Is Auspost Allowed to SafeDrop without Knocking on Your Door First? Financial Compensation Possible for a Stolen Parcel?

Related Stores

Australia Post

• 

  [Deactivated] on 27/03/2016 - 20:11

  +9

  OK, the first and only thing to remember here is that Express Post does not insure against any loss and it is effectively as good as normal post, except faster.

  EP and Registered Post are commonly confused, and it is often erroneously believed that EP is a faster form of RP. Not true. RP follows the normal (not priority unless priority stamp is affixed) time frame for postage, but at least it's insured against loss or non-receipt. EP does not insure against loss at all.

  Express Post articles are delivered along with your regular mail, and a signature upon receipt/collection is not part of the EP service, nor is the postie in any way obliged to notify you of that article's delivery to your premises.

  This is not AP's fault at all. You should take this up with the seller as they misled you with their method of shipping. That is fraud.

  Had the seller included signature on delivery (or better still, send it as an eParcel with SOD), for which an extra fee would be payable, the article would not be left unattended and would have to be delivered to either a person at your premises or be collected from the nominated collection point as stated on your card, and a signature of the recipient would be captured by AP.

  If you used PayPal on Gumtree, you can lodge a dispute on PayPal with the pertinent information that you've outlined here. If not, you're kinda stuck.

  Lesson here - never buy anything valuable online unless:

  • you are using some sort of a card or PayPal as your method of payment, or
  • you can confirm that the valuable item will be conveyed by a mode of postage that is insured against loss, or
  • the item itself is not valuable and you'd be okay if the item never turned up and you never got your money back.

  Hope this helps.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 28/03/2016 - 01:16

    Thanks for your thorough explanation, KaptnKaos. The seller had indicated he had included the signature option but was mistaken, making the assumption you outlined in your post.

    I used PayPal as I do for all online purchases. I feel bad about demanding a refund since it wasn't deliberately the seller's fault and it was indeed a private sale.

    I'll keep your tips in mind for the future. Let this be an expensive lesson :s

    • 

      whooah1979 on 28/03/2016 - 01:57

      I used PayPal as I do for all online purchases.

      you can initiate a chargeback if you funded your pp payment with a cc.

      • 

        [Deactivated] on 28/03/2016 - 02:41

        Wouldn't the bank require proof that the item was not received? That would be a battle won by the seller because they can prove that the item was delivered.

      • 

        whooah1979 on 28/03/2016 - 08:51

        +1

        @KaptnKaos:

        Wouldn't the bank require proof that the item was not received?

        i'm not familiar with the banks chargeback procedures. they may require a pos, a pod or even both.

        That would be a battle won by the seller because they can prove that the item was delivered.

        pp won't even look at the seller's pod because they don't protect sellers from chargeback when it comes to gumtree transactions.

  • 

    whooah1979 on 28/03/2016 - 01:56

    Registered Post

    i can't see how the sender can ship a pair of bose cans in a letter.

    EP does not insure against loss at all.

    the sender can buy extra cover for $1.50 per $100 of compensation. max $5000 compensation.

    a signature upon receipt/collection is not part of the EP service.

    the sender can pay $2.95 for sod on top of the cost of ep.

    send it as an eParcel with SOD

    it would be unlikely that op's seller on gumtree would ship >1000 ep eparcel articles a year.

    If you used PayPal on Gumtree, you can lodge a dispute on PayPal

    Eligibility
    S12.1 You may be eligible for the PayPal Buyer Protection Policy if all the following requirements are met:
    i. Your purchase is not for:
    k. Items listed on Gumtree;
    https://www.paypal.com/au/webapps/mpp/ua/useragreement-full

    • 

      [Deactivated] on 28/03/2016 - 02:39

      i can't see how the sender can ship a pair of bose cans in a letter.

      The closest equivalent to that would be the eParcel service or the Parcel Post service, which provides the option of purchasing additional services to protect against in some loss and to capture the recipient's signature.

      the sender can buy extra cover for $1.50 per $100 of compensation. max $5000 compensation.

      It may be purchased in conjunction with EP, but is not the same as the EP service. At a minimum the EP service does not offer insurance, only a faster postage timeframe, but Extra Cover can be purchased as an additional service.

      the sender can pay $2.95 for sod on top of the cost of ep.

      Exactly. That's not the EP service, it must be purchased as an additional service.

