posted on April 6, 2002 03:59:20 PM new
Hello. I was a bidder on a item on Ebay that I won back in Jan. I dealt with the seller before and had no problems. So this is our first time with a insurance claim with the post office. I paid the seller for insurance which he paid for me. So in all the total of my order was $64.10 with insurance included. Now the post office in Jan damaged the package. They sent the seller a letter describing (according to the seller) how the package was damaged. They told him since insurance was involved, to process the claim. That was approx Jan 17th. Now here it is April 6th and nothing. The post office is supposed to mail me a insurance claim check but have not heard anything. I contacted the seller today and he is calling post office Monday. Also, the seller does not want to refund me anything because he said it was not his fault. So I am out on both ends. Any advice? Thanks for comments.
posted on April 6, 2002 04:24:56 PM new
you should have heard from the post office by now??
who submitted the form and damaged item??i hope it is you the buyer??
on that form,where should the payment be sent -buyer or seller??
see,if you did not take it to your post office with the forms,broken item and all that trimming and instead sent it back to seller for him to file claim,usps will say snce they did not see the item on your end,they cannot be liable for breaking the item??
but they will still send you a letter explaing this.
do you have the original insurance receipt or the tracking number??
your seller should keep pursuing this claim for you
posted on April 7, 2002 11:01:13 AM new
I had one claim and it went rather smoothly. I was the seller, and I initiated the form.
I brought the green insurance slip to the person in charge of insurance at the USPS also I brought along the eBay EOA notice, that is to prove what the buyer had paid for the item. She filled out the form and sent it to the buyer to sign and place a copy of her cancelled check along with it and then the buyer mailed it or took it to the Post office, I don't know which, and in 6 weeks the buyer had her check and it included postage. Very smooth transaction. My item was lost. I think if an item is damaged they have to have an inspector check it to see if the seller has packaged it right, so that might take a little more time. If the buyer initated the process then they should follow up.
Added: You probably should have been the one to start the process since you have the package.
[ edited by Libra63 on Apr 7, 2002 11:02 AM ]
posted on April 7, 2002 05:42:15 PM new
My only experience with USPS insurance was a nightmare.
They broke a $110 item that was sent insured Priority Mail.
The buyer went to the post office with the package and the clerks all gave him the run-around, claiming that I had to file the claim.
So I went to the post office and they claimed he had to file the claim.
After a number of phone calls to both post offices, long distance to his at my expense, they finally accepted my claim and the process started.
2 weeks after I handed in the claim form, I get a letter from the USPS claim center.
Its the same claim form, but filled out typewritten and unsigned. Its exactly the same form I submitted before, except now the value of the item is listed as $117,520.
Thats not a typo.
I then sent that form back along with a photocopy of the original asking for a corrected form to be sent, why the original was not accepted, and why the amount was changed to $117,520.
2 weeks later I get the same form back with the correct value of the item listed, but no explination of why they tried to get me to sign a claim for $117,520.
I submitted the new form and the buyer received a refund plus postage 6 weeks later after writing his own complaint letter regarding the status of the claim.
posted on April 7, 2002 06:00:40 PM newno explination of why they tried to get me to sign a claim for $117,520.
Naturally there are some fees associated with processing an insurance claim. There's the double-team run-around fee, which comes to $50,000. There's the type-up-your-claim-but-get-it-wrong fee, an additional $50,000. Add the ignore-you-while-you-wonder-if-you'll-ever-see-the-money fee, which is $17,410.
You don't think USPS supports its massive bureaucracy on the back of a first class stamp, do you? $117,520 is what it costs internally to process your $110 claim.
posted on April 7, 2002 07:18:37 PM new
You can phone the USPS toll free number 1-888-601-9328 to check on domestic postal claims if you have the receipt number.
