Claims against Parcel Force Worldwide - need advice

MNrhubarb

I had some important legal documents that needed to get to France for Tuesday 14 January. They had only been emailed to me the previous Friday, I had to print them out, sign every page and get my signature witnessed by a government official. Hence it was Sat morning before I was ready to post them.
I paid £44 to send them by Global Express which has guaranteed next day delivery and signature on arrival.

I was keeping updated with the tracker and saw that they got to the Bristol hub at 13:33 on Monday 13 January. From there they only arrived at the international hub (also in Bristol and probably in the same building) at 10:30pm. There it stayed until the tracker updated to say it had been collected from the town where I originally posted it, at 14:55pm on 14 January.

I phoned the French solicitors and they agreed to postpone the signing until the Friday.
I also phoned Parcel Force in Bristol and they assured me it was still in Bristol and the tracker would be updated shortly, plus someone would call me.

The next day (Wednesday 15) the tracker updated to say it would be exported at 4am on Thursday 16 January. I phoned the Bristol hub again and they could give no explanation as to why it was held in Bristol for so long but said someone would call me back.

Today at 11:20am on Thursday 16 January the tracker is still saying it will be exported at 4am today.

I have had no calls from Bristol and am now at a stage where I have to sign the documents again, scan and email them and will have to use a different courier to post them again.

The government official is going to invoice us for the second signature witness we are asking them to do. Plus we will have the cost for the second courier. I can do a claims form from ParcelForce which entitles me to a full refund, but will they cover the additional costs?

There is no ombudsman, so what are my rights here? I have tried messaging them on Facebook to no avail and have sent 3 emails with no response.

Not sure what to do next or how to raise it higher to be honest. Any advice appreciated. It's caused no amount of stress as you can imagine!

mattyprice4004

Did you book it through ParcelForce directly (ie over the counter at a Post Office or ParcelForce depot) or via a website? If so, which website?

Castle

Are you acting as a consumer or a business?

MNrhubarb

Hi both

I did it at the Post Office and I am acting as an individual.

We are buying some land in France and needed to get original signed documents to them asap.

m0bov

All you can do is complain and ask for a refund. They have failed to deliver the letter as per the agreed contract.

If you have out of pocket expenses such as the invoice for the official, then send this in and claim it back from PF.

MNrhubarb

Are they obliged to pay for additional expenses incurred by a failure of them to deliver the item? Just wondering what my rights are here.

born_again

MNrhubarb wrote: »

Are they obliged to pay for additional expenses incurred by a failure of them to deliver the item? Just wondering what my rights are here.

That will depend on the T/C and what they cover.

visidigi

MNrhubarb wrote: »

Are they obliged to pay for additional expenses incurred by a failure of them to deliver the item? Just wondering what my rights are here.

No, officially consequential losses are not covered.
in saying that you might find they offer some goodwill without accepting fault.

You might unfortunately find though that this could be the post office and not PF that have failed - they take packages in but it doesnt actually become PF's problem till its picked up so to some extent they might point the finger at each other.

Irony is I dont beleive its even PF that deliver overnight - don't think they have that service, it would either be GLS or one of the big three as a subcontract (it depends where in France etc)

MNrhubarb

Hmm, thanks.

They record all phone calls so would have a record of them confirming that it had reached Bristol on the Monday and admitting they had no idea why it was not ready for export until early hours of Thursday morning.

The Bristol hub is operated by Parcel Force and this is where it has been held all this time. I'm not now convinced that it's been exported as the status hasn't been updated to show that it's reached France.

Therefore I don't think they can claim the fault lies with any sub-contractor or the Post Office. Plus my contract lies with them, so they are responsible for providing the service I've paid for.

If they fail to deliver, are they seriously not liable for the costs of a different courier?

LilElvis

MNrhubarb wrote: »

If they fail to deliver, are they seriously not liable for the costs of a different courier?

Why would they pay for the second courier if they refund your original fee? You will only be incurring one cost of postage.

visidigi

MNrhubarb wrote: »

Hmm, thanks.

They record all phone calls so would have a record of them confirming that it had reached Bristol on the Monday and admitting they had no idea why it was not ready for export until early hours of Thursday morning.

The Bristol hub is operated by Parcel Force and this is where it has been held all this time. I'm not now convinced that it's been exported as the status hasn't been updated to show that it's reached France.

Therefore I don't think they can claim the fault lies with any sub-contractor or the Post Office. Plus my contract lies with them, so they are responsible for providing the service I've paid for.

If they fail to deliver, are they seriously not liable for the costs of a different courier?

They are not liable.

But if the Post Office made a mistake this might be why it never left Bristol. All you can do is ask the question about good will and see what they say.