Customer says they didn't receive package, yet USPS says delivered

[royalsage]

I'm sure this question has been asked many times.

Anyone have a "boilerplate" type response for when a customer says they didn't receive their order when USPS say's  it was delivered to front door?

Thanks appreciate it

[clemowbooks · Accepted solution]

It was tracked?

"According to USPS records shipment # XXXXXXXXXXX was delivered on July 15 at 2:44pm. Please check between screens and doors as well as inside anything even vaguely like a box (bbqs for some reason are often hiding places). Ask your housemates if they have carefully put your shipment where it cannot possibly get lost.

"If none of these work, and I'm sure you have already tried most of them, enquire at the local PO for more information on #XXXXXXXXX.

"You may also want to file a police report. Although this is unlikely to help with your shipment, it will alert them to the possibility of an active porch pirate in your area."

But if the USPS says delivered, you are not responsible for anything.

[bareva]

I use this and I rarely hear back.  I am hearing that quite often the letter carrier will scan it delivered and it winds up being delivered the next day.🙄

"I'm sorry you haven't received your item yet. I appreciate you letting me know about it.

Tracking does show it was delivered to you on xxxxxxxxxxxx  You should check with any housemates and neighbors in case they have picked it up for you. If you live in an apartment building you might need to see if there is a special place where larger packages are delivered. Many of these types of missing packages can be located after searching for them.

If you’re still not able to locate your item you should immediately contact your local post office. Many use a GPS system that can tell where a package was delivered. They should be able to tell you exactly when and where the package was delivered and help you locate the missing item.

Finally, your package may have been stolen and you should report it to your police department."

[mr_lincoln]

@royalsage   I like @bareva 's reply ... I have sent a similar message but it is rare and fortunately its easily been over 2 years ...

Mr. L

[toysaver]

"USPS uses GPS to verify delivery locations.   You can ask at your PO for the coordinates."  

[royalsage]

Thanks that's good. 

I've been having more problems with USPS lately. 

In the last case the package just disappeared and the Post Master at the destination basically told me politely the package was gone and there was nothing more they could do. That was the first time I'd lost an order in the mail. Previously they would all eventually show up. 

It's getting interesting out there. 

[royalsage]

Thanks I'll give that a try. 

[1tuna]

I think its important to try and lend a hand

telling them about the GPS thing with the local post office should suffice

I dont think its really polite to just say "tracking shows delivery"

you do want the buyer to stick around with ebay and continue to shop

@royalsage 

[sin-n-dex]

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@royalsage wrote:

I'm sure this question has been asked many times.

Anyone have a "boilerplate" type response for when a customer says they didn't receive their order when USPS say's  it was delivered to front door?

Thanks appreciate it

---

I don't use boilerplate replies (because most of the situations I get are one off), but I had this one a couple of weeks ago. I told the customer I was sorry they didn't get their package and I'd do what I can to help. Starting with opening a package search request to open an investigation (that way I'll know for sure if it was delivered correctly or not). And that I'll get back to them later.

Then I think about it for several hours, do my package search request, and follow up to let them know an investigation has been opened, tell them what's going on with that, and when it's business hours again at their local PO, I call and speak to a supervisor and explain what I need. The last time they closed it as properly delivered and sent me an email which I sent to the buyer. The buyer stopped bothering me, and I won the INR.

BTW, if they're just messaging you because they want a refund, in my experience they will end up opening an INR when it's not so easy to extract some money from you. (One sent me a message, I did all the above, they replied to my "investigation into what happened to their package" by opening more than one INR for what was in the package. I called their PO because the delivery scan was missed, the PO updated it for me, and I won that INR.

I'm super busy, but I'll drop what I'm doing to ensure a buyer doesn't get away with scamming me (when I know it's likely I'll win). Sometimes you can't win...

C.

[sin-n-dex]

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@toysaver wrote:

"USPS uses GPS to verify delivery locations.   You can ask at your PO for the coordinates."  

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In my experience, buyers expect us to do that... also when we do it, we know what the real answer is. Buyers will lie and say it's misdelivered hoping to get a refund.

C.

[sin-n-dex]

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@1tuna wrote:

I think its important to try and lend a hand

telling them about the GPS thing with the local post office should suffice

I dont think its really polite to just say "tracking shows delivery"

you do want the buyer to stick around with ebay and continue to shop

@royalsage 

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What you said, about "tracking shows delivery", isn't just not polite, it implies you think the buyer is lying about not having their package (and they may not be lying about that... even though tracking shows delivered). I'll state when the delivery was supposed to happen, but I do the package search request to resolve the situation so that I know if this is a buyer who didn't get their stuff (whom I will do my best to help)  or someone scamming me (whom I will block). I'll take whatever method will give me the best information to make a decision.

C.

[toomuchstuffagain35]

But sometimes it truly wasn't delivered to the actual buyer.

I've had this recently with a UPS delivery. I live in a duplex and even though the tracking shows delivered to "my address", it wasn't actually delivered to MY front door. I can't check with the upstairs neighbors as they moved out the day my package was supposedly delivered and I can't check GPS etc with UPS because they just tell me to get the shipper to contact them, and unfortunately in this case the seller was unhelpful and just replied that "tracking shows delivery to my address".

So tracking shows delivery and I'm SOL and out my items and the money I paid for same. So much for the vaunted MBG.

[sin-n-dex]

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@toomuchstuffagain35 wrote:

But sometimes it truly wasn't delivered to the actual buyer.

I've had this recently with a UPS delivery. I live in a duplex and even though the tracking shows delivered to "my address", it wasn't actually delivered to MY front door. I can't check with the upstairs neighbors as they moved out the day my package was supposedly delivered and I can't check GPS etc with UPS because they just tell me to get the shipper to contact them, and unfortunately in this case the seller was unhelpful and just replied that "tracking shows delivery to my address".

So tracking shows delivery and I'm SOL and out my items and the money I paid for same. So much for the vaunted MBG.

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That might be a good case for neg FB... you can't say you didn't get it, because they'll have it removed, but you can say the seller is unco-operative and unhelpful at resolving buyer issues. eBay won't remove that.

C.