PC damaged after courier delivery

Binkypinky

Hello everyone,

I am new to the site (as a member) so if I make a mistake on where or how I post I apologise in advance.

Last week I sent an ebay buyer via courier a nearly new PC worth £900 only for it to be found damaged on arrival, (doesnt power on). The buyer contacted me immediately and sent me images of the packaging which showed there was a clear hole on one edge of the base, as if it was dropped at an angle, the polystyrene inside has clear damage relating to the exterior damage, So I made a claim as I paid for extra protection sent images as requested only for them to reject saying insufficient packaging, they say manufacturer packaging is insufficient.

I followed their guidelines which didnt mention this, just that it had to be a strong double walled box with the contents suspended in purpose made material inside.

I have appealed as I feel they are in the wrong and need to make it right, I just thought it would be useful of course to see if anyone has had experience and can share any advice.

Thanks in advance

Gary

soolin

Binkypinky wrote: »

Hello everyone,

I am new to the site (as a member) so if I make a mistake on where or how I post I apologise in advance.

Last week I sent an ebay buyer via courier a nearly new PC worth £900 only for it to be found damaged on arrival, (doesnt power on). The buyer contacted me immediately and sent me images of the packaging which showed there was a clear hole on one edge of the base, as if it was dropped at an angle, the polystyrene inside has clear damage relating to the exterior damage, So I made a claim as I paid for extra protection sent images as requested only for them to reject saying insufficient packaging, they say manufacturer packaging is insufficient.

I followed their guidelines which didnt mention this, just that it had to be a strong double walled box with the contents suspended in purpose made material inside.

I have appealed as I feel they are in the wrong and need to make it right, I just thought it would be useful of course to see if anyone has had experience and can share any advice.

Thanks in advance

Gary

It's always worth appealing again but PCs are notoriously difficult to insure and send with any certainty . The boxes they come in are really designed for pallet loading and delivery straight to the shop and then transported to a household in a car, the courier will add a further unloading and reloading episode where rough handling is very common. We tend to suggest on here that you need to be able to drop your package from head height onto a concrete floor , only then is it packaged well enough.

I'm sure others that handle electronics will give better advice, but personally I would concentrate on the fact that box has been pierced by something sharp which no amount of boxing could prevent, only a solid wall wood crate would be likely to see off damage like that.

Binkypinky

Thanks Soolin for your response and advice.

Yes I agree PCs are notorious by their design to send from one location to another risk free, there service allowed it, PCs are not on their exclusion list and I paid for increased protection.

And yes the piercing appears to be from careless handling not from the result of normal handling.

Thanks again

Gary

ballisticbrian

I know your query is about how to complain to the courier firm, however I would make sure to get that PC returned to you. Out of all the possible flaws there could have been with a dropped PC, a PC card slightly loose in it's slot due to movement in transit is a very likely possibility.

Binkypinky

@ballisticbrian

The PC does boot up just to a black screen, the PC is still under warranty so I cannot remove the side panels. I suspect it is the HDD albeit they can take a degree of a knock but it does look like the parcel was dropped onto something sharp like a bar or something.

Gary

RFW

To answer on the courier, to try and get them to pay up you can try Tweeting them and/or leave them a poor review on Trustpilot.
If they're any good they'll pick up on one of those.
You'll need to hammer home that it was damaged in their control and would have been however it was packed.

I had a courier who wouldn't pay up when their driver admitted to throwing a box over a garden fence and leaving it out in the rain. They said the contents weren't covered, they technically weren't but when I pointed out (via Twitter) that it wasn't expected that it would be treated like a beach ball when I gave it to them they paid up.

ballisticbrian

the PC is still under warranty so I cannot remove the side panels.

Well I'm not entirely sure what you intend then. Either the warranty will be void because the PC has been dropped and that won't be covered under the warranty, or it won't be covered if you remove some seals on the side panels?
Either way it could be something very simple to fix and without finding this out, how do you plan on getting the courier firm to compensate you?

Binkypinky

All sorted in the end, I took them to court and won the amount of the enhanced cover plus interest and court costs.

martindow

Binkypinky wrote: »

All sorted in the end, I took them to court and won the amount of the enhanced cover plus interest and court costs.

Good result.


Can you give some more details as it might help other people. Was the computer returned to you? Did you sort out the problem? Did it actually go to a court hearing or did they pay up when you opened the claim?