I have some lovely customers, but sadly one has got in contact about not receiving her order. It appears she had input a number on her postcode incorrectly. The order has my return address on it so it should come back to me and if it does I shall resend them to her.
But I just feel a bit bad for her (and two of my little birds, lost out there). Anyone had any experience of this kind of problem? Did you do anything special for that customer going forward?
I’ve not experienced this specific problem but it was her error so I reckon I’d just forward it on to her again.
I had a customer put the wrong postcode in - the royal mail still got it to her but it took 2 days instead of 1 so your birds should still get to her even if their migration is slightly longer than expected. I’d used a tracked service so I could re assure her as to where the way ward parcel was (and she could look it up herself for further re assurance) and tracked down the phone number of the sorting office it was being held at in case we wanted to contact them (not sure how much they could do about it though).
Keep on re assuring her and as you have already kindly offered to do should the birds end up back with you post them on again (having topped up their in flight provisions first if needed). Since it was her mistake I don’t see that there is a requirement for any special treatment just keep her informed of any contact you have from RM/ the courier company about it.
Sasha
I would let the customer know that once the item has been returned to you. You will resend it to her correct address but she’ll need to repay for postage costs.
As a seller you have seller protection only if you send to the address on paypal.
The customer is responsible for providing the correct address details.
Often if the rest of the address is correct with a slight error in the postcode the Royal Mail will work out where the item should go it can mean it takes a wee bit longer than normal.
I would also let the customer know it might still turn up a wee bit late or it might take a while to be returned to yourself.
Royal mail don’t consider mail as missing till it’s 3 weeks late either.
I always run addresses through the Royal Mail postcode finder following a tip from my beloved who has sold on an auction site for years. It’s quite surprising how many people can’t spell the name of their road/town/county, let alone get the right postcode.
My husband gets a lot from eBay for his bikes and surfboards- and a lot of the time dispite his PayPal details being correct- the sellers sometimes still write the wrong house number and the postcode can often be wrong too- but we still get them all. So it might not actually come back to you- like @SashaGarrett said- it may well still arrive with her- might just take a little longer. 
At least it was her error and not yours though! Haha that would make me feel a bit better. 
I ordered some supplies recently and they went astray (the supplier kindly sent another set as it was an urgent order). The original package turned up 2 weeks later with my postcode incorrectly printed on it (not my mistake) so I’m guessing the post office worked it out eventually, which was good of them. I reckon your customer’s package will either reach them or you in due course - hope it’s not too long a wait.
Elaine
Thanks everyone. We’ve agreed we’ll contact each other if it turns up. I just feel a bit bad for her, nobody likes to see their customers without, even if the error was hers. Keeping my fingers crossed the birds arrive soon.