DSF

So a couple of months back I sent 2 personalised mugs to hungary using royal mail's international standard service, the customer said that they hadn't turned up so I refunded them and waited for the required time to pass to claim with royal mail. After filling in the online form I did some googling and found a standardised letter to accompany the paper work they wanted and adapted it to suit my needs.

Here's the letter:

Dear Sir / Madam

Please find enclosed a online claim confirmation page for items lost whilst in the care of Royal Mail.

The items lost were 2 personalised coffee mugs, sent to my customer together in one package via International Standard Mail.

These mugs are handmade by me. As such, the price I sell them for is their wholesale price – i.e. the lowest I can afford to sell at. This wholesale price breaks down into two components – the raw materials used and my labour costs in making them. Both of which are indeed true costs of their manufacture. (I do not feel it appropriate to disclose further how those costs break down, since that is personal information beyond the scope of your enquiry.)

So the price shown on the enclosed invoice is indeed the actual cost price for these items. I have signed this letter below as testimony to this statement.

I wish to claim back the full invoice amount against this loss, as is my entitlement under the terms and conditions of International Standard postage.

The amount I wish to claim is £xx.xx which covers my loss for the missing items plus actual postage & packaging paid. Payment needs to be made out to Mr ______ ______ as I am a sole trader and am currently unable to take payments to my business name. I enclose my certificate of posting, online claim confirmation page, evidence of value for the coffee mugs lost, ebay invoice for the sale and paypal statement. I trust this is all you will need to complete your enquiry promptly. However if you have any other queries relating to this matter, please contact me.

With Best Regards,

So with all the paper work ready to be sent I had to put it aside because I didn't have a envelope to put it in, next day envelope in hand I gathered up the paper work and popped it in the post. Two days later I'm tiding my desk and I find the proof of posting for these mugs that should have been in the envelope with the rest of the paper work "Bugger" so I figure that RM won't be refunding without that, "oh well my fault".


Today a letter arrived:



So nice one RM full refund when you didn't have to.

I need to send about 30 of these letters for the last year trading! Their claim process is so long winded I do not bother... But should!