Might not be connected, but I had terrible mail problems from 2nd-14th Feb because of the snow here in the UK. Some stuff never arrived, some sat in depots and was delivered up to 2 weeks late. Caused me no end of problems both sending and receiving stuff and ended up costing me hundreds due to the consequential losses. The guy might be genuine, and your record's sitting in a sorting office in Swindon...
Always best to get proof of postage just to cover yourself, I've found the RM always cough up promptly if you make a claim, and it keeps those pesky customers happy.