Evri....or is it?!

[Cozzer]

Item off eBay, ordered/paid 2nd January. Supposedly located in the Midlands, seller has 99.x% reputation, free p&p using Evri.
As you've guessed, no sign as at 11 January...
The Evri tracking number assures me "we've got it!" but then it's a case of "it's on the way!", but never "out for delivery"....hmmmm.
On the 10th, I opened our letter box to find a message from our local Royal Mail sorting office, saying "the sender didn't pay the proper postage" and requesting £7 in order to release....but what?
I have no idea what it is. If it's another overdue Christmas card, they can keep it!
There's nothing else I'm waiting for...

Ambled to the sorting office to find that it's only open 2 hours a day. I was 20 minutes late.
I went again yesterday, when they're open 8-12. Except they weren't. "Staff issues" meant they'd closed early. Hand-written note, sellotaped to the door. No apologies for inconvenience.
Consequently, I've still no idea what the item requiring me to pay 7 quid is....

Back home, I'm struck by the coincidence - a missing parcel from Evri, and an unknown item at the Post Office....
I try to track the Evri job..."Claire" the chatbot (God help us...) suspects the package may be "misplaced", and asks me to wait a further 2 days.
I try to contact the eBay seller....he's out of office until Monday....

And this is where it all falls down, isn't it?
If one element faulters, there's a whole string of complications as a result.

So....if the package at the PO is what I suspect, how come Evri claim to have got it?
And if somehow it's ended up in Royal Mail's system, why should I pay £7 for something that was advertised as "Free, Evri Tracked"?!

 

[Sideways]

You invoke the ebay money back guarantee and get a full refund.
You haven't received the goods you paid for.
The onus is not on you but on the seller to see them delivered.
You ignore the royal mail message and it's on RM to return it to sender or dispose of it according to their terms of contract with whoever posted it.

Ebay terms of business is changing ( next month ?). Sellers will not be paid by ebay until goods are delivered.
Personally I'll stop selling on ebay as their systems aren't reliable enough for me and I only resell my own tools and items of some value, but it's probably good for buyers.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I got something from Yodel yesterday that was ordered and paid for 26/12. They tried to deliver it twice appaently when there was no one in (there was, on both occasions) then they told me again it was out for delivery. It wasn't. The following day they rang and told me they had the wrong post code (I'm sure they could have managed with correct address) and promised it the following day. It eventually turned up the day after. (The postcode was correct.) Then, just to be doubly irritating the item was sold as working, and it isn't.

 

[niemeyjt]

"Evri and Yodel have been ranked as Britain’s worst parcel firms for customer service. Both were singled out in new research by industry regulator Ofcom."

MOD EDIT link to a daily mirror article behind their paywall replaced here with a link direct to the source on OFCOM's website

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/post/deliv...s-for-customer-service-satisfaction-revealed/

 

[pidgeonpost]

So much seems to depend on the local courier. We had an Evri fella who was excellent. He left, and we had a short period of poor service from what I assume was a series of temporary people who clearly hadn't done 'the knowledge' on our scattered rural area. Now we have decent service - until the current bloke moves on.