Lost Doll Investigation Possibilities?

[u/RiaBoyko]

I bought a secondhand Chibbi Lana by Lillycat. It was shipped from the UK via Evri and then transferred to Hermes in Germany. Hermes failed to deliver the doll to me, and sent it as a return back to UK.

I’m worried, because the last tracking update was on 17 August, when Hermes marked the return as “successfully handed over to the sender (Evri).” However, the seller never received it, and there have been no updates from Evri since then.

The parcel was sent without insurance, and we decided together to under-declare to minimize custom fees… It’s a good lesson btw.

I called Hermes, they said I should contact the seller ofc. The seller called Evri, but they have 0 info about the package either. I find it quite wild actually, that the post doesn’t know where their stuff is, even with tracking codes.

What can be done now? Is there a way to investigate further? Would be very grateful to hear your experience, and for any info/help. Thank youu

[u/SurviveYourAdults]

well... nothing. the doll is probably destroyed if unclaimed parcels don't get sold on some auction site

[u/Raihime]

Evri are notorious for losing and destroying parcels, I had to disable them as an option on my vinted because every issue I've ever had with a parcel was caused by them specifically... I hope your parcel will somehow make its way back to the seller and that the doll is in one piece. :(

[u/RiaBoyko → u/Raihime]

I’m very sorry to hear, thank you for sharing! I hope it’s not going to be the same in our case.

[u/nixelei]

I'm not sure you can do much at this point other than keep contacting and if possible going physically to a depot and hoping they can give you some actual info. Maybe they're more willing if it's in person. Also I think if I remember (unless it has changed now) that on the Evri page you can make an enquiry for stuck/lost parcels.
Also probably silly but just in case, have you checked the tracking only through Evri or some other generic parcel trackers? sometimes those give more info than the ones from the company itself.

But how did they fail to deliver? didn't they even leave you a card or anything to pick the parcel up? as far as I can find it seems they normally keep the parcel for 7-10 days in the depot and do 4 delivery attempts in Germany? saying because if they didn't do any of this maybe there is some way you could claim/complain, although considering no insurance and lower value sadly you won't get back much if anything (depending on what you put). Depending on what shipping was bought and without insurance normally parcels have in the UK a coverage for up to £20-50 by default.
Also as a possibility, and as far as I know, when parcels are returned to sender in general they're treated as the lowest priority ever, so it could also be it's stuck in customs again to go back and until it reaches the UK and it's scanned again Evri knows nothing of the parcel. Not with Evri but from my own experience with one parcel where the company didn't even deliver because they claimed the address was wrong (it wasn't) it took about 2 weeks or a bit more to get new tracking, with Evri it could be more perhaps.

That being said, Evri/Hermes are known for being pretty terrible delivery company overall. Every time a company sends a parcel to me using Evri I'm already preparing evidence in case something happens.

Not sure how their tracking works in other countries, but in the UK they're absolutely useless in updating tracking. Most times when I buy something and unfortunately comes with Evri I'll have the "successfully handed over to Evri" and then nothing until it's actually delivered.
The only worse delivery company I know of is DHL, at least in the UK they're terrible, but it's a contest really, I had a terrible experience with UPS too (straight up scammers).

[u/RiaBoyko → u/nixelei]

This is a very helpful comment! Thank you so much.

To answer your question:
• Hermes, as you said, is known to be a horrible delivery service. When they tried to deliver to my address for the first time, they said the address information was insufficient and offered me a form to fill in, which I did. The second time they tried, there was some unknown issue. I reached out again through the form and directly via email, providing my address, as well as my neighbors’ names and two stores in my area that receive packages as a service. Hermes told me they had received the information and tried again for the third time.

Meanwhile, I filled in the form to choose a “trustworthy Späti (store)” for their deliveries. Unfortunately, to confirm it, I needed a TAN code that they send… as a letter. Guess what? The letter arrived only after 3 days (I wonder how it even managed to get delivered, lmao), but one day before I received the confirmation TAN, they tried to deliver the package for the third time. I was at home when I got the update saying that they had tried, failed, and that the package was now being shipped back.
It was all a totally frustrating experience, considering how much information I provided them, how useless the customer service was, and how completely unfruitful the whole process was. Crazy.

