So, it appears that as a company, they dispatch goods and then for no apparent reason follow up with a "check" to see if the goods have arrived , and then if no reply is received; follow up by re-sending the goods ( to a still un-established post-code)
I've avoided commenting on this Proviation thread up to now despite having issues with them as I felt that I had nothing new to add (I raised a Paypal dispute and got my money back - case closed).
However the above post by DerekJS reminded me...
The item I had issues with was a logbook and at one point, I was told something fairly similar to the above. I was told that Pooleys had sent me a new logbook directly (or words to that effect - might've been via Proviation?) to my address and I was like "Er? Never got it!". "Oh ok, we've got stock now - we'll send you one ourselves".
So it seems they've got severe issues as well with their postal service. (riiiight)
Another point since I'm already commenting - for those who've paid for their items with PayPal, keep in mind that you can & should raise a dispute via PayPal but be aware of their timescales - you MUST raise the dispute within 45 days of paying for your item. This is why I wasn't too badly burnt by Proviation - raised a dispute in time & got my cash back.