Parcel Compare and damaged floral arrangement

Hattersrule

Following my baby grandsons death, my daughter wished to send a floral wreath to a specialist for drying and making into a pictoral tribute. I used ParcelCompare website and selected UPS for couriering. Was collected on the Friday and site showed Saturday (next day) delivery. Item packaged up and collected Friday afternoon by UPS. Tracking showed delivery Saturday until late afternoon, and then changed to "we will advise when out for delivery". Monday was a bank holiday and eventually delivered at 10.45am on the Tuesday. Was contacted immediately by recipient showing all packaging soaking wet and majority of the flowers were damaged / unusable. UPS courier who delivered item was very embarrassed at the state it was in on delivery and took photos
UPS (when I eventually got a response through posting on social media) did not want to know and said as I had booked through third party website it was all down to them.
ParcelCompare declined any form of compensation as it "wasn't packaged correctly" (why did UPS accept parcel then?) and I shouldn't have sent flowers by courier as they were perishable.
Do I have any recourse against ParcelCompare / UPS?

visidigi

Hattersrule said:

Following my baby grandsons death, my daughter wished to send a floral wreath to a specialist for drying and making into a pictoral tribute. I used ParcelCompare website and selected UPS for couriering. Was collected on the Friday and site showed Saturday (next day) delivery. Item packaged up and collected Friday afternoon by UPS. Tracking showed delivery Saturday until late afternoon, and then changed to "we will advise when out for delivery". Monday was a bank holiday and eventually delivered at 10.45am on the Tuesday. Was contacted immediately by recipient showing all packaging soaking wet and majority of the flowers were damaged / unusable. UPS courier who delivered item was very embarrassed at the state it was in on delivery and took photos
UPS (when I eventually got a response through posting on social media) did not want to know and said as I had booked through third party website it was all down to them.
ParcelCompare declined any form of compensation as it "wasn't packaged correctly" (why did UPS accept parcel then?) and I shouldn't have sent flowers by courier as they were perishable.
Do I have any recourse against ParcelCompare / UPS?

Firstly sorry for your loss.

Perishable goods forbidden on UPS - https://parcelcompare.com/support/prohibited-items

You have no contract with UPS, they are correct. If you wanted them to be liable you needed to buy from them direct (that's the reason they are so much more).

I don't think you have any recourse here.

A_Geordie

I believe that comparison websites like Parcel Compare ask you to insert a description of the goods as part of the ordering process. Assuming you did not deliberately lie about the contents of the package, then it is arguable that UPS themselves could have waived any right to rely on their T&Cs in so far as flowers being a prohibited item. 

For UPS, Whilst it is true there is no direct contract with them, you could have a claim against them for negligence under the torts (wrongful interference with goods) Act 1977 for negligence in that they have failed to take reasonable care of the package, resulting in damage to the flowers.

Similar to the above, you could argue that PC are liable for the negligence of UPS in failing to take reasonable care and skill in handling the package so as to not cause any damage whilst it was in their possession. 

That all said, If they are both refusing to acknowledge liability, you are only likely to get your money back if you pursue this through legal proceedings. If the cost of the flowers are not a significant amount then you may wish to let this one go. But if you chose to pursue it out of principle, I would say there is a valid claim. Most people would not bother since the time and effort that needs to be put into pursuing a claim is just not worth the amount being recovered. Obviously the decision falls to you as to whether it is worth it or not.

Gehngus

Parcel Monkey just dodge compensation claims I think?

I am in the process now with an item I sold for £275 on Ebay.
I give them everything they needed, proof of packaging. Photos of the severe damage Obviously dropped or git hard enough to dent the steel casing severely. The only thing I cant supply is the original purchase invoice as I was given the thing a while back.
But I could show all the sale details and indeed a statement showing the refund. All eBay records of this also.
Surley the sale amount proves its value at the time (originally ot would have been sold new at around £2k) and you would think the refund procedure shows my losses due to the damage?
To me it's quite simple. I paid extra for cover and have provided enough evidence.
I have an apology but am out of pocket nonetheless.

They have just gone quiet now and its getting to the point where the time required to chase is more valuable than the goods.

Obviously I won't use them again which in the long term will see them lose more than myself.

If by chance they do compensate I will update this. Fairs fair.

A_Geordie

Gehngus said:

Parcel Monkey just dodge compensation claims I think?

Silence is a common tactic used by all companies, in the hope the complainant just goes away, and quite often it does. Unfortunately they can't dodge legal proceedings without risking a county court judgment and at that point your no longer dealing with the bottom of the pyramid staff members who don't have a clue about the legal issues and/or are following policy or just saying whatever they think is best.

Good luck. 

Gehngus

A_Geordie said:

Gehngus said:

Parcel Monkey just dodge compensation claims I think?

Unfortunately they can't dodge legal proceedings without risking a county court judgment 

And the cost of that might far outweigh the value of the goods, or as in my case. No idea how to take things in that direction. 

MyRealNameToo

A_Geordie said:

I believe that comparison websites like Parcel Compare ask you to insert a description of the goods as part of the ordering process. Assuming you did not deliberately lie about the contents of the package, then it is arguable that UPS themselves could have waived any right to rely on their T&Cs in so far as flowers being a prohibited item. 

For UPS, Whilst it is true there is no direct contract with them, you could have a claim against them for negligence under the torts (wrongful interference with goods) Act 1977 for negligence in that they have failed to take reasonable care of the package, resulting in damage to the flowers.

Similar to the above, you could argue that PC are liable for the negligence of UPS in failing to take reasonable care and skill in handling the package so as to not cause any damage whilst it was in their possession. 

That all said, If they are both refusing to acknowledge liability, you are only likely to get your money back if you pursue this through legal proceedings. If the cost of the flowers are not a significant amount then you may wish to let this one go. But if you chose to pursue it out of principle, I would say there is a valid claim. Most people would not bother since the time and effort that needs to be put into pursuing a claim is just not worth the amount being recovered. Obviously the decision falls to you as to whether it is worth it or not.

They are not a comparison site... at least not in the definition used in my industry. A comparison site shows the prices from various different suppliers but then passes you to the supplier for you to complete the sale directly with them. 

These guys you buy directly from them not the supplier. 

There is no evidence thats been shown to date that says UPS had any idea of the contents of the parcel. It could be that the PC site dynamically calls the UPS site and passes all the details across, receives a price back, adds its margin and presents the price but its equally likely they have built a pricing model in their own site and UPS only get a message if the person buys and that may or may not contain details like the contents. 

Personally dont think UPS' pricing structure is so complex or dynamic that it warrants live connections. 

UPS' terms are not that you can't send perishable items but that you do so at your own risk. If they are only told that the parcel contained perishable goods after the sale has happened they have no opportunity to remind anyone of this. 


The other issue is going to be on value for damages... whilst no doubt the wreath was very important to the parents it ultimately had little to no actual value as a secondhand flower arrangement which presumably was at least a few days old. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

MyRealNameToo said:

The other issue is going to be on value for damages... whilst no doubt the wreath was very important to the parents it ultimately had little to no actual value as a secondhand flower arrangement which presumably was at least a few days old. 

Damages is the cost of putting the party suffering the breach in the position they would have had been in had that breach not occurred so, since you presumably can't buy second-hand floral arrangement, the damages would be the value of purchasing another to be sent for drying in my view