ParcelMonkey refusing to payout on claim

Falgard

Hi all.

I sent a parcel with the ParrcelMonkey courier booked was Parcel Force. Parcel was collected on 14/12/2017 for delivery 15/12/2017. This delivery got lost either in transit or within the depot.
I chased ParcelForce myself and got informed it had been lost and have confirmed that fact again today with them directly.

The parcel was a GPU and insured against lost or damage to the sum of £200

ParcelMonkey have been a nightmare from the start of the claim. Asking for the same information on multiple occasions then claiming that the courier has not responded. Claim case was opened 21/12/2017.

18/01/2018 they confirmed that the parcel has been lost. Finally submitted my claim form which they were told to do on the 21/12/2017

Upon receiving my claims form I had communication from them that it would be at least another 28days standard process to complete this. Which I find to be unacceptable given that they have had ample time to make the claim from Parcel Force themselves who seem in fairness willing to pay for the loss. So i asked them where in their terms and conditions does it state that its a 28 day period given that the only reference to a 28day period is to contact the recipient of the item which in this case is null and void as the item was lost in transit.

Today the have come back with my claim is unsuccessful and Parcel Force can confirm that the parcel has been delivered. Which as I have stated is not inline with parcel forces tracker information or notes on the system. Parcel Monkey appear to have created correspondence from ParcelForce themselves in order to try and get out of paying up on my insurance. The claim number used on the "Parcel Force" correspondence made no sense to the Parcel Force employees I spoke to.

All help would be greatly appreciated as so far it appears I am going to be out of pocket and a GPU

theonlywayisup

Have you checked the tracking to see if it has been delivered?

Falgard

Here in lies a massive problem there are two tracking numbers that you can input for the parcel one has literally just this morning been updated after I tried to get information from the claims department and the other still says that it is located in the depot.

I have contacted the depot directly several times over the course of this predicament they have confirmed verbally it is lost. I took screenshots of it all this morning prior to the tracking changing as well. I have followed this up again today and I am currently waiting for a reply from them again.

Whole thing is a complete mess

theonlywayisup

Falgard wrote: »

Here in lies a massive problem there are two tracking numbers that you can input for the parcel one has literally just this morning been updated after I tried to get information from the claims department and the other still says that it is located in the depot.

I have contacted the depot directly several times over the course of this predicament they have confirmed verbally it is lost. I took screenshots of it all this morning prior to the tracking changing as well. I have followed this up again today and I am currently waiting for a reply from them again.

Whole thing is a complete mess

I am still not clear what the tracking shows. What does the first one say?

For your info, there are usually two tracking numbers when you book through an agent. One refers you to the carrier tracking on the agent's website, the other will be the carrier's own tracking.

Falgard

One states that it has been delivered. This literally updated this morning. It was stating that it was sat at the depot earlier today. Saying that it was sat at the depot after it was collected.
The other number states that it sat at the depot after it was collected.

theonlywayisup

Falgard wrote: »

One states that it has been delivered. This literally updated this morning. It was stating that it was sat at the depot earlier today. Saying that it was sat at the depot after it was collected.
The other number states that it sat at the depot after it was collected.

I'm guessing it's the Parcelforce tracking that shows as delivered and not the Parcel Monkey reference? If the parcel is now delivered what is the issue?

dekaspace

To be fair a few years back I sent something parcelforce that went missing and had to refund a buyer only for 3 months later tracking showing delivered, the person was a trustworthy sort so its more likely Parcelforce just log things as delivered after a while to close the tracking down.

ollieplo

I have a similar issue with Parcelmonkey but one that is even clearer in terms of being blatantly unjust. I sent item to the USA fully insured. Tracking stopped updating when The parcel reached the USA after a few days. Four weeks later the parcel tracking still had not moved and I had already had to refund my customer on ebay. I opened an investigation with parcelmonkey who looked into the issue taking another 4 weeks. I was asked to provide the required proof of value documents and then it was put into a claim. After a few days I received an email stating claim denied as I needed to open the loss item claim within 10 working days of the parcel expected delivery date which was apparently 4 days from the UK to USA via parcelforce priority. That is obviously a great way to deny a legitimate claim. The item was worth £380 so would need to clear customs. Parcelforce clearly state on their website that the 4 day expected delivery is for non duty items. A high value export like mine would of course be expected to take longer to clear customs. In fact I have sent many parcels to the USA and it is not unusual for customs clearance to take many weeks. I of course had no idea the parcel was considered lost as the tracking still showed as pending. I even phoned parcelforce up during this wait who asked me to wait longer as it can take a while to clear customs. Parcelmonkeys timeframe limit for lost parcel claims is a clear cynical attempt to avoid paying out on a parcel that went missing in transit.

custardy

ollieplo wrote: »

I have a similar issue with Parcelmonkey but one that is even clearer in terms of being blatantly unjust. I sent item to the USA fully insured. Tracking stopped updating when The parcel reached the USA after a few days. Four weeks later the parcel tracking still had not moved and I had already had to refund my customer on ebay. I opened an investigation with parcelmonkey who looked into the issue taking another 4 weeks. I was asked to provide the required proof of value documents and then it was put into a claim. After a few days I received an email stating claim denied as I needed to open the loss item claim within 10 working days of the parcel expected delivery date which was apparently 4 days from the UK to USA via parcelforce priority. That is obviously a great way to deny a legitimate claim. The item was worth £380 so would need to clear customs. Parcelforce clearly state on their website that the 4 day expected delivery is for non duty items. A high value export like mine would of course be expected to take longer to clear customs. In fact I have sent many parcels to the USA and it is not unusual for customs clearance to take many weeks. I of course had no idea the parcel was considered lost as the tracking still showed as pending. I even phoned parcelforce up during this wait who asked me to wait longer as it can take a while to clear customs. Parcelmonkeys timeframe limit for lost parcel claims is a clear cynical attempt to avoid paying out on a parcel that went missing in transit.

Well you chose the service. Im always interested people are jumping up and down contacting couriers directly when they chose to use a 3rd party.
If that third party dictates 10 working days then thats the T&Cs you agreed to and need to meet.

ollieplo

There is such a thing as unjust terms and conditions. I'm always interested people are jumping up and down believing any company's terms and conditions are unchallengeable.

TripleH

The solution is, if you believe the terms unfair, to challenge them in court (or with legal backing). Otherwise, until the terms are ruled unfair the only options are to obey them to make a claim or loose out.

With companies that sub-contract the job down, it is probably worth checking the terms of the actual delivery firm and try and deal with the original firm based on those (if a tighter timescale is given). If you set a papertrail in place, it might not help direct through them, but what it could do is show you made every effort to resolve in case you try a small claims approach (This might not work, I am no expert ).