Courier fees when item is damaged

Yorkie1974

I recently ordered some bathroom tiles and arranged for Parcelforce to courier them to me from the supplier. I have had a notification on all eight boxes that they are being held at the central depot as being 'hazardous' - looks like someone has been chucking them around, broken them, and they have pierced the packaging.

I took out extra insurance, but now I think that may be invalid as they will be classed as 'ceramics' which, apparently, are excluded from cover. I should have checked this, and if indeed they are not covered, I'll just learn from my mistake and remember to read the small print in future.

The Parcelforce fee was nearly £100, as they were boxes of big, heavy tiles. If they fail to deliver, should I get a refund on delivery, even if I can't claim compensation for the broken items? I booked through an intermediary (P4D) - does that affect anything?

DoaM

Depends on your terms of engagement with P4D ... were they merely acting as brokers/agents, or was your contract with P4D and they subcontracted Parcelforce?

mattyprice4004

Just to clarify, tiles are indeed ceramic so I don’t think they’ll pay out.
I think you’re out of luck here. I’ve found carriage refunds are quite hit and miss, hopefully you’ll at least get that back.

Yorkie1974

My invoice was from P4D, but it doesn't make clear if this was done as an agency or whether it was subcontracted. Shipping was £101.90 paid on a credit card - should I be contacting the card company?

Wiseguy

A quick scan of the T&Cs suggest that P4D that contract may be with P4D directly as opposed to them acting as agent.

Leaving aside the insurance issue, it may be possible to argue that P4D's terms and conditions are unfair. Assuming that you are a consumer, the entering into the contract would be subject to the Consumer Rights Act 2015 which implies a term into the contract whereby P4D have a duty to take reasonable care and skill.

The T&Cs list certain prohibited goods that should not be shipped but under that list, ceramics is categorised as fragile goods and underneath it says that goods cannot be shipped or shipped at your own risk or there is no insurance cover. That presumably is the limitation/exclusion of P4D's liability which is what they would rely on if you tried to make a claim.

However, under Section 57 of the CRA, traders cannot exclude or restrict liability whatsoever for certain implied terms and that includes the duty to take reasonable care and skill. By entering into the contract and accepting the goods, P4D had an implied duty to take reasonable care and skill and are therefore liable for the damage because they cannot restrict or exclude liability as per Section 57 of the CRA. The effect of any term of the contract which purports to do that is non-binding.

Not a guaranteed winner but I reckon its got a chance and worth a punt if you are prepared to see it through. It could further enhance your chances if, through the order process, you had to described the goods so P4D could not say that they weren't aware of its contents.

Yorkie1974

Thank you, Wiseguy. I purchased enhanced insurance for a fiver covering each package of the eight to the value of £25 - and it asked for a description of the items, so I put 'tiles'.

As you say, it is worth a punt - I ordered more tiles than I needed expecting that one or two in each pack may be broken in transit, but I wasn't expecting the whole shipment to be thrown in a skip!

Wiseguy

Taking out insurance because of exclusions and limitations in the courier's terms and conditions could also be seen as unfair but I won't get too detailed into that. I can't remember if there is further information on this in the Competition and Market Authority's guide on unfair contract terms which is further reading if you want to look into that.

Otherwise, I would be interested to see P4D's response to that sort of allegation and how they would think that their terms are not in breach of the CRA. Suspect you will get the usual push back from the initial responses though if it comes to commencing legal proceedings, they may eventually take a different view.

As I said though, that's your choice and it depends whether it is worth pursuing based on factors such as your own time, cost of goods etc.

nyermen

(clutching at straws...) Any chance they could be seen to be negligent with the package? If it's labelled tiles etc...?

Wiseguy

nyermen wrote: »

(clutching at straws...) Any chance they could be seen to be negligent with the package? If it's labelled tiles etc...?

When you say negligent do you mean contractually, or negligence under tort? Negligence under contract would fall under the reasonable care and skill but as for any tort i.e. under bailment, it would depend on the remainder of the T&Cs which I didn't specifically look for.