Considering taking interparcel to court

Bhavv

I've been using interparcel for years, though that seems to matter little to them.

I mostly sell my used PC components with insurance cover, and never had an issue in the past, until last week that is.

I just sold an I7 980, and got an email from their claims manager telling me that computer components are restricted items. I replied, and later phoned her to explain that their restricted items list states 'computers / monitors' only, not components. She replied with:

'Computers and computer components are the same thing, that's common knowledge'

And

'Computer components are too fragile to be sent using mass transit'.

I reported this to consumer advice, and they told me that this was a breach of contract on the items I had paid insurance for, as it was not communicated at the time I placed the order that computer components were restricted items. They suggested that I contact interparcels customer support and ask for a refund for those transactions due to a breach of contact.

But then when I sent a complaint to interparcel, including a complaint of what their claims manager had told me being provably false, their solution was to ban me from both using their services again, and from contacting them further.

Talking about it more to consumer advice, they told me the only thing I could do at this point was take them to court. I doubted that I could afford to do so, but I read that people on low income can get help with court costs, so at the moment I am waiting for a reply from my nearest county council as to how much this would cost before deciding whether or not to go any further, as the claim wouldn't really have any monetary value beyond £25 max, and is really just one to do with trading standards breach, and refusal of service.

Im not sure if this is the appropriate subforum for this thread, but I found it after googling for interparcel reviews and wanted to make a new thread for this rather than bump a really old one about interparcel.

Thanks for reading, I just wanted to share this information.

RFW

Bhavv wrote: »

Talking about it more to consumer advice, they told me the only thing I could do at this point was take them to court. I doubted that I could afford to do so, but I read that people on low income can get help with court costs, so at the moment I am waiting for a reply from my nearest county council as to how much this would cost before deciding whether or not to go any further, as the claim wouldn't really have any monetary value beyond £25 max, and is really just one to do with trading standards breach, and refusal of service.

There's no other reason for you to go to court other than for money, the court isn't interested in anything else. It doesn't look as though Trading Standards want to pursue any alleged breach and they have the means to do so. All the judge will look at is whether you have been financially wronged, he/she can't do any more than that.
Your best option to get any money back would be to badger Interparcel until they cough up. It doesn't sound like they will though.

mrcol1000

To be fair, when you send a parcel with any of these companies, not just InterParcel, you have to tick a box to say you agree with their terms and conditions. The fact you did not read them properly does not necessary mean they are in breach of contract. In fact I fail to see how you have a claim unless you have a written reply to a query asking them to clarify if computer components count under their "computer" restriction. ,

For £25 I'd chalk this up to experience. Leave bad reviews on websites if it makes you feel better. Then either find a courier who does cover these items properly (and possibly get it in writing they do) or use cheap couriers, package your items securely and accept occasionally your going to lose the odd one which you won't be able to claim for. However that'll probably be cheaper than using a specialist courier.

Brooker_Dave

Bhavv wrote: »

But then when I sent a complaint to interparcel, including a complaint of what their claims manager had told me being provably false, their solution was to ban me from both using their services again, and from contacting them further.

Interparcel do seem very fond of banning longstanding customers, strange company indeed.

Do they need regulation if they sell insurance?

If all the insurance you have paid for over the years was indeed worthless then you may as well reclaim it, no point paying for a policy that won't pay out.

kernowking123

Agree with some of the responses - need to check if it is cover or insurance - very different things with very different rules.

Cover as far as I know is not a policy therefore will not need to be part of an authorised body such as the FCA etc

It is common in this industry that the company will offer cover and if anything goes wrong pay out of their pockets as the volumes that are done with them to the amount that goes wrong I expect is minimal.

Also to get banned from using their services you must have pretty abusive to the staff or something??? Appreciate it can be frustrating but to go to this level is quite a bit for any company especially if you say you have been using them for years - this history would I expect been looked at when you raised the complaint?