worth speaking with the people at old.reddit.com/r/L…UK/ about this. For ref, below are their T&Cs, but you might be able to argue 'unfair contracts' with them and claim a full reimbursement from Webuyanyphone, on the grounds that you used their contracted agent to transfer the device to them.





    8. Postage & Packaging

    We have various posting options which include a Royal Mail signed for 48 hour service. This service is only applicable when posting up to 2 phones or Devices at a time.

    We will require you to take your package, with handsets / gadgets and sales order to a Royal Mail post office to obtain proof of postage and a tracking number.

    We cannot be held responsible for any items that are not returned via Royal Mail and subsequently lost within the mail system for items being sent to us. We will of course claim if returned handsets dispatched from us do not arrive with you.

    Other than when we arrange courier collection on your behalf, we do not accept responsibility for non-delivery of Devices or damage in transit. We therefore recommend that you send any high value Devices via registered special delivery post to ensure successful delivery, please remember to keep the receipt and tracking number.

    For each package you send in it is your responsibility to:

    a. Ensure it is adequately insured for loss in transit;

    b. Ensure that it is adequately physically protected; and

    c. Is compliant with any instructions and/or guidance regarding packaging provided by the courier used.

    WeBuyAnyPhone.com accepts no liability for any loss or damage sustained due to inadequate packaging used.

    For the avoidance of doubt, where you have created a Sale Order via a third-party website and have chosen to use their nominated delivery service (such as compareandrecycle.co.uk’s DPD collection service, for example), we do not accept responsibility for and will have no liability whatsoever for any loss or damage sustained to any Device sent via such third-party delivery service.
  2. Azwipe's avatar
    Some Royal Mail services only record posting and delivery, they are not tracked. I wouldn't be too worried about a parcel sent 6 days ago at this time of year.
    coupiee's avatar
    Author
    Usually I wouldn’t, but surely a week without any movement is worrying? Especially as the other parcel I sent the same day was delivered the day after
  3. nintendofan10's avatar
    Royal mail will need 14 working days to class something as lost. Then you will be able to make a claim of up to the £150.
    Bear in mind it's a busy time of year and hopefully it's just been caught up in the weeds somewhere and move on soon.
    However it's just a life lesson unfortunately, I used to sell a lot on eBay until I was stung a few times and now I don't. I'm sure the option was there to increase the insurance cover and you chose not to. Again I hope it's just in the weeds at this busy time. All the best.
    coupiee's avatar
    Author
    I was sent a prepaid shipping label, only to realise today that prepaid label only covered loss of up to £150. Thanks for the reply
  4. bozo007's avatar
    It is possible that the box was delivered but wasn't scanned.
  5. IAmATeaf's avatar
    In that case you might not be covered at all if their wording states that items of higher value than the limit won’t be covered.

    I had something like this with my home insurance, found somewhere cheaper but they only allowed jewellery up to 10k and specifically stated that one of my watches wouldn’t be covered not even up to 10k as it was worth more.
    CurvedSlightly's avatar
    'One' of your watches is more than £10k? And you're on a money saving site?
  6. stedaman's avatar
    If its worth £423 you should have sent it special delivery.
    The coverage of an item is to do with Royal Mail regardless of them sending a prepaid postage label, which only covered £150, that's the coverage for a small parcel at tracked 24 or tracked 48 service, which is probably what the default is for them. It likely isn't lost, so hopefully you will be ok, but you are responsible for the postage, and should have ignored the prepaid postage label unfortunately. (edited)
's avatar