• 

  oscargamer on 27/03/2016 - 22:00

  How did you pay?

  • 

    juventino on 28/03/2016 - 01:10

    made no difference. It was a private sale

    • 

      whooah1979 on 28/03/2016 - 01:30

      +1

      made no difference

      It does make a difference. A common scam where POS isn't required is to ship a cheap widget with tracking to a delivery point close to the addressee. It gets delivered, but not to the buyer. The buyer then opens an INR dispute, but loses because the seller can provide online tracking that shows the item has been delivered.

      • 

        juventino on 28/03/2016 - 02:05

        Not according to Paypal's user agreement. You are not covered by buyer's protection if item is listed on gumtree.
        https://www.paypal.com/au/webapps/mpp/ua/useragreement-full

      • 

        whooah1979 on 28/03/2016 - 02:09

        @juventino:

        that's what i said.

        edit
        there is in fact no buyer or seller protection for gumtree transactions.

• 

  amkssg on 28/03/2016 - 01:54

  Just FYI, if you live near a parcel locker location, please use parcel lockers next time.
  Why?
  Because they are free, plus any parcels that go into a parcel locker are listed in your Auspost account (with full name and address).
  Makes it easy for you to prove that you did not receive the parcel.

  • 

    the-mal on 28/03/2016 - 07:51

    +1

    A friend sent an online clothes delivery to a parcel locker. It was listed as delivered but he never got a code for the locker. Rang AusPost and they said it wasn't their responsibility.

    After going and visiting the guys at the 7/11 where the lockers were located several times he eventually found that one of the staff (who had signed for the parcel) had taken it home "to keep it safe".

    Eventually he brought it in and my friend collected his opened parcel.

    So parcel lockers have problems too. After hearing that experience I'd never use them.

    • 

      amkssg on 28/03/2016 - 11:55

      Totally agree with you.
      In general, Auspost doesn't seem to do a good job delivering parcels, or letters for that matter.
      However, Parcel Lockers are still a safer option as compared to "leaving parcel at doorstep".
      Look, if your friend's postman was dumb enough to not put it into a parcel locker (as he was supposed to), then the same postman would most likely have gotten some random stranger/neighbour/person-on-the-street to sign for it, which would be much worse.

• 

  juventino on 28/03/2016 - 02:21

  +3

  Now, you should think of ways to minimise your loss.

  Complain on FB stating that the postie hasn't performed his/her duty of care. (S)he should knock on the door, shout or ring the bell and wait 30 seconds. If not then (S)he can 'safedrop' the parcel if it doesn't require signature on delivery. AND a card should be left to tell you the location of the safe drop

  See how it goes for you. Sometime parcels are delivered to the wrong address and or stolen by the posties themselves. Make enough noise, you'll might get reimbursed up to $50 if it is not insured.

  3 weeks ago, my parcel went missing 10 mins after the tracking was changed to 'delivered'. No knock or ring the bell, or safedrop card left. I complained on FB, gave them a week.

  I wrote a nice letter , gathered some screenshot of others experience on AP's FB to show that the issue occurs on a regular basis. I went to Melb HQ and asked to get the personal details of the driver. I told the staff if my item was stolen, I would be reporting this to the police and nominate the driver as one of the suspects.

  Two days later, my item was suddenly found and delivered to the nearest post. Driver still nowhere in sight.

• 

  oscargamer on 28/03/2016 - 08:36

  if you used your CC (via paypal) talk to paypal (if they are interested) or your CC people (they have to be interested) and initiate a chargeback

• 

  R081N on 28/03/2016 - 10:06

  I had a similar issue with goods delivered by express post, no signature. I was able to initiate a chargeback through my credit card because although there was evidence of a delivery being made, there was no proof that I had received it. Australia Post's system just shows delivered, doesn't even say which address. It was a long process that I do not want to repeat (waiting for seller/merchant to dispute & show proof if they have it). It was found in my favour.
  Lesson learned. Of course when buying stuff I ask for a delivery method with signature, but when I sell goods also, I always go for SOD. For the buyers benefit, but mostly for mine so they can't say, 'wasn't delivered'.

• 

  Minotaur on 28/03/2016 - 11:17

  I had a sign on the door at my old place advising AP or any others to NOT safedrop at my address, since I didn't feel there were any secure locations (I didn't live in the best area) - I also advised at the post office that the sign was there. Never had anything safedropped after that.