Royal Mail lost a £3,000 gold and diamond ring commissioned by my client but only offered me a refund of  £10 postage: SALLY SORTS IT

I run my own bespoke diamond jewellery business and in October last year, a client commissioned a piece for her 50th birthday. It was a special gift to herself as she has been fighting cancer for the last five years.

Her mother passed away recently and left her some jewellery, 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 had to be hallmarked, I wrapped it up and took it into London. While there, I called in to see a friend in Bond Street and by mistake left the packet in his office. I did not realise until I returned home 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 allowed sum of £2,500. The parcel did not arrive the following day, nor in the following days. When I tracked it all that came up online was that it was ‘in transit’.

I have tried on numerous occasions to contact Jubilee mail centre in Feltham, west London, the last place it had shown up on tracking. I’ve tried other sorting offices, but to no avail. I chased Royal Mail on Instagram and X. All I got via X, was that I could claim back the £10 postage.

All I want is to receive my item. My friend made a claim on the insurance but heard nothing. I am deeply concerned I will be forgotten about, and this claim has been lost in the system.

R. M., Brentwood, Essex

Sally Hamilton replies: I found your story upsetting on several levels. When we spoke on the phone, I could tell how low you were feeling still, more than two months after the event. You told me you had been to the doctor suffering from stress, you believe partly due to this disaster.

It wasn’t about the money lost — though the ring was priced at £3,000 — it was the heartache its disappearance had caused your client. The piece had important sentimental value because it contained the gold from her late mother’s ring. That’s something that cannot be replaced. When you broke the news to your client, she burst into tears, adding to your own woes and feelings of guilt.

But your situation was made worse by Royal Mail failing to respond properly to your requests for help in finding the missing ring. All its customer services offered to do was to return the £10 postage. What an insult. Your fury at this was compounded by the radio silence that followed after the insurance claim was made.

You thought you had done the right thing by using Royal Mail Special Delivery, with its next day guarantee, plus the £2,500 insurance cover should the worst happen. Though its cover fell short of the full value of the ring, your only option was to accept the limitations of the service.

If you could turn back time, I am sure you would have chosen to travel back into town to collect it by hand. But you put your faith in the national postal service to deliver the package safely.

This it failed to do, and then it let you down a second time by failing to act swiftly to meet the genuine claim. I asked Royal Mail to take another look for the packet and if it could not be found, to pay up the insurance money pronto.

Within a day it came back to say your 60g package was last tracked to Royal Mail’s Jubilee mail centre, as you already knew, where it was scanned along with other items. Sadly, after that it vanished into thin air and there was no record of it being forwarded from there. A spokesman said there was now no way of knowing its location. The provider’s National Returns Centre has been contacted, but it has no record of it.

The missing ring was commissioned by a client using her mother’s own gold jewellery

It is with a heavy heart that I think you must now accept the ring is probably gone for good. Whether it is lost, mislaid, or stolen, you will probably never know.

On my intervention, Royal Mail quickly sent out a cheque for £2,500 to your friend who had organised the special delivery.

You told me he has now transferred this cash to you. While you said you feel some satisfaction at the financial claim finally being met, it is a hollow victory as you would rather have the ring.

Royal Mail told me it will forward it to you if it does turn up. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that a miracle happens.

Pension transfer stuck in limbo

In spring last year, I requested the transfer of my £34,000 L&G workplace pension to my self-invested personal pension held with iWeb, part of AJ Bell.

IWeb initiated the process and at first it proceeded quickly. Unfortunately, when L&G sent the money across, it didn’t include a reference number and so iWeb sent the money back. This was in May.

Despite iWeb and I continuously chasing L&G between May and October and receiving assurances the process would be done, we were no further forward getting it to send the money across.

Can you help?

P. S., Dorset

Sally Hamilton replies: I asked L&G to get its act together and transfer your funds immediately. After my involvement and some further toing and froing over several days between you and the company, you were able to confirm to me at the end of October that the money had finally arrived at its destination.

In November, you received a written apology, with L&G admitting the delays had been ‘unacceptable’ and that your case had highlighted areas in its transfer process that needed ‘urgent attention’.

It added that its team had ensured you had not been financially disadvantaged and offered £150 as an apology, which you accepted to draw a line under the bad experience. When we caught up last week, I was disappointed to learn that your £150 goodwill payment had not been forthcoming.

Even that transfer had got delayed. I prodded L&G, which says it requested your bank details at the time but had not received them. I am pleased to say it has now put a cheque in the post.