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Lost by ParcelForce - oh Joy!! HAPPY ENDING


dustandbarley

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The need for insurance is ridiculous really. You don't pay for insurance when you order a meal at a restaurant, if they burn your food or screw up the order, they damn well rectify the problem as they have a reputation to uphold.

Although on the other hand you do need limits in place to stop people abusing the system with claims such as 'that parcel of mine you lost contained £1 million in cash, so pay up'!

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On 12/03/2019 at 22:13, xgsjx said:

I sold 2 Moog pedals (now wish I hadn't).  Used I Post Parcels for both.  Insurance was only a few quid extra & both delivered without issue

Thanks for the heads up for using Post Parcels.  Insuring the pedal this time would have bumped the postage up from £8 to £25.

Thanks for advice so far...  I'll keep you posted....!

Edited by dustandbarley
Got price for insurance wrong
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I have only claimed insurance on instruments twice in my life: once was on personal musical instrument insurance after theft from my parents' home and secondly when I cracked the braces of a bouzouki. The latter was claimed via standard home insurance. I've never - yet! - had to claim on courier loss/damage but I shudder to think what that would entail, what with all the buck-passing I'm hearing about.

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If you can, put at least two labels on the outer packaging. Sellotape them on .Write or stick a small label the words "Sender"  then your house number and post code on the parcel. Put other labels on or in the inner packaging. Include one that gives your sender setails if its not printed on the label. A lot of parcels get lost just because the address label gets lost or damaged.

The easier you make it for the courier to identify your parcel the more likely it will get delivered. 

Courier wages are poor, make sure your parcel is as handling friendly as possible.  Expose handles etc. Put yourself in the position of the driver and make it as easy as possible for him to handle your parcel. hopefully it reduces the risk of him chucking your parcel over the fence.

 

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After the missing 335, I always put on secondary send and return addresses.

For a short while, in the mid '90s, I was a courier. The couriers themselves are (usually) not the problem but the handlers who sort the deliveries that of the trunk artics at night. They can be as bad as airport baggage handlers and that's where most of the damage occurs.

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Not really the news I was hoping for :

Hi Justin,
Thank you for your e-mail,
The standard cover that comes with this service is £25.00 as no further transit cover was taken this is the maximum we can settle your claim for plus the postage fee.
Do you have a PayPal account that we can settle your claim by on this occasion?
Apologies again for all the inconvenience this matter has caused you.
Kind Regards,

I'll reply stating it's not acceptable after I've had a cuppa...

I'll keep you posted.....

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I’d be fighting it. They have admitted that they sent it to the wrong place, so not so much lost or damaged, but sent to the wrong place by them. Check the small print & see if it says anything about that. 

If your home insurance has legal cover, see if it can help you. In most instances, it will. 

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I'm fighting it, in my reply I asked Interparcel to ask Parcel Force to do more to find it.  I suggested they contact the ebay hub it went to and add a note to the tracking so it can re-enter the system if returned. I checked the small print and its not crystal clear, it only mentions loss or damage, so I might have chance for incompetence if it doesn't turn up.  I'll wait to hear back from Interparcel and hope the parcel is returned from eBay.

I'll keep you posted....

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On 13/03/2019 at 11:46, dustandbarley said:

Not really the news I was hoping for :

Hi Justin,
Thank you for your e-mail,
The standard cover that comes with this service is £25.00 as no further transit cover was taken this is the maximum we can settle your claim for plus the postage fee.
Do you have a PayPal account that we can settle your claim by on this occasion?
Apologies again for all the inconvenience this matter has caused you.
Kind Regards,

I'll reply stating it's not acceptable after I've had a cuppa...

I'll keep you posted.....

I'm infuriated just reading that.

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That's utter balls. DONT accept it. By accepting you will bring the matter to an end.

They took money to provide  a service.

They didn't provide the service.

The reason they didn't was their fault and they volunteered that information.

No way on earth do they have any legal right to do that. 

 

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Latest info.  

I received a reply from Interparcel:-

"Dear Justin,

Thank you for your e-mail and I am sorry for the delay I wanted to raise this with my director before I replied. Unfortunately this is still a lost in the system and we cannot offer any further compensation as no further cover was taken at the time of ordering.  We are not governed by a ombudsman or regulatory body, if you do wish to take this further you can write onto the customer service at the address below: I am very sorry for all the inconvenience this matter has caused you."

A lot of the points and requests I made to Interparcel were not addressed.  I did a bit of searching on the internet and got a number for the Managing Directors office at ParcelForce, got through and they listened to the whole sorry saga.  They are saying that posting the parcel down the wrong chute to eBay was an 'operational error' and resulted in the parcel being lost.  ParcelForce did take my contact details and would look into it and try to contact ebay to see if they would send it back to ParcelForce or could have a look for it, so I am waiting.....   