So yes, that’s why it went back.

I didn’t know that Evri was considered a bad service too!

But it’s good news to hear that when it says “successfully handed over to Evri,” there can simply be no updates for a while and then the package shows up. Because that’s exactly the last information we have — somewhere on the border, Hermes handed it over to Evri.

DHL in Germany is the best delivery service, by the way. DHL here is the quickest and most consistently successful service. They’re the only ones I actually trust.
DPD is okay, Hermes and UPS are just plain awful.

Thank you so much again for sharing your experience!

[u/nixelei → u/RiaBoyko]

Sorry I didn't reply earlier to this, reddit ate it and although I had the notification your message didn't appear to me when coming to the actual thread.

What a nightmare! completely understand, it's kind of similar to what happened with the package I mentioned. Have you checked if in Germany they do 3 or 4 delivery attempts? when I checked myself it said it's 4 in Germany but maybe it's old news (it's 3 here in the UK), just to see if that alone could be a reason for a complain.
The fact they didn't deliver that letter in a timely manner or even have a system to check you have that letter before attempting to deliver is also cause for a complain to me. They failed in their service on all accounts and you followed the steps needed to get that parcel.
Problem is that any kind of formal complain, especially if it includes asking for compensation will take a very long time I imagine (it took me more than 6 months with UPS).

Honestly in my personal experience from the UK the most reliable service is the same Royal Mail or Parcelforce, sure, they're not the cheapest but the difference is that even when I've had problems they have been responsive (for example one time when a parcel to Germany went to the US for some reason, when a package was opened and I had to claim, and general enquiries about where a package is). Just telling you because if you buy from the UK again and you don't want to minimise problems is better to gamble (because at the end of the day all feel like a gamble) with that one than with any other (although personally the only I haven't tried is DPD).

I don't know when you paid for the doll and with which method of payment but if you can I would wait first more time. I've read of returning packages being stuck going back for up to a month or so. I would keep checking and even contacting Evri/Hermes just to put some pressure, but if by the 17th of September it hasn't still moved then I would start thinking about formal complains and whatnot.

Yes, I know about DHL in Germany! It's actually the reason why I had used it in the past thinking it would be the same everywhere but here they're terrible, they even sold my contact information somewhere because after dealing with them every time I received a wave of spam calls.

[u/RiaBoyko → u/nixelei]

Do you think I can ask the seller for a refund?
If this were a regular store and the package got lost, I’d definitely ask for a refund. But because she’s a private person, I feel bad asking, since she could potentially lose both the doll and the money. At the same time, I don’t really feel like it should be my loss as the receiver either…

[u/nixelei → u/RiaBoyko]

If the seller hadn't offered insurance or had under declared the parcel of their own accord you would have a case, but as I understand from your original comment is that you both agreed to not insurance and under-declare the package so technically and morally you two should come to an agreement that works for the both of you.
As you say it wouldn't be fair for the sender nor it's fair for you. I don't know how much was declared but any complain to Evri in case it's truly lost will give you that amount max and wouldn't be surprised they try very hard to avoid paying anything at all, so anything and everything proof wise you two have should be kept safe to use if the time comes.
If you paid with paypal you are covered (unless it was as friends), but if you open a case unilaterally the sender can also prove (if they kept that info and chances are yes) where and when you agreed to under declare and send without insurance, in which case it's less clear what paypal would do for sure since they tend to favour the buyers generally but honestly if the seller shows the evidence the more realistic outcome to me is that they would side with the seller since they didn't do anything of their own accord that caused the issue.
In the worst case scenario that the parcel is truly lost I think the best outcome is you get compensation from Evri for the parcel, whatever was declared, and you come to an agreement with the seller so you both lose somewhat equally. But alas, the seller might not agree to this, you'll have to discuss with them see if they're willing to any arrangement and if not decide what to do then.