Parcel force complaint.

IGGY0508

Hi,
I was wondering where I stand if I want to make a complaint against Parcelforce. The story is this.
I bought a second hand bike on Ebay. The bike was quite badly damaged in transit. The damage isn't immediately visible but it's quite extensive. The suspension forks have been so badly bent that's it's impossible to get the front wheel to fit into the forks. It's physically impossible for me to straighten them out, & even if I could they're not safe to ride. 
The seller has pictures of the wheels in the forks as proof that the bike was perfectly fine before it was delivered. 
The seller is in the process of making another complaint & has almost secured a refund for me because I have to replace the forks at my own cost, and pay to get them fitted. 
I'm not looking for another refund or compensation, although that would be good. I've had problems with Parcelforce before & I've had enough of the complete lack of any customer service and respect for their customers and their property.
So my question is can I make a separate complaint through other channels. 
Thanks in advance for any help and advice with this.
Ian.

custardy

Lets stop the bus.
The seller getting a refund is nether here nor there.
Its their job to get the item to you as you bought it. So I suggest you focus on the seller refunding/compensating you.
If doesnt take much force to bend suspension forks with no wheels fitted. I personally would pack out between the forks for transit.
So how was the bike packaged? Having pictures before sending mitigates nothing

IGGY0508

The seller is going to pass on the refund to me. It's only a partial refund so it doesn't cover the full cost of replacing the forks. But it's better than nothing.

custardy

IGGY0508 said:

The seller is going to pass on the refund to me. It's only a partial refund so it doesn't cover the full cost of replacing the forks. But it's better than nothing.

No. Lets try again.
Whether they get a refund or not is irrelevant.

pbartlett

@custardy is right - your complaint is with the seller getting an undamaged bike to you. You put in on eBay a return request stating item damaged or not working - that way the seller pays for the return.

Whether or not the seller subsequently gets compensation from Parcelforce is of no interest to you.

visidigi

The above is correct. Seller obligation to refund, if they get a refund from parcelforce or not.
Did the shipper use a shipping spacer in the fork to ensure they maintained shape during transportation?

JetpackVelociraptor

If I sell something online through my business and offer to post it, it's my responsibility as the seller to make sure that it reaches my buyer in the condition they're expecting it. If the parcel company I engage to get the goods delivered makes a mess of it and the buyer's order gets damaged, I'm the one that has to deal with it. That means I refund the buyer in full and arrange a return, or I refund the buyer an agreed upon amount and they keep the item. Then I get onto Parcelforce and, probably, fail to get any money back from them because they are a massive pain and if the product isn't packed well enough to withstand being dropped onto concrete from 2 storeys up and then run over with a forklift truck they're going to blame the packaging. But that part there? My problem. Not the buyers problem. If I didn't want to have that problem, I should have used a better delivery company.

You are the buyer, not the seller. You don't have a contractual arrangement with Parcelforce, that is between Parcelforce and the seller. There's no point you complaining to Parcelforce, they won't do anything for you. If you're accepting a partial refund from the seller, you should make certain it covers your costs before you agree the amount. Why should you be out of pocket? It's not your fault the seller used Parcelforce! You had no control over what service they used, how much packaging, whether they paid for insurance etc etc. You also should not be waiting until Parcelforce refund, because again, that's between them and the seller.  As are the photos that show that the bike wasn't broken before the seller sent it out - useful for the seller to prove to Parcelforce that they broke it, but useless to you.

If the seller won't refund your actual costs within a reasonable timeframe, or if they won't refund at all, contact eBay and they will talk you through opening a case. You have the option when opening a case to request a partial refund, so request a reasonable amount that will cover your additional costs. If they decline your request, which they have the option to do, the case will default to a return which means the seller will need to arrange for the faulty bike to be collected and returned to them at no additional cost to you. Once the tracking shows it's returned, eBay will issue your refund and close the case. Or if they agree to the partial refund, once the refund is made eBay will close the case.

It is very nice of you to ask the seller to just to cover your costs instead of insisting on a return and full refund. Don't let them walk all over you just because you want to be nice.