Buyer says they never received a tracked item

[stuffystuff]

I sent an item tracked on 3 December and it was delivered to the sender 2 days later.  It was delivered to an outbuilding.  The buyer is now saying that he never received the item.  I was only contacted about this yesterday (27 December) 22 days after the item was delivered. I have contacted him with all the tracking information from the courier company and asked him to look in his shed, garage and to check with neighbours etc all the usual stuff.  He still claims he hasn't received the item.  I have now contacted the courier company to check whether they leave cards to say where they leave items in case the recipient is out.  What more can I do?  If he still claims he hasn't got the item what do I do? I am reluctant to give a refund because as far as I am concerned he has the item.  I added the tracking number onto the delivery details on ebay but not PayPal will this make a difference or are they linked?  I have never had a problem like this before.  Is he trying to pull a fast one?  Surely if he hadn't received his item I would have been contacted before 22 days had elapsed.  Help please.  I need to know where I stand on this.

[kernowlass]

Hiya, you can add the tracking number to paypal as well by going to the "details" of the transaction and scrolling down to the tracking option.

Does tracking show the item as delivered online??

If it does then i doubt any claim will succeed.

If it doesn't then odds are the buyer will win.

If it shows as delivered online then I would think you have done all you can do and the onus is on the buyer to take it up with the courier and file a claim with them;......you could give him the tracking info.

Good luck and come back and update us.  

[stuffystuff]

The tracking information does show as delivered online and I forwarded this information to him along with the tracking number.  I have also been in contact with Ebay about this and they said that as I had the tracking information  if the buyer tried to claim they would most probably lose the case as I had sent the item tracked.  I'll keep you informed of what happens next.

[santamonica]

I'm also having this problem. Buyer says that they have not received the item but is showing as signed for online. Where do i stand if they make a claim against me?

[stuffystuff]

In reply to Santamonica.  If the item is showing as signed for online I wouldn't think that they would win any claim against you.  Have you asked your buyer if it was a neighbour who signed for the item then forgot they had it because of Christmas?  

[stuffystuff]

I have now been in contact with the courier company and explained the situation to them they said that the courier always leaves a card if the recipient is out explaining where the parcel has been left or to contact the courier for a redelivery.  The company said it was very strange to leave it such a long time before chasing it up and agreed that the recipient was probably pulling a fast one.  The courier company also said that they would get in contact with the courier who delivered the item to see where the parcel was left.  They are being very helpful.