Ebay and myhermes disaster

Flarris

If this is in the wrong section just let me know please...I recently ordered a second hand piece of machinery from ebay, from a guy in Scotland. It was either collect or buyer arrange a courier, and since we have used myhermes a lot a in recent years we arranged from our end the collection and then delivery of said item to us. First 4 days or so of watching the tracking on the hermes website was ok, then it started to go badly wrong. Item got held up for no accountable reason for 2 days at our local depot, then all tracking went blank and shipment just showed as "invalid". I gave it 2 days then got on to myhermes, to receive an email basically admitting that they had damaged the parcel, and then seen fit to just dispose of the contents. Ok, so it was a chainsaw, dissembled, apparently very well wrapped according to the sender, and completely drained of fuel. I am a forestry worker and have probably sent / received about a dozen saws at least over the past few years, without incident, through myhermes. The issue here is, (a) they are not really interested if they lose or damage something (b) a chainsaw is on their "non compensatable" / prohibited list. Though if you take a close look, most things you could mention are on there, anyway. If they were apologetic and offered at least some form of compensation, I possibly wouldn't have the hump as much as I have, and possibly it's the dismissive arrogance of the customer care staff that causes offence. But to just take an item that is clearly worth hundreds of pounds and chuck it in a skip simply because the box is torn does not sound like very ethical practise. Is there anything I can do here, apart from running a Resolver case against them?

soolin

As you say yourself a chainsaw seems to fall foul of several of the prohibited categories so would have been carried at your own risk. It was always a gamble , I’m sure we’ve all risked stuff with MyHermes and have got away with it , resin for instance is not covered yet I have Gambled and sent a couple of bits In the past. 

Unfortunately this time you have lost out . Resolver is merely an arbitration type service and since you would be arguing that you knew the risks and accepted them, I can’t see you achieving anything there either. 

twadds123

I'm curious on this one,  they have admitted that the package wasnt lost,  it was damaged and they chose to dispose of it,   now whilst the chainsaw may not be eligible for any claim for the damage it seems like they should still have made reasonable efforts to either deliver what they could, or make the package available for collection.

I've not read the entire t&c's but the only causes i can see that allow for them to dispose come after contact with the buyer and if either a) the buyer agrees or b) the buyer has failed to respond to contact adequetly or pay requested fees.

The goods are surely legally the property of the buyer as they have paid for them,  hermes never owns the goods and therefore has no right to decide to dispose without consutiing the legal owner. 

If they disposed with no effort to contact the legal owner, or at least the sender with whom they have a contact details (in this case one and the same person) then I put it that could constitute theft as they had no right to decide what to do with the goods.

soolin

These are their terms and conditions on the pages if you check for the restricted or prohibited list

 Prohibited items

We have listed below Prohibited Items. 
Prohibited Items are goods which Hermes will not carry. 
Hermes will not compensate you for loss, damage or late delivery of Prohibited Items. 
If any Prohibited Items are found in our delivery network we will dispose of them. Please refer to our Terms and Conditions.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

soolin said:

These are their terms and conditions on the pages if you check for the restricted or prohibited list

 Prohibited items

We have listed below Prohibited Items. 
Prohibited Items are goods which Hermes will not carry. 
Hermes will not compensate you for loss, damage or late delivery of Prohibited Items. 
If any Prohibited Items are found in our delivery network we will dispose of them keep quiet and deliver them but if they are lost or damaged tough luck . Please refer to our Terms and Conditions.

Would be a more accurate statement. 

Sadly OP as it was a damaged parcel they could claim the item caused the problem, if it was lost that would be different. 

You can always send them a letter before action with the notion of small claims but whether they would buckle is hard to say. 

twadds123

soolin said:

 

If any Prohibited Items are found in our delivery network we will dispose of them. Please refer to our Terms and Conditions.

Ah well, covered by the t&c's you agree to when using them, fair enough

MalMonroe

It doesn't matter what's in the parcel, the problem is that Hermes was contracted by the seller to deliver it but they did not deliver it. This has happened to me - with different products though.

What you should have done, and should do now, is contact the seller via your ebay account. It's an ebay seller problem. That's what I've done each time I haven't received a Hermes parcel (they are notoriously rubbish at delivering). And each time I've had either a replacement sent or an immediate refund. Last time, Hermes sent me various messages to say my parcel was on the way and supplied a tracking number. After several checks of the tracking number, with no sign of any parcel, there was a message stating "your parcel has been damaged and returned to our depot".  Great.

When you buy from ebay, your contract is with them. NOT with the delivery service or courier. You need to contact ebay, not Hermes, to get a full refund. If the seller won't give it to you, ebay will. That's what they guarantee to do and that's what they've always done for me.  That's the beauty of buying on ebay. 

es5595

If you read the OP, you’ll see why your scenario doesn’t work. 

Hermes were contracted by the buyer, since the seller did not offer postage. 

Only if you are suggesting the OP should be unethical and bet that the seller has accepted PayPal but has no tracking number, and make a claim that way, which I hope you are not. 

MalMonroe said:

It doesn't matter what's in the parcel, the problem is that Hermes was contracted by the seller to deliver it but they did not deliver it.

soolin

MalMonroe said:

It doesn't matter what's in the parcel, the problem is that Hermes was contracted by the seller to deliver it but they did not deliver it. This has happened to me - with different products though.

What you should have done, and should do now, is contact the seller via your ebay account. It's an ebay seller problem. That's what I've done each time I haven't received a Hermes parcel (they are notoriously rubbish at delivering). And each time I've had either a replacement sent or an immediate refund. Last time, Hermes sent me various messages to say my parcel was on the way and supplied a tracking number. After several checks of the tracking number, with no sign of any parcel, there was a message stating "your parcel has been damaged and returned to our depot".  Great.

When you buy from ebay, your contract is with them. NOT with the delivery service or courier. You need to contact ebay, not Hermes, to get a full refund. If the seller won't give it to you, ebay will. That's what they guarantee to do and that's what they've always done for me.  That's the beauty of buying on ebay. 

It’s been said I know but worth repeating. This is a money saving site not one for thieving buyers and to the OPs credit they have taken responsibility for this throughout this thread and well done to them.

Making a fraudulent INR claim would not only be immoral it would almost certainly not work. EBay have started to give some protection on collection only items , as have PayPal and if such a fraudulent claim is opened then a pro active seller could easily get a buyer’s account marked as fraudulent by showing the auction as being collection only and all the messages stating that buyer was taking responsibility for the collection by their own arranged courier. 

OP you have everyone’s respect on here for acknowledging your error, do not even consider making a fraudulent Claim as it could easily make the situation even worse. 

shaun_from_Africa

Flarris said:

Ok, so it was a chainsaw, dissembled, apparently very well wrapped according to the sender, and completely drained of fuel.

"completely drained of fuel" on its own isn't enough for for it to be sent with a courier or with a postal delivery service.
Even though there was no fuel inside, the only two ways that it could legally be sent would for it to be declared as dangerous goods and packed, labeled and certified as such (and sent with a dangerous goods certified shipper)  or for all of the fuel vapour to be removed, something that is next to impossible to do at a reasonable cost.

Flarris

Thanks for all supportive comments, Ebay have actually refunded, despite myhermes being at fault. As one forum user above points out, they have breached the law really by disposing of the item regardless of its state and ought to be held accountable though. I will never accept that is acceptable practice