hi all, I hope this is an appropriate forum for this, I couldn't find anything else more closely related.
So, I had an Ebay item to return as it was counterfeit and faulty, this really annoys me as it's happening more and more often, half the time the stuff I get is either wrong or faulty or they don't actually have it to sell. Then to get my money back I have to drive to the post office, queue for 30mins and pay for registered post ($10+) otherwise I can't prove I returned it.
I went to the post office and did my normal routine of queuing for 30 mins. I just got to the point where I was second in line to be served, when a member of staff came up to me and asked if I wanted to use self service. I said really I didn't because I had to post my item by registered post and wanted proof of posting. She said that's no problem because the self service machine gives you a tracking number, so she led me over to the machine. By the time we got there, there was a person at each of the 2 machines. One person couldn't get the machine to accept his card, the other didn't want to pay so much for postage, so I had to wait another 10 minutes for them to get sorted, whilst all the people who were behind me in the original queue were now getting served, which got me really annoyed. Finally the machine was free and the staff lady showed me the steps to send my item by registered delivery, I stuck the labels on and she offered to put it in the postage bin. Just before she did, I saw her stick a label on saying 'self service'. I thought nothing of it.
Later I began to wonder why she would need to attached such a label. The thought went through my mind, that it could be to indicate to the post sorting office, that as it was self service, there was no record of the customer actually posting it, therefore it could 'disappear' with no re-course on the post office.
Guess what…..my parcel disappeared! The tracking number doesn't appear on the Auspost website and when I phone them, they say they have no record of it being posted, I can do nothing. I lost the item which cost me $70, plus the postage of $10, plus fuel costs and 2 hours of my time.
So a word of warning, no matter how much the Auspost staff insist, DO NOT use the self service for registered post as your parcel could get the 'self service' sticker attached and magically disappear.
Has anyone else had similar issues?
You should not be returning counterfeit goods to the seller.
The item should be destroyed, or given to the Police or to the trademark/design/copyright owner (or their Australian distributor/agent).
If given to the Police you need a case number or receipt for PayPal. If given to the owner/agent you need a letter stating it is a counterfeit and that they have taken possession.