Charging a delivery company for incurred costs (parcel2go)

TidyMax

Hi Folks.

Bare with me this may be a long one, I'll try to summarise quickly!

I'm a lighting specialist based in the UK, we have our own lighting brand. We made some bespoke lighting for a South African film company and sent it via Parcel2go. We paid for an express delivery guaranteed to arrive by the 2nd Oct. Collection on the 26th Sept.

The package never made it to SA. We received the package back on Oct 23rd.
I have countless proof that P2G intentionally lied and mislead us.
They have now issued a part refund (ommited the delivery guarantee money).
I had to drive to their head office and sit in the reception u til I got answers (which turned out to be total lies) they told us our package was stuck at a dpd sorting office. After leaving DPD confirmed with us the address the package was at was a P2G address.

I have invoiced P2G for all of our time and costs incurred.

Here is my latest social media post.

@parcel2go (Cube Fulfilment Ltd)


(Apologies to normal facebook friends, dont bother reading the below i am just trying to contact Parcel2Go)


Hi.


We paid for one of your services on the 26th of September (an express delivery to South Africa to arrive no later than 2nd Oct). The total cost was £336.72.


The package never made it to South Africa. We chased P2G constantly (we have all chat transcripts) and to award you the title of useless would be a gross understatement.


You had used DPD UK and our parcel was stuck at one of their hubs. After being told by P2G you didn't know where our parcel was (bespoke lighting equipment for a film shoot commencing the first week of October) you said you would launch a 4 to 6 WEEK investigation. So we then had to essentially do your job and contact DPD directly. Wwho were fantastic and instructed us that some paperwork had been lost/damaged on the boxes in transit and they had contacted P2G for clarification on the paperwork but P2G had failed to respond! P2G then laughably informed me 2 days later that you had located the package (which had taken me 45 minutes to locate after our live chat).


DPD then reprinted the paperwork and attached it.


I informed P2G via the only communication method, LiveChat, that i had sorted the problem myself and could they please keep and on eye on the package to make sure it was sent sent. I can only assume this fell on deaf fingers as you also failed to do that.


Fast forward one week and the package is still in the UK. We chase DPD again and they tell us the same thing. Seeking clarification off P2G, we chase P2G who say they don't know whats going on, 7-14 day investigation time. So again we speak to DPD. DPD then inform use because P2G haven't responded at all the package is now in their returns process, and they can't confirm details with ME (the package owner and sender) as their client is P2G, which is annoying yet understandable due to GDPR.


P2G cant tell me where my package is or when we will receive it.


DPD give me the new tracking number, the package is delivered to the address it was collected from (our business premises) and signed by a K Kenworth.
There is no one at my address called K Kenworth.
It was not delivered back to my address.


After another pointeless LiveChat session i had no option but to drive to P2G head office and refuse to leave until i had an answer.


I was told the package delivery address was a DPD sorting station and i would have the package in 2 days, you were processing the refund immediately and i was free to use an actual genuine courier service. Alas, i left, disheartened but at least i had an answer to give my client who was now 372,782zar out of pocket due to your inability to provide the service you charge for. That's around £19,000 to you and i OR 4 x the package value.


After i left the Head Quarters of your scam operation i called DPD just to confirm that the address was one of their sorting locations, lo and behold.... IT WAS NOT!


Another Parcel2Go lie!!! So much so, the DPD staff member was that irritated that you had lied, that they actually informed me the address was .....wait for it..... ONE OF YOUR OWN!!!


It is a P2G address!!


You had the package all along, so not only did you fail to deliver it and fail to tell me ANY genuine information. You also kept it for 2 x longer than the delivery should have taken in the first place!


Finally the package arrived, i resent it via the DHL export account we had opened and it was with the client in 36 hours for less than the half the price you charged. (HUGE thanks to Charlie our account manager at DHL who provided an INSANELY good service).


Then we get to the refund, i received an email stating the refund had been processed and would take two days, the refund amount was not only the incorrect amount (ill let you guess if it was more or less than it should have been) but its not arrived. This was a week and a half ago.


SO, i have issued you an invoice, for the amount of money you have taken off us and for all of our time you have wasted. The time has been calculated fairly and it just our workshop daily rate divided back into hours. Also i have included the cost of us leaving a job to sit in your reception whilst we get some answers. It would be great if you could send me an email address to forward the invoice onto, a copy has been sent to you via Royal Mail (another service that actually works) and you have 30 days till month ending to pay

The costs I have billed P2G for are our business time andour loss of earnings from having to cancel a job to drive to their office. I am not seeking the charges the client is imposing on us.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers

boo_star

This isn't a consumer rights issue.

As it is a B2B contract it is down to what is in your contract.

TidyMax

Really? It's a service I purchased via their website? We don't have an account with P2G or any form of credit etc

BoGoF

You are a business using the services of another business = B2B.

davidmcn

TidyMax wrote: »

Really?

Yes, really. That's the whole point of consumer rights - they're for consumers, as opposed to businesses. Businesses can, broadly speaking, negotiate whatever terms they like when they're dealing with each other. They're deemed to understand what they're doing when they read contracts, and/or have the ability to negotiate the terms and/or seek legal advice.

shaun_from_Africa

TidyMax wrote: »

Really? It's a service I purchased via their website? We don't have an account with P2G or any form of credit etc

It doesn't matter where you purchased the service from.
All that matters is that you bought the service from a business whilst operating as a business yourself and because of this, consumer rights don't apply. (as far as the law is concerned, a consumer is a person acting outside of a business).

Any recourse you may have will depend on the terms and conditions of the contract between you and P2G and what their smallprint states.

TidyMax

Okay! !!!! but makes sense. I naively assumed that consumer law would apply to anything bought or sold!

So would I have to get them to sign a contract prior to me using their service? As my terms state that any costs incurred will be passed on to them.

justjohn

Consumer Law is there to protect joe public from themselves (lol) and businesses.


businesses - need to sue people/businesses if they want recourse.

davidmcn

TidyMax wrote: »

So would I have to get them to sign a contract prior to me using their service? As my terms state that any costs incurred will be passed on to them.

You entered into a contract when you made the order with them. It's unlikely that involved them signing anything, and it wouldn't have to. It's even less likely that your terms would have been incorporated into that contract rather than theirs. Couriers aren't going to agree to use your terms unless you're a sufficiently massive customer to be able to call the shots.

So I suspect you're going to have to read their terms and conditions and see what they say.

visidigi

Yes really. and if you are going to turn up in business premises and take this further I would ensure you are fully aware of the situation.

You bought from a middleman, you have no contract with DPD so nothing they say to you is applicable to the contract you have.

If you want the services of a courier use a courier, not a middleman.

TidyMax

I have already turned up to the business premises.

We used them as our DHL I port and export accounts were still in the process of being set up and after using an online comparison site they offered the fastest and most comprehensive package.

At no point have I implied I have a contract with DPD, infact I have done nothing but sign Dpds praises, so I'm not too sure what you are getting at?

As a company who also acts as a middleman I don't know what you are implying? Any product or service that we act as a middleman for, ergo:make money on. Is then OUR responsibility, we ha dle all tech support and warranty/guarantee issues related to the products and services we resell.