Bought from EBay - Complicated matter

lucy03

lovinituk wrote: »

I don't think it even needs to go that far. The courier know they are in the wrong and a LBA would probably be enough to prompt them to pay up. No harm or cost in trying either - the OP wouldn't have to follow it up with the courts. In fact why not send a LBA to the seller and the courier and see who cracks first!

This is potentially troublesome as the courier company would be ill advised IMO to refund a third party as they then might face action from the individual/company that they had a contract with.

Although there isn't a problem with a LBA I can't see that a courier is likely to make a pay-out given the circumstances. I don't necessarily think it's negligent to leave an item outside a property, but it may require a refund of the agreed amount to their customer for breaching the contract they had.

I'd personally just focus on issuing proceedings against the seller as IMO that is what the court would expect the buyer to do. I think that the OP would be right to do this, and is IMO likely to win

Sorry if I've missed it, but out of interest is the seller an individual or a business?

arcon5

lovinituk wrote: »

Look at it from the sellers point of view - it is showing as confirmed delivered so the seller might think you are trying it on. I don't for one minute believe that you are trying it on but if you take the seller to small claims court there is a good chance they would win as they have 'proof' that it has been 'delivered'.

I think you need to go after the courier.

Op would need to swear an affidavit and provide proof of their signature to the court to substantiate their claim. But nobody, seller or courier, is yet saying ops received it and trying to deceive them so that's a bridge op may never have to cross.

arcon5

lucy03 wrote: »

This is potentially troublesome as the courier company would be ill advised IMO to refund a third party as they then might face action from the individual/company that they had a contract with.

Although there isn't a problem with a LBA I can't see that a courier is likely to make a pay-out given the circumstances. I don't necessarily think it's negligent to leave an item outside a property, but it may require a refund of the agreed amount to their customer for breaching the contract they had.

I'd personally just focus on issuing proceedings against the seller as IMO that is what the court would expect the buyer to do. I think that the OP would be right to do this, and is IMO likely to win

Dito. I'd focus on the seller also. But many couriers will pay out to the receiving party as well as the sender - Royalmail do for example.

lucy03

arcon5 wrote: »

Dito. I'd focus on the seller also. But many couriers will pay out to the receiving party as well as the sender - Royalmail do for example.

The Royal Mail have very different terms and conditions to any other courier I've seen with regards to this, which I've always assumed is based on their unique licence from the Government. City Link, UPS, TNT, etc, all specifically mention in their contract they only refund the sender, the Royal Mail mention either can be refunded (provided the documentation received is sufficient).

The other limitation is that the parcel company is going to want to see some information from the sender, particularly with regards to the replacement value of the item sent. The seller isn't going to be reimbursed £600 if the item only costs them £300 to buy and the recipient isn't going to be able to supply that information.

aileth

marklord wrote: »

And apparently the driver in question is no longer in their employ.

Funny that, eh?

pinkteapot

Good luck OP - keep us posted.

Agree with others that you should pursue the seller.

They would normally then pursue City Link, but as they sent it uninsured, they're unlikely to recover their losses. That's entirely their own fault, and nothing for you to worry about.

Gavin83

lovinituk wrote: »

I don't think it even needs to go that far. The courier know they are in the wrong and a LBA would probably be enough to prompt them to pay up. No harm or cost in trying either - the OP wouldn't have to follow it up with the courts. In fact why not send a LBA to the seller and the courier and see who cracks first!

If they did decide to pay up they would refund the seller, not the buyer. If you took this to court against the courier it would 100% be thrown out as the buyer has no link to the courier at all.

Issue a letter before action against the seller for the full amount including postage and make it clear should they not refund within 14 days you will add court costs on top of this as well. Make sure you include any correspondence you have with either the buyer or the courier company. If you have the notice of it being delivered and left in a porch take that along with a picture of your house with the number of the property clearly visible.

City Link will probably be stubborn about this as they'd rather you just forgot the whole thing so don't expect any extra evidence from them.

You could maybe write to them and ask them to clarify the situation in writing, that may provide a little more.

nick1986_2

Hi, just thought I would add my thoughts to the thread and hopefully you will get some sort of resolution soon!

Its pretty simple in my view really, the parcel wasn't insured to its true value or anything like it, the option was there to cover its value and the sender chose not to so even with City Link fully admitting liability for the loss they don't have to pay out anything more than the standard £20 or whatever it is.

Its down to the sender to provide reimbursment as they failed to correctly insure it however being realistic there doesn't sound like much chance of them doing so from what you have said. Was there any mention of what courier service would be used in the Ebay ad? Did you discuss insurance with the seller prior to it being sent at all? As others have said the best option would be to pursue the seller through court action, its pretty easy to do these days so might be worth a shot.

Good luck!

mattyprice4004

Your claim is with the sender - and eBay won't help as you didn't use PayPal (which is fair enough).
Small Claims time.