Taking Hermes to Small Claims Court?

Yawn

Hi everyone,

I made the mistake of entrusting a package to Hermes for delivery. They managed to lose inside their own processing hub. I did not pay for insurance, but all that they are offering is their standard 20 pound compensation and the value of the package is about 10 times that. I'd have a small amount of respect if the package got lost in delivery - but odds are it is still in their hub and they just can't even been bothered to look for it. Does anyone here have any experience taking Hermes to small claims court? And if so, do you have any advice?

Thanks very much!

TELLIT01

You chose not to take out insurance but expect Hermes just to accept that the contents were worth over £200.  They hadn't thousands of items per day so it's virtually inevitable that items will go astray.  How do you know they have looked for it.  As to whether you would have any success in the small claims court - I very much doubt it.

jon81uk

If you chose not to arrange a suitible service for the value of your package that is your issue.
Doesn't matter if you use Royal Mail, Hermes, DHL or whoever. Don't think you will get anywhere at small claims.

Bradden

If you didn't take out the insurance offered that was your choice.

Alderbank

Yawn said:

Hi everyone,

I made the mistake of entrusting a package to Hermes for delivery. They managed to lose inside their own processing hub - odds are it is still in their hub...

No, odds are they have sold it.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDV3wUVlwoc 
This interesting Ch4 investigation revealed that they send them to auction (by the truckload). Joe Lycett successfully bid for some of the parcels then delivered them to the people they were addressed to, who were both surprised and delighted.

Yawn

TELLIT01 said:

You chose not to take out insurance but expect Hermes just to accept that the contents were worth over £200.  They hadn't thousands of items per day so it's virtually inevitable that items will go astray.  How do you know they have looked for it.  As to whether you would have any success in the small claims court - I very much doubt it.

The last update was that the package arrived at their hub. I have a note from their customer service saying that the packaging had been damaged but would be repaired. Then subsequent e-mails claimed that it had been lost. Again, no updates indicating that the package has left their hub. So there is a good deal of evidence here for wilful malfeasance. 

Perhaps I should have clarified those aspects, but the fact that the package was lost *inside* their hub was quite damning already. I'm surprised that anyone on a consumer rights forum would be so supportive of a delivery company. 

Yawn

Bradden said:

If you didn't take out the insurance offered that was your choice.

Please do ask for advice on this forum, Bradden, and I will reply with something similarly unhelpful.  

Alderbank

Yawn said:

So there is a good deal of evidence here for wilful malfeasance. 

Evidence perhaps of carelessness or poor depot management, but what is the evidence that it is wilful?

ThumbRemote

I do seem to remember someone on these forums making a successful small claims court claim against a parcel courier, claiming the couriers negligence was beyond what might be considered the acceptable damage in transit. Can't remember many more details. 

If you do take it to small claims court, please keep us updated with the outcome. 

born_again

Yawn said:

Bradden said:

If you didn't take out the insurance offered that was your choice.

Please do ask for advice on this forum, Bradden, and I will reply with something similarly unhelpful.  

You have to remember Hermes do not offer insurance. As that is a regulated product. They offer compensation. The more you pay, the more they cover. But that depends on the item not being on the excluded list.

So just double check that your item was not on the list before you waste anything taking them to court. 👍

https://www.evri.com/send/what-i-can-and-cannot-send

Peter999_2

It really is awful.    Why send truckloads of stuff to be auctioned when the address is still on the package?   Pretty dispicable behaviour.      Thanks for sharing the Joe Lycett video, he is very entertaining - I find him hilarious.