Grade Mobile Return - Royal Mail Lost My Device - Lower Compensation - What Are My Rights?

Bettencourt37

Hi folks,

Just wondering if anyone could give some advice on what my rights are or can advise if this would be a CAB issue?

I posted my device to Grade Mobile to sell to them. However after their inspection their offer was lower than what I was expecting. So I asked them to return the device.

They sent it via Royal Mail Tracked and the package has since been lost. Grade are only willing to give me £150 compensation as that is what the Royal Mail cover is for lost parcel on this service. However Grade offered me a sum of £265 post-inspection to purchase the device.

I guess my first fault before sending off the phone was not checking the terms and conditions. I have since done that it does indeed say in section 9.1.1 "Royal Mail's Tracked Delivery Service includes maximum compensation for damage, or loss, subject to Royal Mail accepting, and granting the claim."

Is putting this in their terms and conditions and sticking to Royal Mail's compensation reasonable? Or would it be worth seeking out advice to get the value of the phone paid to me?

Apologies for the long winded post, but thought I'd see if there was anyone more in the know than me.

Thanks!

Kim_13

They clearly underinsured the return, believing it to be worth £115 more than the service they used would pay out. It would be more of a grey area for me if it had gone missing on its outward journey using the same service. When they received the phone, they were responsible for it until they either bought it or you received it back in the same condition as you sent it to them.

I would only settle for the £150 if Grade had contacted you and said that as the phone was worth more than £150, you could either have it returned using RM Tracked with the maximum compensation payable being £150, or pay them the difference in cost to have it insured for the full value - and you opted for the former. This doesn’t seem to have been the case.

Companies often under insure parcels, probably because the amount they save in not opting for Special Delivery (the only service where compensation exceeding £150 can be obtained) outweighs the amount they lose when something goes wrong. In those few cases, they only pay the difference since Royal Mail still pay £150. 

No one forces Grade to return devices they don’t purchase for free, but if that’s what they offer then I’d expect a court to find their term about RM Tracked and compensation being contingent on RM paying out unfair. A reasonable person would expect a valuable item to be sent by fully insured means, and that it wasn’t is on them. 

Bettencourt37

Kim_13 said:

They clearly underinsured the return, believing it to be worth £115 more than the service they used would pay out. It would be more of a grey area for me if it had gone missing on its outward journey using the same service. When they received the phone, they were responsible for it until they either bought it or you received it back in the same condition as you sent it to them.

I would only settle for the £150 if Grade had contacted you and said that as the phone was worth more than £150, you could either have it returned using RM Tracked with the maximum compensation payable being £150, or pay them the difference in cost to have it insured for the full value - and you opted for the former. This doesn’t seem to have been the case.

Companies often under insure parcels, probably because the amount they save in not opting for Special Delivery (the only service where compensation exceeding £150 can be obtained) outweighs the amount they lose when something goes wrong. In those few cases, they only pay the difference since Royal Mail still pay £150. 

No one forces Grade to return devices they don’t purchase for free, but if that’s what they offer then I’d expect a court to find their term about RM Tracked and compensation being contingent on RM paying out unfair. A reasonable person would expect a valuable item to be sent by fully insured means, and that it wasn’t is on them. 

Cheers, that was my impression. Do you know if they were to play hardball, would I need to go to CAB or would I need to take them to Small Claims?

Kim_13

CAB can’t force Grade to pay you the money, they can only offer advice on the process - e.g. whether you would need to get a court to find their term 9.1.1 unfair before the Small Claims court could award you the money, or whether the Small Claims Court can do both. Forumites have reported a mix of good and bad advice from CAB (they are volunteers, so sometimes get it wrong despite the best of intentions.) In a case like this it clearly wouldn’t be worth approaching solicitors unless it was for the free half hour that some offer.

If you have exhausted Grade customer service, drawing attention to the fact you are a minimum of £115 out of pocket for something outside of your control (as they chose Royal Mail Tracked over Special Delivery and not you - X, TrustPilot etc) and their complaints procedure then you would need to go to court.

Alderbank

The OP didn't like the offer made by Grade so decided to reject the contract.

Usually in consumer contracts the consumer sends money to the trader but not always. In this case the consumer sent goods other than money. Such transactions are covered in the Consumer Rights Act s20 paras(9)-(12).

