My iPhone delivery was signed for but never arrived

I BOUGHT an iPhone 6 on eBay for £200 plus £5 postage. The seller sent the phone to me straight away via Royal Mail’s ‘signed for’ service.

Unfortunately, on the day it was apparently delivered, my husband and I were both out. When I got home I saw online that the parcel had been delivered and signed for.

I checked with my neighbours and looked for the parcel to no avail. Royal Mail spoke to the driver who apparently said that he had left it in my mailbox.

My address is in a small hamlet and is notoriously difficult to find. Numerous parcels from couriers have gone missing or ended up at the wrong address. The sender provided proof of posting. I contacted the police who just issued a crime number.

Eventually I used the chargeback scheme with my bank to recover the £205. But now the sender, with whom I am in touch, is furious. K. R., Cambridgeshire. This is very mysterious. Every party is adamant they’ve behaved honestly, yet the iPhone you ordered is not in your hands and the seller is £205 out of pocket.

i spoke to Royal Mail which conducted a thorough investigation. They are convinced everything is above board on their side. They spoke to the postman, a long-serving employee, and still cannot get to the bottom of it.

so in the spirit of seasonal goodwill they will be paying £155 to the person who sold you the iPhone in addition to the £50 already paid. This will refund him for the chargeback you made — and effectively means he has been paid for the phone he sold you.

But this does give me a chance to give a timely pre-Christmas reminder to make sure that when sending presents you pay the correct postage, use the appropriate postal service and make sure your parcel is insured.

in the case of the person who sent your phone, they correctly opted for ‘signed for’ delivery but only paid for £50 of insurance. so when the parcel went missing this was all they got.

A Royal Mail spokesman says: ‘in a case like this where customers are sending high-value items, we would urge them to choose the right service with the right cover.’ OUR satellite box wasn’t working, so I called Sky and was quoted £115 to install two new Sky Q boxes on September 13.

I waited in while my wife attended a hospital appointment, but no one turned up.

I ‘threw my rattle away’, as my wife would call it, and cancelled the account. I received two emails saying they would refund £20 and £54 but no mention of the £115 we’d paid for installation. I have spent a small fortune calling Sky and would like my £115 back. G. W., Peterborough. sky’s response when you complained left you steaming.

you say the person who called you was ‘quite rude’, had ‘no empathy or understanding of why we felt the need to complain’ and started by asking: ‘Why have you written to the Daily Mail?’

To which the answer should be obvious: Because you felt you were getting nowhere with sky. here’s the sequence of events. you ordered the sky Q and thought september 13 had been agreed. in fact, sky’s operative said they’d call to confirm. They neither called nor turned up. your rattle went flying, you cancelled and were offered your £115 back plus a £20 goodwill gesture.

however, the money you owed for the month was deducted from the £115, resulting in £54.30 being paid plus the £ 20. you then ordered sky Q at a retail stand for £70 under a special offer.

separately, sky offered you a further £70 goodwill gesture.

you said you would think about it and asked for a statement of the account.

Now this statement sent my eyes spinning and sky admits it ‘shows a lot of transactions’ which ‘relate to our internal processes’. Apparently this is not the sort of bill normally given to customers and was only sent because you requested more details.

you’ve so far refused the £70 but i think you should accept it, move on and keep your rattle primed for other issues. TWO years ago I was riding my motorcycle along the South Circular in London when a car nudged the rear of my bike.

We both pulled over. There was no damage to my bike but there was a hole in the front of the car which looked odd to me. We exchanged details and I informed my insurance company, Zenith, and the police.

Zenith informed me that the other party’s insurance was looking to issue proceedings as I have always claimed no responsibility for the incident.

Zenith arranged for an engineer to inspect my bike and take photos, which I have. I have lost my no-claims bonus and I am fairly sure what happened was a scam. R. L., London. i Took your case to Markerstudy Group, which owns Zenith, but it would not budge.

it says that although it sympathises with cases like yours, they are very difficult to prove in terms of liability. steve Cross, head of claims, says: ‘We feel the 50/50 decision is appropriate to the evidence of the case.’ he also says its ‘thorough investigations’ did not support your description of events and it does not feel the claim is related to fraud.

however, it does appreciate it could have done more to keep you abreast of its findings and would therefore like to offer £100 as an apology.

you can, of course, take your case to the Financial ombudsman. The numbers are 0800 023 4567 or 0300 1239 123.