Monitor arrived broken to buyer. Am I screwed?

oilrag

I posted two items, one laptop and the other a monitor. Post office would insure one but not the other as it had to go parcelforce.

It cost a whopping £31.70 to post without insurance but I had no other choice, I had to send it that day.

The buyer has just sent a pic of the screen smashed! It's £450 monitor and with a wife to getting induced to give birth monday I am really short on time to work out what to do. It looks like I wont get a penny from parcel force although I will try calling anyway.

Any suggestions? I'm absolutely gutted that i've probably just lost £500.

theonlywayisup

If the monitor has been smashed you need to refund the full amount the buyer had paid.

There are very few carriers that cover monitors/tvs and the like. I don't know if PF are one of the ones that do/don't. Have you read through their t&c?

mrcol1000

Monitors are excluded from compensation. But it doesn't hurt to give it a go. You are going to have to refund the buyer in full, unless they are willing to get it repaired at your cost. You could always get it back and repair it, if that is possible or financially worth it.

Next time I would have a look online and get a cheaper uninsured price and spend more money on packaging. Although the way couriers throw things about anything that can be broken you need to package to be able to withstand being run over by a large lorry (at the very least)

oilrag

Thanks for the replies. Yes I would refund the money so don't worry about that. Just wanted to see what the other options were really.

I've checked parcel force t and c's and they won't compensate but i can still try. In heinsight I should have taken it away and sent it through someone else. Probably would have cost £50 or more so not sure where ebay gets it's shipping estimate of £20!

martindow

oilrag wrote: »

not sure where ebay gets it's shipping estimate of £20!

If it were sent with lots of packaging and with no insurance that would probably have covered it.

I regularly send fragile items. Knowing that the risk of breakage is on me they are very well packed and I have to be prepared to cover the occasional breakage.

GabbaGabbaHey

Easy to be wise after the event, but with a large, fragile, uninsurable item like a monitor, it may be better to sell locally through Gumtree/Facebook/whatever and accept a lower price.