parcel force insurance is a joke

paul55555

Hello everyone I wanted to warn every one about using parcel force and maybe my experience will help every one out there. one day I sold a porcelain dog not very big for £100 on Ebay. I then decided I would use Parcel Force thinking they would treat the item well. I was aware of this item is fragile as such took out the 48hr service with £100 cover thinking my parcel would be covered. I made sure the package was well protected with lots of bubble wrap and thought the service would be reliable. I went to the post office and posted it off in the hope all would be well. Guess what happened next you guessed it Parcel Force cocked up.

On the 24th of September ,Wednesday, I popped into my local post office expecting it to get to Nottingham by Friday. But the tracking on Friday said it was still at Leeds depot I did speak to someone who worked at the depot who claimed that parcels don’t get mistreated having worked as a courier I know parcels get thrown around all the time. Any way what happened was the parcel got to my buyer broken and the buyer was very good enough to tell me it arrived well packaged but unfortunately the leg on the dog was broken. I had to refund £50 just to make them happy. I asked could she send me photos and it was clear the box had been crushed at some point despite the fact I had but fragile all over the parcel in red and parcel force had even put a sticker on it saying fragile. I then made a claim to parcel force including value, receipt ,photos and messages explaining what happened. I made the claim online and uploaded all the documents they wanted. They rejected my claim with the Contents Excluded Damage as a reason. no message or explanation nothing to say sorry nothing. So in all they let me send a parcel they would not cover the women at the post office did not tell me many items are excluded from their cover to help people here is the list I think you might agree this is just a scam I will never use parcel force to send any thing again.

The things that are excluded are as follows.

Automotive parts and body work - including doors, bumpers and headlights Cases (including suitcases and musical instrument cases) when used as external packaging Ceramics or composites wholly or partially made of china and/or porcelain Computer monitors - including laptops, all-in-one desktops and iMacs Fossils, rock and stone items - including fragranite Furniture - flat packed and ready built Glassware - items wholly or partially made of glass or containing glass, e.g. bottles, picture frames, TV's and laptops that contain glass Lighting - damage in transit or in handling of fluorescent tubes, neon lighting, x-ray tubes, light bulbs or any other inherently fragile items Marble or any stone derivatives Plaster items - including Plaster of Paris, fibre clay Resin items including amorphite, amber and composites Televisions - including CRT, LCD, LED and Plasma screens Eggs Cakes of all types - See more at: http://www.parcelforce.com/help-and-advice/sending/items-we-exclude-from-compensation#sthash.PMChDW9S.dpuf



As you can see many of these items are basic items that both business users and one time senders send and I think its disgusting not to cover them. Let’s use laptops as an example we all sell and buy laptops and we expect them to turn up undamaged god forbid if you have to make a claim. I was reading not long ago that someone had to stand the cost of a £500 laptop. The moral of the storey is do not use parcel force because they will not pay up when you need to claim. What made me upset was the fact they could not be bothered to send me an email to explain why they rejected the claim I plan on doing an appeal but like other people have done it will end up on death ears I don’t think it is worth doing.

I hope my post is helpful and make anyone thinking about using parcel force to think again I use other couriers but for quickness popped into the post office never again and I hope you do the same.

Regards Jim

Quentin

No "off the peg" courier offers compensation for porcelain damaged in transit.


Putting fragile on a parcel is a waste of time.


Pack it properly - or get it professionally packed.

Ms_Chocaholic

Maybe if you had read the T&Cs beforehand you would have realised.

Also I wonder why you only refunded your buyer £50, if I had bought something that had arrived damaged I would want the full cost back.

paul55555

you would want the whole thing refunded. first of all I packaged it very well the buyer told me it arrived well packaged and yet it still arrived damaged. secondly it was not a cheap item why should i stand the cost for some thing parcel force did. and thirdly any more than £50 I would have demanded the item be returned for a full refund business don't give items away. Also ask any business or seller if you want a refund you have to return the item. and lastly I paid for insurance for a reason.

PenguinJim

paul55555 wrote: »

I was aware of this item is fragile as such took out the 48hr service with £100 cover thinking my parcel would be covered.

When buying any goods or services, a good MSE won't make assumptions, but check to see exactly what they are buying.

paul55555 wrote: »

and lastly I paid for insurance for a reason.

You paid for insurance that did not cover your circumstances, so I'm not sure what that reason is.

You and your buyer are each down £50 because you learned this lesson the hard way, but now you've learned it, thank you for posting here so that others can also see that insurance includes exemptions.

Quentin

paul55555 wrote: »

you would want the whole thing refunded. first of all I packaged it very well the buyer told me it arrived well packaged and yet it still arrived damaged. secondly it was not a cheap item why should i stand the cost for some thing parcel force did. and thirdly any more than £50 I would have demanded the item be returned for a full refund business don't give items away. Also ask any business or seller if you want a refund you have to return the item. and lastly I paid for insurance for a reason.

Had the buyer wanted a refund you would have had to pay the return postage.


So your "demand" would have been ignored. (The buyer would simply report you to ebay and they would arrange a full refund to the buyer including his original postage charge paid on the purchase)


(Read up on the rules about what happens when the buyer receives an item not as described)


You wasted your money paying for insurance if your reason was to cover it against damage in transit.

chanz4

fragile means break me

*Scarlett

In fairness to paul55555 at least he has communicated with the buyer to come to a solution. Maybe the buyer still wanted the item, can repair it and is happy to accept the reduced cost.

I may be wrong but I think ebay will normally make the seller responsible for outbound postage costs and the buyer may be required to pay return postage even if an item is not as described.

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/delivery-returns/index.html

If you regularly sell brittle items then you should possibly check with RM or another courier how best to send them to be insured.

Quentin

*Scarlett wrote: »

I may be wrong but I think ebay will normally make the seller responsible for outbound postage costs and the buyer may be required to pay return postage even if an item is not as described.

Yes you are (wrong)


From eBay's guarantee for buyers:


Most purchases go through with no problems at all. However, if your item doesn’t arrive or wasn’t what was described in the listing:

• We'll make sure that you get the item you ordered; or
• You’ll be refunded the purchase price and original postage costs if you paid using PayPal

Refunds

When the item isn't as described:
If you return an item because it's not as described in the listing, arrives damaged, or is missing parts, then your refund is:
Total purchase price (includes item cost and other charges) + Original postage (if paid by the buyer) = Total refund
In these situations, the seller can't charge a restocking fee and the seller pays the return postage charges.

custardy

paul55555 wrote: »

you would want the whole thing refunded. first of all I packaged it very well the buyer told me it arrived well packaged and yet it still arrived damaged. secondly it was not a cheap item why should i stand the cost for some thing parcel force did. and thirdly any more than £50 I would have demanded the item be returned for a full refund business don't give items away. Also ask any business or seller if you want a refund you have to return the item. and lastly I paid for insurance for a reason.

Did you pay extra for your item to be handled differently from the other items? If not,what happens if its at the bottom of a pile of packages in transit?

paul55555

just wanted update you guys i looked for the best delivery service 48hr recorded delivery les time means should arrive undamaged in theory. the leg was broken on the dog the buyer said she could glue it.