Decade long customer, claim mishandled several times and then CollectPlus rejected

jamadaia

I have been an extremely loyal customer, using CollectPlus for BOTH inbound and outbound parcels almost exclusively (only exception was if the goods are valued much over £300, there mac compensation).

Over the many years I even actively advocated there services to those I dealt with and have thus without doubt bought much business to there door for no benefit to myself.
However a little over a month ago a customer received a Desktop PC, which they said internal components were heard rattling inside the PC itself. On taking off the panel they found damaged inside, which can only be cause by serious shock ie the box would have been poorly handled, such as thrown or dropped.
I had to issue a refund to the buyer and pursued a claim as I paid for the insurance with CollectPlus. I provided ALL the requested information as well as photographs and detailed explanation.

However what ensued was over a month of horrendous mishandling of the claim. Firstly they did not respond until I called in and had them find my response with the requested information.
Then again no response past there deadline, called in again only to be told that somehow the case was rejected and it appears the RECEIVER (buyer) had called in and tried to make a claim and cause the case to be rejected by what they did / said. This is something which is NOT permitted and CollectPlus had NO RIGHT to do this, as your contract is with me the sender NOT the receiver.
They apologised and promised to set things right. But again the deadline expires and this time I get a rejected email again stating the same wrong reason.

Infuriated I call in AGAIN and the same apology is given and a manager assigned to set things right.

Couple of days later again same thing happens, and I am forced to email them and message them on Social Media warning if this continues I will take this up legally.
Now they reject it claiming there is no evidence the item was damaged as far as they are concerned. THIS after all the above fiasco, and the full evidence provided by me including photos, description of what happened AND even proof I had refunded the buyer.
If this is how a loyal customer of near a decade is treated I dread to think of what occasional or
new customers would be.

This has left me frankly disgusted and lost all confidence in there handling of when things go wrong, let along professionalism or customer care.
On the reverse they have in the past made numerous slip ups in my parcel deliveries, and I have been patient and even sorted it out on my own time. Even when the errors where on there part. Yet this is what I get for my loyalty and forgiveness of past errors.

I am at the point of wanting to report this to the Ombudsman and seeking legal course. Is there any advice on this ?

theonlywayisup

Claims are processed on a claim for claim basis. Why would loyalty need to be involved?

bris

There's no such thing as a loyal customer, there is just customers. Every one is treated the same, decades long or first time using the service.


It's never a problem until there is a problem, so for a decade you have been lucky and now the problem shows their true colours. Not many are much better though so move onto the next one and hope for the best.


As for legal action, well the value would be the reason to either do it or not. Is it a lot of money or just not worth the hassle? This is the big question.

Aylesbury_Duck

Is there advice on it? Take them to small claims court and discard any notion that your regular custom somehow gives you entitlement to any better treatment than any other customer they disappoint.

Spank

Did you not use something like instapack inside the pc to hold the components in place?

LilElvis

Which ombudsman? I don't know of one, but willing to be corrected.