ParcelForce said I have to go through Interparcel and their terms and conditions will dictate how they proceed.  So far it's grim, but I will pursue them.  I'll be off on holiday next week so before I go I'll give them a month to find it, then form some kind of plan to try and get some money back.

I'll keep you posted...

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Pah. Everything else seems to be governed by an Ombudsman, or be regulated in some form
I wonder if this is true? Of course, it may be the case - so I wonder what other recourse you have?

Again, best of luck in resolving this matter, and let us know what happens

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You may be governed by the Consumer Rights Act 2015 providers of services have to do so with 'reasonable' care.

There is an inconsistency in their answer to you. The tracking is done by scanning the bar codes as we all know. Telling you it has been delivered means it was scanned by the final delivery scanner. It can't have been down the wrong chute and delivered, one of those stories is incorrect, possibly both. Either their technology doesn't work or they are being dishonest or their tracking is compromised. Putting things down the wrong chute with no system in place to recover it doesn't seem reasonable to me, or saying it is delivered when it wasn't.

You could try making a claim through the small claims court, under the act they have to show they took reasonable care, the burden of proof is on them not you. Worth googling to see if you could try that?

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24 minutes ago, Phil Starr said:

You may be governed by the Consumer Rights Act 2015 providers of services have to do so with 'reasonable' care.

There is an inconsistency in their answer to you. The tracking is done by scanning the bar codes as we all know. Telling you it has been delivered means it was scanned by the final delivery scanner. It can't have been down the wrong chute and delivered, one of those stories is incorrect, possibly both. Either their technology doesn't work or they are being dishonest or their tracking is compromised. Putting things down the wrong chute with no system in place to recover it doesn't seem reasonable to me, or saying it is delivered when it wasn't.

You could try making a claim through the small claims court, under the act they have to show they took reasonable care, the burden of proof is on them not you. Worth googling to see if you could try that?

I'm certainly no legal expert, but I know from past experience that a threat of legal action can be enough to get things moving. I'd start by asking them for their registered address, so that legal papers can be served.

I suspect that they wouldn't want to risk the expense of this going to court, nor run the risk of having their terms and conditions thrown out - for what is a trivial amount in the grand scheme of things. You can make a claim online yourself in many circumstances. Have a read at this:-

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/taking-legal-action/small-claims/deciding-whether-to-make-a-small-claim/

(My own experience - a set of expensive hair straighteners failed just outside of warranty. The large online retailer refused to take any responsibility, citing the warranty had expired along with their standard T&Cs. I insisted that this was sold as a premium product and I could reasonably expect them to last longer. I eventually asked for a repair, partial refund or discount on a new set, and if they could not provide one of these then I would take the matter to a small claims court. I had a full refund for the product with 30 minutes.)

George

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2 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

You may be governed by the Consumer Rights Act 2015 providers of services have to do so with 'reasonable' care.

There is an inconsistency in their answer to you. The tracking is done by scanning the bar codes as we all know. Telling you it has been delivered means it was scanned by the final delivery scanner. It can't have been down the wrong chute and delivered, one of those stories is incorrect, possibly both. Either their technology doesn't work or they are being dishonest or their tracking is compromised. Putting things down the wrong chute with no system in place to recover it doesn't seem reasonable to me, or saying it is delivered when it wasn't.

You could try making a claim through the small claims court, under the act they have to show they took reasonable care, the burden of proof is on them not you. Worth googling to see if you could try that?

I tend to think that any lost parcel shows a lack of "reasonable care" regardless of whether the courier admits to having put it down the wrong chute or not, and I'm not aware that this gives any more entitlement to the full value of the lost items.  Good summary here:

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/what-are-my-rights-if-a-parcel-i-sent-is-late-or-missing

which seems to boil down to the sender having a contract with the courier that confirms the amount of compensation, which in turn depends on the level of insurance bought (if any)

1 hour ago, geoham said:

I'm certainly no legal expert, but I know from past experience that a threat of legal action can be enough to get things moving. I'd start by asking them for their registered address, so that legal papers can be served.

I suspect that they wouldn't want to risk the expense of this going to court, nor run the risk of having their terms and conditions thrown out - for what is a trivial amount in the grand scheme of things. You can make a claim online yourself in many circumstances. Have a read at this:-

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/taking-legal-action/small-claims/deciding-whether-to-make-a-small-claim/

(My own experience - a set of expensive hair straighteners failed just outside of warranty. The large online retailer refused to take any responsibility, citing the warranty had expired along with their standard T&Cs. I insisted that this was sold as a premium product and I could reasonably expect them to last longer. I eventually asked for a repair, partial refund or discount on a new set, and if they could not provide one of these then I would take the matter to a small claims court. I had a full refund for the product with 30 minutes.)

