Parcel2go

Treeman3

Hi. I sent a parcel with parcel2go and they lost it. I didn’t take out insurance with them and the package had an item of £20.00 value which I told them during the booking process. They have now sent me an e mail saying they won’t refund me the value as I didn’t take out insurance, is this correct? Is there anything I can do? Thanks in advance.

mikb

Parcel2Go is an intermediary, so although your contract is with them, they didn't lose your parcel. The courier you selected lost the parcel. This is a small point but will make it harder for you to chase anybody

In future -- always pay the insurance -- you have three options: No cover, standard cover (often up to £20 included), or extra cover because you declared it to be over £20.

Unless you can show Parcel2Go were negligent in some way, and did not carry out their duty, what can you do? Bearing in mind "their duty" was to offer you a selection of couriers, and book what you chose, on your behalf. You need to go after the courier, if you can demonstrate they stole it, left it somewhere inappropriate, or were otherwise negligent. Of course, you are not the courier's customer (Parcel2Go is). Hence the complication.

What does the tracking actually say?

Treeman3

It was sent by Hermes and they sent me the below e mail. 

"Dear Sir,

 I'm sorry you haven't received the parcel back. With the last scan showing 10/01/20 - i will now have to issue claim code: C01.

 Sorry for the inconvenience caused. 

 If we can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards,

Darren Dunbar

Client Complaints Escalation Team"
Since then I've heard nothng? 

mattyprice4004

You’ll get a refund of the delivery fee, but not the value. If you wanted to be covered you should have taken insurance.

Where would they draw the line otherwise; would they be liable for a £500,000 Faberge egg sent on a £2.39 service? 

Maniak

A quick scan from P2G's terms and conditions suggest that they are not an intermediary, rather the contracting party and not Hermes. You aren't required to get insurance and they can't pass the buck to you for their failure in taking reasonable care of your parcel, in breach of your consumer rights. Their T&Cs are heavily restricted in terms of liability to you and appear to imply an onus on you to take out insurance, but the Competition and Markets Authority have suggested in their unfair terms guidance that businesses should not pass the risk and make the consumer the insurer.

If you want to be practical and claim your money back, send P2G and Hermes a letter before action for the value of the goods and if they refuse then issue a claim against both them as defendants. They will more likely than not come around and offer you the £20 back because its just not commercially viable to defend it, unless they do so on principle and even then they may be on sticky ground.

Treeman3

Maniak said:

A quick scan from P2G's terms and conditions suggest that they are not an intermediary, rather the contracting party and not Hermes. You aren't required to get insurance and they can't pass the buck to you for their failure in taking reasonable care of your parcel, in breach of your consumer rights. Their T&Cs are heavily restricted in terms of liability to you and appear to imply an onus on you to take out insurance, but the Competition and Markets Authority have suggested in their unfair terms guidance that businesses should not pass the risk and make the consumer the insurer.

If you want to be practical and claim your money back, send P2G and Hermes a letter before action for the value of the goods and if they refuse then issue a claim against both them as defendants. They will more likely than not come around and offer you the £20 back because its just not commercially viable to defend it, unless they do so on principle and even then they may be on sticky ground.

Maniak said:

A quick scan from P2G's terms and conditions suggest that they are not an intermediary, rather the contracting party and not Hermes. You aren't required to get insurance and they can't pass the buck to you for their failure in taking reasonable care of your parcel, in breach of your consumer rights. Their T&Cs are heavily restricted in terms of liability to you and appear to imply an onus on you to take out insurance, but the Competition and Markets Authority have suggested in their unfair terms guidance that businesses should not pass the risk and make the consumer the insurer.

If you want to be practical and claim your money back, send P2G and Hermes a letter before action for the value of the goods and if they refuse then issue a claim against both them as defendants. They will more likely than not come around and offer you the £20 back because its just not commercially viable to defend it, unless they do so on principle and even then they may be on sticky ground.

Hi, thanks for your advice, it’s very valuable and I appreciate it. I got the feeling during my contact with Parcel2go and Hermes that they were both going out of their way not to accept responsibility. Call me old fashioned but if I pay a company to deliver a parcel I expect them to deliver it or if they lose it for whatever reason reimburse me. I never take out the insurance and this is the first time I have had this kind of problem, so in the long run I think I’ve saved money not paying for it. I think the address for the parcel being a P.O. Box which I’ve now learned is a recipe for disaster so that’s something to be mindful of and I’ll tell the company. I will now send a letter before action and see how that progresses.

Fosterdog

Did you inform either parcel to go or Hermes that the recipient had a PO Box before sending it? PO Box recipients are known only to Royal Mail (possibly parcel force) as it is a contract between them and their customer to effectively hide their real address so no other courier would have a way to find it. The recipient should have known this and told you before you sent the parcel. Parcel2go have this on their website about PO boxes.

Also did you add a return address? If not then the reason the parcel is lost is because you sent it to an address that doesn't exist to them and have put no return address giving them no way to get it back to you. If you did put a return address then how long ago did this happen? It could be held somewhere waiting for them to process it as a return to you so could still turn up if it's been less than 2-3 weeks

DoaM

Fosterdog said:

the reason the parcel is lost is because you sent it to an address that doesn't exist to them and have put no return address giving them no way to get it back to you.

There's no barcode or other reference that identifies the transaction, and hence the party who initiated the contract? Really?

Treeman3

Fosterdog said:

Did you inform either parcel to go or Hermes that the recipient had a PO Box before sending it? PO Box recipients are known only to Royal Mail (possibly parcel force) as it is a contract between them and their customer to effectively hide their real address so no other courier would have a way to find it. The recipient should have known this and told you before you sent the parcel. Parcel2go have this on their website about PO boxes.

Also did you add a return address? If not then the reason the parcel is lost is because you sent it to an address that doesn't exist to them and have put no return address giving them no way to get it back to you. If you did put a return address then how long ago did this happen? It could be held somewhere waiting for them to process it as a return to you so could still turn up if it's been less than 2-3 weeks

Hi, thanks for your input, I appreciate it. Parcel2go and Hermes accepted the delivery address although you have pointed out Pacel2go shouldn’t have, neglectful! My address (return) was on the parcel, Hermes didn’t just lose the parcels once, they lost it twice! After they initially found it after a month sat somewhere in their system, they lost it for a second time. The parcel was sent 9.12.19. You couldn’t make it up! This springs to mind, https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/15/shocking-photos-reveal-fragile-items-thrown-across-floor-hermes-depot-12061649/ 

mattyprice4004

Ahhh, is this one of those threads where you only use the thanks button and quote replies that agree with your point of view?

Treeman3

I was asking for advice not a point of view. And I didn’t realise it was a competition on who got likes and who didn’t.