I run my own diamond jewelery business and last October a customer ordered a piece of jewelery for her 50th birthday. It was a special gift to herself as she had been battling cancer for the past five years.
Her mother recently passed away and left her some jewelry, including an 18-carat gold ring. She asked me to incorporate the gold from this ring into her new design.
I made the ring and set it with diamonds. Since the finished item needed to be hallmarked, I packed it up and took it with me to London. While I was there I called a friend in Bond Street and accidentally left the parcel in his office. I didn’t realize it until I returned to Essex.
The next day, October 17, he posted it by Royal Mail Special Delivery for next day delivery and insured it for the maximum allowable amount of £2,500. The package did not arrive the next day, nor in the following days. When I tracked it, all it said online was that it was ‘on its way’.
I have repeatedly tried to contact the Jubilee postal center in Feltham, West London, the last place it had appeared on tracking. I have tried other sorting offices, but without success. I hounded Royal Mail on Instagram and
All I want is to receive my item. My friend filed a claim with insurance but hasn’t heard anything. I am deeply concerned that I will be forgotten, and this claim has been lost in the system.
RM, Brentwood, Essex
Sally Hamilton replies: I found your story disturbing on several levels. When we spoke on the phone, I could see how down you still felt, more than two months after the event. You told me that you had been to the doctor with stress, you think partly because of this disaster.
It wasn’t about the money lost – although the ring cost £3,000 – but the grief its disappearance had caused your client. The piece had important sentimental value because it contained the gold from her late mother’s ring. That is something that cannot be replaced. When you broke the news to your client, she burst into tears, adding to your own misery and guilt.
But your situation was made worse by Royal Mail’s failure to respond properly to your requests for assistance in finding the missing ring. All customer service offered was a £10 return shipping charge. What an insult. Your anger about this was compounded by the radio silence that followed after the insurance claim was filed.
You thought you had done the right thing by using Royal Mail Special Delivery, with the next day guarantee, plus £2,500 insurance cover should the worst happen. Although the coverage did not meet the full value of the ring, your only option was to accept the limitations of the service.
If you could turn back time, I’m sure you would have opted to travel back to the city to retrieve it by hand. But you trust that the national postal service will deliver the package safely.
This failed, and then it let you down a second time by not acting quickly to meet the genuine claim. I asked Royal Mail to look for the parcel again and if it couldn’t be found, to pay the insurance money straight away.
Within a day it came back saying your 60g parcel had last been tracked to Royal Mail’s anniversary post centre, as you already knew, where it was scanned along with other items. Unfortunately, it disappeared into thin air after that and there was no notification of it being forwarded from there. A spokesperson said there was now no way of knowing the location. The provider’s National Returns Center has been contacted, but has no information about this.
It is with a heavy heart that I think you now have to accept that the ring is probably gone for good. Whether it’s lost, misplaced or stolen, you’ll probably never know.
Following my intervention, Royal Mail quickly sent a check for £2,500 to your friend who had organized the special delivery.
You told me that he has now transferred this money to you. Although you said you feel some satisfaction that the financial claim has finally been settled, it is a hollow victory as you would rather have the ring.
Royal Mail told me it will forward it to you if it occurs. My fingers are crossed that a miracle happens. Do you have a legal question?