George

Possibly worth a try, but there's a key difference in that EU law confirms that the customer has a right to expect that goods will last for a reasonable period, which is not governed by the length of the guarantee.  I suspect that you said the magic words that they were waiting to hear before they will roll over and pay up.  No point fighting a claim that they know they will lose, and certainly not worth the PR disaster of trying.

While it may be worth a try, I don't think that the OP has the same rights to fall back on.  It's not like being the most complained about companies on the planet has made any noticeable difference to their performance to date...

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I lost on jan the second  via interparcel

 

1x 30kg trace 1x15

1x 30kg trac 2x10

1x 17kg tace ah250.

This was ups.

Found another set 2 weeks  later same items.

This time i didnt go for the cheapest. I went Hermes. Through interparcel again.

Just th 1x15 turned up with the magnet nocked off.

 

Parcelforce however i have found to be superb

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Thanks for all your replies..  I have continued the dialogue with Interparcel and am waiting to hear back from the MD's office of ParcelForce.  From this weekend I'll be away until Easter so I've said that I'm hoping the parcel will complete its journey within the next month.  I'll reply back here with developments from ParcelForce or Interparcel and after Easter, if the parcel hasn't turned up, I will begin the process of trying to get some money back through the small claims court under the consumer rights act if it looks viable and some polite but shaming messages to the offending CEO's on social media.

Any other suggestions are gratefully received.

I'll keep you posted...

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48 minutes ago, Norris said:

I'm just off to farce-central because apparently no-one was in at home yesterday. Want to enquire about your parcel while I'm there? 😉😂

Very kind offer, but I don't think it will help, the tracking number is PBTG6115939001  if you want to enquire.  So far the tracking info is still showing as delivered despite several requests to change the status incase it returns to the system and is delivered for real... 

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On 12/03/2019 at 22:50, dannybuoy said:

The need for insurance is ridiculous really. You don't pay for insurance when you order a meal at a restaurant, if they burn your food or screw up the order, they damn well rectify the problem as they have a reputation to uphold.

Although on the other hand you do need limits in place to stop people abusing the system with claims such as 'that parcel of mine you lost contained £1 million in cash, so pay up'!

You've answered your own supposition there! 😉

The restauranteur has almost total control over what you're buying - the quality/quantity/price of the food, what it consists of, etc, etc. Very few variables. If the service they  advertise differs from what you receive then they're clearly obliged to remedy it.

The courier company has no real control over what gets shipped, its value, how it's packaged, whether it is addressed correctly, etc. Hence they require us - the customers - to shoulder some of the risk. There's no other way in which they could operate. So if they advise that you take out insurance for items over a certain value, that's your responsibility - or at least your choice - as the customer.

Clearly, it sucks when deliveries go awry and I fully sympathise with the OP in that regard. Insurance (on anything) always seems expensive and unnecessary until the moment when you need it. Hindsight being a "wonderful thing".

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Thanks Skol303 and dannybuoy, I like the restaurant/food analogy, but I'd like to tweak it for accuracy as follows.

I have a bottle of Moog wine worth £350.  My buyer and I are very excited about drinking wine so we are going to go to a great restaurant and pay a corkage charge of £9 and enjoy the wine with our food.  We are offered a premium corkage charge of £25 incase the bottle is dropped (damaged) or lost (label falls off etc)  I don't think this is necessary as I have stuck the label on well and its in a very strong anti smash bottle.  Our food arrives, without the wine, so I enquire and after going back to the kitchen, the waiter comes back and tells us the wine was given to a couple who are one of their biggest customers sitting somewhere on the back patio, but he can't find out if he can get it back because he doesn't have their table number and I didn't pay the premium corkage charge and he is very sorry about that....

So far as "hindsight being a wonderful thing" I still see insurance as a spectacular rip off.... the payout is less than 1% yet they charge 4-5%, that means for every £100 they pay out, the have £3-400 sitting in a bank account, and we think that's ok / good business acumen or whatever.

For now I think I've learned that this sorry episode signals the end of distance selling for me.  There is a thread somewhere here about Londoners wanting local pickup only, well I think going out of my way to meet a fellow musician to trade far more palatable than accepting the rigorous shafting from the eBay, PayPal, Courier and Insurance fees.  Sorry for the future sales I'll be missing out on, and the multi nationals will sadly miss out on their commissions, but I think I might be happier and look forward to meeting some cool folks.

I'll keep you posted....

Edited by dustandbarley
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Out of curiosity, would you expect to pay the same for insurance on a ten year old Ford Fiesta as a brand new Lamborghini? If basic insurance on a Lamborghini covered you to the same value as a ten year old Fiesta, but paying out more increased the value covered to the actual value of loss, would you consider it fair or unfair that you had to pay out that extra amount?

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