Problems with Evri - Lost Parcel

albizo74

Hi everyone,

I am pretty sure the issue I am about to mention has happened already to many consumers and possibly it has been brought up to this forum, but I still would like to ask for advice.

I sent a parcel, specifically an electric guitar I had sold on Reverb, from Leominster on Friday 9th of August.
The  parcel was collected by a courier and accepted at the Evri local depot on Saturday 10th (this was confirmed both by email and by the Evri tracking service).
After a few days, the buyer contacted and asked for the parcel's whereabout.
According to the tracking service, the guitar was still at the local depot but, after phoning Evri and talking with two different operators, I had the confirmation that the parcel "could not be located". 
I had purchased an insurance that was supposed to cover the full value of the instrument, but I didn't realize at the time that it wouldn't cover musical instruments (I would have chosen a different courier if I did).
Obviously, I had to issue a full refund to the buyer and I ended up with a considerable amount of money out of my pocket.
I opened a claim with Evri to have a refund but, given the policy T&C and having heard of previous experiences from some of their customers, I am not optimistic about the outcome.
With this in mind, I am considering escalating the issue and taking it to the small claim court considering that I am not dealing with a case of loss or accidental damage.
The guitar never made it past their local depot and, in all likeness, it was stolen by one or their employees while it was in their custody.
Evri admitted that the guitar went missing from their local warehouse, I have a record of this both in an email string and in a conversation that took place on the messenger service on their Facebook page. The way I see it, this wasn't an "accident" but rather a consequence of Evri's negligence.
Has anyone experienced a similar issue, and was it resolved in any way?

Thanks in advance!

Aylesbury_Duck

Send them a letter before action threatening court action.  It might elicit a response - either a greater effort to track down the parcel or an offer - or they may just ignore you, in which case you'll have to proceed with court action.

albizo74

I have threatened a court action twice, and they dismissed it without a comment unfortunately.
Probably, they think I'll just drop it...

Okell

Did Evri know that it was a guitar and did you declare the value to them?

If yes to both, then read this thread:   Couriers, lost parcels and unfair terms — MoneySavingExpert Forum

If Evri won't reimburse then do as suggested above by @Aylesbury_Duck and send them a Letter Before Action (aka Letter Before Claim) and point out to them that it has previously been decided that clauses attempting to limit the liabilty of carriers where they have been informed of the value of the goods are unfair terms under Part 2 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (legislation.gov.uk) and therefore unenforceable.

Also point out to them that under s49 of the above legislation they are required to provide their contracted services with reasonable care and skill.  (ie not lose items entrusted into their care).

If they won't pay up you will have to consider if it's worth suing them.  If you win you get your money back plus court fees.  If you lose you get nothing back and you've paid the court fees.

(Basically you have to send them a letter before action before you can sue them)


[Edit :  Cross-posted with you.  Yeah - I think they don't expect you to carry out the threat. I would write to them one more time including what I've explained above.  If they still ignore then personally I'd sue them, but that's easy for me to say.  Depends on the value of the guitar and whether you want to be reimbursed for it.  And whether you want to risk losing the court fee to issue the claim.  I think you have a good chance of winning but nothing is certain once it gets to court.  One thing that is certain is that if you don't sue them you'll get nothing]

albizo74

Besides, the parcel itself measures about 120x60x30. If they couldn't manage to locate it so far, I doubt it will be still in the building.

albizo74

Thank you both for the advice. It's much appreciated!

Okell

@albizo74 -  I've edited my earlier post in light of your response.  We cross-posted

albizo74

Okell said:

@albizo74 -  I've edited my earlier post in light of your response.  We cross-posted

Thanks again.
The guitar sold for £350, plus another £25 for postage costs.
Not a fortune, but still a significant amount of money for me.

Aylesbury_Duck

albizo74 said:

I have threatened a court action twice, and they dismissed it without a comment unfortunately.
Probably, they think I'll just drop it...

You need to see it through, then.  Threatening a second time pretty much suggests you were bluffing the first time.

Okell

albizo74 said:

Okell said:

@albizo74 -  I've edited my earlier post in light of your response.  We cross-posted

Thanks again.
The guitar sold for £350, plus another £25 for postage costs.
Not a fortune, but still a significant amount of money for me.

I think the fee to issue a court claim for £300 - £500 is £50.

If they make you take it to a hearing I think there is an additional hearing fee but I'm not sure.

Others will know more than me

Also look at this page from the Consumer Action Group:  Welcome to the Consumer Forums - National Consumer Service (consumeractiongroup.co.uk)

Look at the second banner down - the yellow one.  "Parcel Delivery insurance is prohibited etc etc".  That takes you to Times page discussing this topic.

Note that there they are using s57 as an argument - ie they can't exclude or limit their liability for losing stuff.  I think Part 2 of the legislation - prohibition of unfair terms - also applies, but include s57 too in your Letter Before Action

If you search around the Consumer Action Group forums you will find many many threads about claiming against couriers.  CAG claim a lot of success...

Okell

NB - success depends on Evri knowing its value.

If you didn't declare its value to them your case is very very weak and perhaps not worth pursuing.

And are you saying that Evri won't carry musical instruments at all or just that their "extra" insurance doesn't cover them?

Whether insurance covers them is irrelevant - Evri still have to perform the service with reasonable care and skill (ie not lose the guitar) and they can't exclude liabilty if they fail to do so

If Evri won't take musical instruments at all and you didn't tell them it was a guitar, I suspect you have little chance of winning

But if they knew it was a guitar - regardless of whether they accept them or not - that strengthens your case.