(9)The consumer's entitlement to receive a refund works as follows.
(10)To the extent that the consumer paid money under the contract, the consumer is entitled to receive back the same amount of money.
(11)To the extent that the consumer transferred anything else under the contract, the consumer is entitled to receive back the same amount of what the consumer transferred, unless subsection (12) applies.
(12)To the extent that the consumer transferred under the contract something for which the same amount of the same thing cannot be substituted, the consumer is entitled to receive back in its original state whatever the consumer transferred.

The wording is excruciatingly clumsy but what s20(12) tries to say is that if the consumer sends a unique item, that actual item must be returned if they reject the contract, if possible to do so.

The trader can't do that because they admit they have lost it. I think s20(11) says they can send a close equivalent of equal value. So if for example Grade have lost the OP's iPhone 13 Pro max in class A condition they could substitute another iPhone 13 Pro max in class A condition. The intention is so that the consumer is not left worse off.

Any B2B deals between Grade and their chosen courier are just between them and are irrelevant. They can't take away from the consumer's statutory rights laid down in CRA s(20).

Ergates

Bettencourt37 said:

Hi folks,

Just wondering if anyone could give some advice on what my rights are or can advise if this would be a CAB issue?

I posted my device to Grade Mobile to sell to them. However after their inspection their offer was lower than what I was expecting. So I asked them to return the device.

They sent it via Royal Mail Tracked and the package has since been lost. Grade are only willing to give me £150 compensation as that is what the Royal Mail cover is for lost parcel on this service. However Grade offered me a sum of £265 post-inspection to purchase the device.

I guess my first fault before sending off the phone was not checking the terms and conditions. I have since done that it does indeed say in section 9.1.1 "Royal Mail's Tracked Delivery Service includes maximum compensation for damage, or loss, subject to Royal Mail accepting, and granting the claim."

Is putting this in their terms and conditions and sticking to Royal Mail's compensation reasonable? Or would it be worth seeking out advice to get the value of the phone paid to me?

Apologies for the long winded post, but thought I'd see if there was anyone more in the know than me.

Thanks!

In terms of the RM insurance:  This is irrelevant to you and is the companies problem.  They were responsible for the phone until it was delivered back to you.  They lost it.  They should compensate you for this loss, then claim back from RM.

In terms of what compensation you are due:  They should either replace the phone with an equivalent or pay you what the phone is worth.  This is where it gets a little muddy as the company and you seem to have different opinions on what the phone is worth.  However, their starting point should be the figure they quoted you - as they can hardly argue it's worth less than that.

GDB2222

Issue a LBA, then use MCOL to issue proceedings. If you are claiming £300, say, it’s simply uneconomic for them to defend the claim. That’s regardless of the merits of your claim, which appear to be rather good. 

Bettencourt37

Thanks very much for the advice everyone.I'll completely exhaust the complaints system and give them multiple opportunities to resolve this.

@GDB2222 - Sorry, what's an LBA?

littleboo

Letter Before Action - a formal notification that you intend to go legal. It may prompt action but you have to be ready to follow up the threat if not.

pinkshoes

Bettencourt37 said:

Thanks very much for the advice everyone.I'll completely exhaust the complaints system and give them multiple opportunities to resolve this.

@GDB2222 - Sorry, what's an LBA?

LBA = letter before action.

Give them a reasonable time frame to pay the money they owe you (or another identical phone in the same condition) otherwise you'll take them to court for the money. Send the letter with proof of postage.

GDB2222

LBA:

"Dear Sirs

I sent you a phone worth £350. You offered me £265, so I declined your offer. You failed to deliver the phone back to me, as your courier, RM, lost it. You have offered me £150 compensation, which is obviously insufficient. 

Your offer is based on RM's insurance, which simply reflects that you chose to under-insure the parcel. 

My rights to compensation are set out in the Consumer Rights Act s20 paras(9)-(12). This entitles me to the full value of my phone, regardless of any arrangements you had with your courier.

Accordingly, you need to pay me £350. Unless I receive this within two weeks, ie xx January, I shall issue proceedings without further notice. May I remind you that this will result in you incurring further substantial costs, including court fees and fixed commencement costs.

Yours faithfully"


They'll probably ignore that, so then you need to spend some time reading:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/money-claim-online-user-guide/money-claim-online-mcol-user-guide