Breach of contract - invoiced for unauthorised work

Newo999

Hello MSE
December 2017 I tendered for the movement of my personal belongings from UK to Europe.
Numerous quotes received I chose one mid range.
Quote was to ship a single pallet 2m high via road.
Pallet was not to be disseminated due to security concerns (this was advised by the transport firm)
Invoiced as per quote Costing £400 and taking 12-16 days.
All loaded up and on its was.
2 weeks later the shipment is stuck in Germany.
Apparently customs at destination were frightening this transport firm, however I am connected with the head of customs so I urged them to bring the shipment and myself and customs official will intercept at the boarder.
Week later I received an email that road is not possible and they must fly it in. Again I mentioned to drive as customs was arranged.
This firm used TNT to fly my belongings.
My complete pallet was disassembled without any consent from me some items were consequently damaged and items lost in this process.
A claim for lost items was advised by this firm and 4 months later I have a successful payment.
We are now 5 months after delivery
New contact at this transport firm refusing to pay forward the compensation claim made on my behalf from TNT .

Also wishes to charge me the cost of the flight approximately £7000.

I have responded officially with 2 counts of Breach of contract ( flying rather than road, unauthorized disseminated pallet) and a breach of consumer rights act 2015 chapter 4 "acting without skill and care" together with insurance fraud related to my claim not being passed on. TNT s legal team have been advised.

I have reported this firm to trading standards who assures me they do not have the legal right to invoice me I'm asking here if there is anything i have missed.

Kind regards looking forward to the responses.

pinkshoes

You agreed to pay £400 to have goods shipped abroad in 12-16 days by road without the pallet being disassembled.

They failed to do this and lost/damaged lots of your stuff.

You have now been paid for your losses. End of case.

They cannot now charge you £7000 for a flight. It was their decision to do this.

steampowered

Your story sounds like a troll to me.

We are talking about Germany here, not a corrupt country. I doubt you can use your influence to get things sped through customs. And I doubt you can stop customs opening up your pallet if they need to.

Newo999

You misunderstand. The destination was not Germany. This was simply as far as the shipment got. The destination was eastern Europe. And further clarification i had no influence nor the ability to control customs all I was able to do was accompany the shipment during clearance. My pallet was opened but I was present.
No troll here and quite frankly rather rude to suggest.

bris

£400, please at least make it believable.

shaun_from_Africa

bris wrote: »

£400, please at least make it believable.

Why don't you consider £400 to be believable?

I recently shipped a couple of toolboxes from Surrey to Tallinn (Estonia) on a pallet and this box weighed just under 250KG. (They were toolboxes belonging to a sheetmetal worker so had a lot of very heavy tools inside).
The total cost for this was £299.42 and delivery was a 8 days from collection and the service I used allowed for up to 750KG on a single pallet and could be up to 2.2m high
This is the company I used.

https://pallets4delivery.com/

Newo999

bris wrote: »

£400, please at least make it believable.

Excellent you seem like a helpful chap.

I wish I had made this story up but sadly still very real for me.
Looking forward to receiving some more helpful advice in the coming days.

Appreciate the help from those not massaging their egos

forgotmyname

What was in your personal belongings for customs to stop it?

Its confusing when you say customs at destination and its stuck in Germany when Germany was not the destination???

Where was it going any why was it stuck in Germany?

Which customs did they think there would be issues with? And again what was on the pallet that caused the issues?

Les79

Newo999 wrote: »

You misunderstand. The destination was not Germany. This was simply as far as the shipment got. The destination was eastern Europe. And further clarification i had no influence nor the ability to control customs all I was able to do was accompany the shipment during clearance. My pallet was opened but I was present.
No troll here and quite frankly rather rude to suggest.

You mentioned being connected to the head of customs, "however I am connected with the head of customs so I urged them to bring the shipment and myself and customs official will intercept at the boarder. "

Did you use this 'influence' to help with your case? If so, I'm half tempted to contact the head of customs and query whether they think that they are being impartial and whether that could jeopardize their position if it came to light. They'll brickwall me, of course, but it is the sort of thing which ruins careers if the right people (journalists) latch onto it.

In terms of your case, it is difficult to help because it is fairly complex. Key info has been omitted, you do seem like you may be hiding something/evasive (more so given the destination of items, no wonder they were stopped!) and it is unclear who disseminated your items (if customs then you probably don't have the right to object, ergo it wouldn't be breach of contract).

You'd probably be best speaking to a solicitor/CAB for more tailored advice. You can also potentially look at a MCOL (small claims court) claim to get any monies owed. And you argue "breach of contract" so, if true, you'd be entitled to a refund generally and maybe consequential loss.

Newo999

The logistics firm informed me that customs at destination were a problem and the logistics firm halted the transport in Germany. Not me.
I went about finding a contract in destination who would let me accompany clearance to eliminate the concerns from the logistics firm ergo I take responsibility. Which I did.
No influence nothing underhanded just permitted access.
Yes all the shipment was personal belongings fully itemized and separated for taxable and non taxable goods.
The main point Here forget the customs part is the fact the logistics firm opted themselves to fly my belongings rather than the agreement made to transport via road. And the most important part the fact they feel I should pay for the unnecessary unwanted and non consented flight costs.
This is the area I would like to receive advice for please.

I have a solicitor who assures me without consent or contact and breaching the original contract this won't hold up in court.
Wondering what MSE also think.

Thanks

waamo

If you are paying for qualified legal opinion why are you asking a bunch of unqualified strangers on the internet?

Go with the advice of your lawyer, it's what your paying for.