A woman from Bromley left her AirPods in an Uber, the driver found them and posted them back via Royal Mail – but she says they never arrived.
Katie Harris’ kind Uber driver posted her forgotten AirPods back to her Bromley home on February 4 - using Royal Mail’s special delivery service which guarantees arrival before 1pm the next day.
The following day, February 5, the item said it had been delivered at 9.38am on the tracking site – despite Katie not having been home to provide the required signature on receipt.
@kharris_x1 A series of unfortunate events with @uber and @royalmail
♬ cho meo - VĂN KHẢI ✅
When Katie did arrive home, her package was nowhere to be seen - but a signature reading “XPI”, and beneath it “Signed for by: KATIE” showed up on the Royal Mail “proof of delivery” site.
Katie is adamant that this is not her signature, and so proceeded to knock on her neighbour’s doors to see if any of them had the parcel.
She says none of them had it, and that she was told by the postman the next day that he put it through her letterbox.
Despite this, Katie says she couldn't find the headphones, and claimed with Royal Mail who refused compensation – despite the service offering an insurance up to a value of £500.
Katie told the News Shopper: “The Uber driver used a premium Royal Mail service.
“There was no package when I got home and none of my neighbours had it either.
“When I spoke to the postman the next day, he said he remembers posting it through the door, but we don’t have it so I don’t know what’s happened there.
“I put a claim in through Royal Mail for reimbursement of a lost package cost, but because its GPS system shows the postman on my road at the time it said they were posted, I can’t claim.
"I was told the previous decision can't be overturned.
“It’s my word against theirs, I don’t have my parcel and I’m stuck in the middle.”
Katie has since made a TikTok video to share her experience - and has had nearly 10,000 views on the vodeo.
She says she has gone to the local post office numerous times to see if they have her package - but has had no luck.
Katie escalated the issue with Royal Mail after her claim was declined and says she was told that there was “nothing" they could do.
Royal Mail has apologised if Katie didn’t “receive the high levels of service expected”.
It added that “thankfully the vast majority of items are securely delivered to customers”.
Katie explained: “Royal Mail said they’d spoken to the postman and it said delivered as addressed so there’s nothing they can do.
“ I escalated it to a panel which is the highest escalation point.
“I imagine again they’ll use the GPS to go off, but I still don’t have the package.
“Also, the postman clearly signed for it – he didn’t actually get my signature and posted it through the letterbox.
“With the service it was sent through, the parcel should have been handed to someone.”
Royal Mail hopes it can reach a "mutually satisfactory resolution" as the complaint is being looked at by its Postal Review Panel.
The AirPods inside the package are worth £250 according to Katie – to which she says you “wouldn’t just put £250 in cash through a letterbox”.
“Clearly a mistake was made by not giving me the parcel and not getting a signature,” she continued.
“I don’t know who has it and I can’t get my money back.
“It’s clearly not very special delivery after all.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Every item we handle is important to us and we always strive to provide the best possible service to all of our customers.
“Our postmen and women work extremely hard to deliver to mail to customers across the country, 6 days a week, in all weathers.
“Thankfully the vast majority of items are securely delivered to customers.
“We apologise to this customer if they did not receive the high levels of service expected from Royal Mail.
“The customer’s complaint is now being looked at by the Postal Review Panel where we hope to be able to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution.”
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