Courier Company Lost our Parcel due to their negligence

booboomania

Long Story, but here is my attempt at a summary!

-Sold a pushchair and other equipment on ebay as one item for £400
-Arranged for a Courier Company to send this to the buyer
-Buyer contacted us to say this had not arrived
-Contacted Courier, who then informed us the driver had knocked on the (wrong) door, no one was in so had left this behind some bins
- Buyer checks bins (after collection day) and no parcel
- Driver also goes back to bins to check - no parcel
- We refund the buyer £400
- We ask Courier company to refund us the money as they had in our opinion been negligent
- Had an offer yesterday for £50 cheque plus £150 on a pre paid account for courier company. They state that as we didn't take out the additional insurance cover we can only get $50 compensation.
- We have written back to state that in our opinion the additional insurance should not be required to cover the negligence of their company. Have asked for a cheque for £400 or we proceed to the small claims process through the Civil Courts.

I've only just come across this board, so wish I'd got your advice from the outset!! Any advice gratefully received - are we within our rights to claim more than £50 compensation? The £150 account with the company is useless to us, and I really don't want to ever use then again after this fiasco!

Thanks!

paddyrg

What does it say on the terms and conditions of the courier service you used? Did you declare the value odd the goods to them?

visidigi

and to clarify - did you deal direct with a courier company, or with a courier reseller? It sounds like its a reseller given they are giving you carrier credit. This means they generally don't offer anywhere near the same sort of coverage as a courier firm direct.

I would also name and shame here, as this is pretty poor service leaving a box by a bin. For me there is a duty of care beyond the terms and conditions under whcih they operate - the issue is, insurance is there for damage, complete loss shouldn't require insurance.

booboomania

It is with a reseller - parcel 2 go and the driver was a Citilink driver. I think you are right re the Duty of Care, I think they frustrated the contract for services as soon as they left the parcel by a bin without any instruction or notification that they had done so. I'll have a look at the t&cs when I get home...

visidigi

ok so now you've got more of an issue - and the subject of the thread is invalid.

You are bound by the terms of the Parcel2go website, NOT by those of citylink. Your complaint is only with parcel2go as you paid them to provide the service. You are in a much weaker situation when you deal with resellers versus the company direct.

Companies such as Parcel2go get the prices they do because the courier company themselves do not provide the same level of cover to the reseller, so thier risk is lower, hence the cost is lower.

If you go direct you would have no issue here - the problem is Parcel2go have to take the hit for it, and as you've seen, £50 for what they did simplyisn't acceptable.

Parcel2go are NOT a courier company - they are a courier reseller - this is a very significant difference.

You'd have a pretty stong case in court though....

paddyrg

Pretty cut and dried from the looks of things - these are the terms you agreed to...

http://www.parcel2go.com/content/about-terms.aspx

6.7 If we are liable to you for any reason, we shall (subject always to clause 7) only be liable to you up to the following amounts in the following circumstances:
(a) If we lose or damage all of a Consignment we will be liable for a maximum of £50. If however this maximum figure is greater than the actual value of the Consignment then we shall only be liable for the full value of that Consignment

shaun_from_Africa

Just because something is written into a contract and agreed by both parties doesn't always mean that it is legally binding.
There is legislation in place specifically aimed at contracts or clauses in contracts that may be unfair and/or ilegal.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/about-the-oft/legal-powers/legal/unfair-terms/guidance

A standard term is unfair 'if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it
causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations arising
under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer'– Regulation 5(1).

Unfair terms are not enforceable against the consumer.

visidigi

I agree - complete loss fair enough these things happen, but they deliberately left the box by the bins. I mean honestly, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure thats not a good idea and its certainly not due care of the item.

Mark_Hewitt

visidigi wrote: »

I agree - complete loss fair enough these things happen, but they deliberately left the box by the bins. I mean honestly, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure thats not a good idea and its certainly not due care of the item.

Better than one we had where the item was left *in* the bin!

pendulum

The company was controlling its risk exposure by limiting the maximum compensation value to £50 for the fee you paid. You agreed to this in the terms and conditions and it is an essential and legal practice. Without it, there would be nothing to stop someone sending a package worth £1,000,000, and then claiming if it was misplaced.

Do you think the courier company should be responsible for misplacing a package worth £1,000,000 when they agreed with the customer beforehand that the maximum compensation value would be £50, and they charged only a small delivery fee?

As they seem to have offered a goodwill gesture of carrier credit, I think you should snap it up. You took a risk underinsuring the item and should accept a big portion of the blame.

visidigi

I repeat they are NOT a courier company. They are a courier reseller. Parcel2go resell everyone elses service. Compared to the car market, Couriers are the dealer network, parcel2go and equivalent are the used car salesment, reselling everything else for less as there is less risk.

There is a difference between a lost or damaged package - this package was not lost, Parcel2go know exactly where it was left.

That is why a duty of care comes into this - Parcel2go can't really hide behind the lost/damaged clause as it wasn't lost when the courier left it - it was lost after the courier left it as he/she left it in a stupid place.

If we follow the terms and conditions they, parcel2go owe £50 - so don't tell me, they are offering service credit for goodwill are they? Rubbish - they know they are on the hook for more than £50 but they think the consumer will just accept it.

Sorry but I don't buy it, its not lost, they know where the left it.