Thanks folks. Just to clarify, I paid for the insurance as a lump sum in advance (I'm glad I did or else I'd be really f***ed off if I was still paying it at their increased monthly rate). I don't think it has actually been cancelled - thats just what I presumed - I guess they would continue the policy if I got another car, with adjustments. Unfortunately I'm not in a position financially to get another car - the one I had was cheap and old but in very good nick with low mileage and very reliable... I'd be very lucky to find another like it for the meagre amount my insurers gave me (which admittedly was only a bit less than I paid for my VW on eBay, though probably only a 1/3 of what it was worth) I'm just going to keep the cash to reduce my myriad of debts, and forget about cars for a few years, until I can afford the costs of running and the damn insurance premiums again!

Turns out RBS refused me the loan I applied for after turning down A+L - they accepted me online, sent me the forms to sign and send back along with the myriad of paperwork (statements, agreements etc) they requested, and they then said 'sorry, no can do'. I don't understand why, as they got my full details and info during the online application - surely they could've told me then, or a few days later, rather than make me go through the whole rigmarole of digging up lots of paper work and writing a covering letter. Perhaps I should've just gone with A+L, who had already cleared me and credit checked me. That'll learn me. (Oh, by the way, I contacted A+L straight away after shredding their forms to tell them I didn't want the loan - that was a week ago, but I just received an email from them saying I have been accepted for a loan and the paperwork has been sent out to me. Doh! These bankers don't seem to be very joined up do they?)

Thanks folks. I'm going to check with Elephant exactly what I'm entitled to do. For example, if I buy a replacement car that is exactly the same as the old one, surely my policy would continue as before? The trouble is, it took them 3 months or more to sort out the settlement, so there's probably only 5 or 6 months left on it. And probably less, 'cos I've just remembered it was a 10months NCB accelorator policy (waste of money that turned out to be!) I think I'll just have to give up the ghost and go carless and just pocket the cash from the settlement, untill I'm back on my feet again...

Hi maggiebroom... I've just stayed behind work for 2 hours (I have no life!) reading your thread with horror, amazement and amusement. I think I would've crumpled under the pressure months and months ago, and I'm usually a fighter in these sort of matters. At the very least I would've changed my phone number after a few months. I salute your resilience and hope it all goes in your favour. Reading through, I couldn't help but worry that these forums are regularly patrolled by the forces of evil (corporate creditors) keeping tabs on us punters trying to uphold our rights and get a bit of advice. It doesn't bear thinking about how they could be one step ahead of you if you post too much info, or even how they could pervert such a great place by posting false, misleading or even harmful advice. Call me paranoid, but these people are b*****ds who have no scruples when dealing with people in often vulnerable situations. I recently applied for a personal loan online from A&L which they offered at 6.9% over 3 years. I chose not to have PPI (it would've added 20% to the monthly payment!). I got initially accepted online, and then the next day they rang me up at work to confirm that my application was accepted. But they then went into this horrendously pressurised barrage of nonsense for 20 minutes trying to sell me the PPI. They made me feel really bad for not thinking about what I would do if I didn't have anything to cover the payments if I went off work. When I said that I didn't have anything in place in such an eventuality, they then put me on hold, and came back saying that based on that information, the loan was now at a rate of 11.9% due to the risk involved for them... all because I said I didn't want their PPI. By this time I was really ground down, and felt really depressed by their sales tactic and the whole loan thing anyway... so for them it went the wrong way, as I said I now didn't want to take out their loan at all as I hadn't considered the consequences they mentioned. The seller panicked and said she'd send the forms out anyway, and did I want to have the form that had the PPI agreement or not, as I couldn't change my mind if I did want it. She then said it would be PPI on top of the amended interest rate. I said I wasn't interested, and we ended the call. Two days later I got a loan agreement form from them, at the rate of 11.9% and without the PPI! What devious vampires they are! Needless to say I was good and shredded it right away! I'm now going with a loan from RBS for half the amount at a reasonable 9%. And I explicitly stated in a covering letter with my signed agreement that I wasn't interested in their PPI and I would be taking one out with a third-party (if at all - am considering British Insurance's PPI but might not bother) Anyway, sorry for hi-jacking your thread Maggie - hope it all goes well. I'll keep watching this thread... and the news

Hi, I've just taken out an unsecured personal loan with RBS to consolidate my debts, making payments over 2 years. I refused to take out RBS's predictably overpriced PPI, but have looked at various third party options, including the well regarded Loan PPI from British Insurance, which would be about £16 per month. I'm 39, single and I have worked in IT for a university for 3 years on a rolling annual contract. I have had two periods of extended sick leave of 2 to 3 months (on full pay) for stress and depression in my first two years, but have been okay the past 14 months, and the job is panning out okay, so reckon I'm alright for a few more years and not quite ready to jack it all in and become a street drinker yet ;-) Do you think this PPI would be worth my while? Or is that £16 that would be better spent on beer/therapy? One of the main reasons I ask is that I heard that if you become unemployed you have to declare if you get PPI payments to cover your loans, and your state benefits are reduced accordingly, thereby making the PPI pretty much useless.

Hi, My old beloved VW was stolen, found by police and written off by my insurers as beyond economical repair. They told me that because the car has been written off, I don't get a refund on the remaining 9 months insurance. They did say that if I was to get a new car and contact them quoting my old policy number, they would offer a discount on a new policy for that car. However, things being as they are (and considering my luck with cars!) I doubt I'll be getting a new set of wheels for a while. Can anybody tell me what is the standard procedure in this event? As a work friend of mine insists that insurers have to refund you for the remainder of your policy if it has been cancelled, even if the car was written off, and he should know because his Mum works for an insurance company Should I pursue this with my insurers or is this friend spouting hearsay and conjecture? Also, say I was to get another car soon, there is theoretically 5 months left on my old policy - what sort of a discount can I expect on a new one? Many thanks.

Er, I did post an abbreviated version of this story before, as a reply to someone elses post about taking the Post Office to court, and how you can't because of their get-out-of-jail-free card... I was asking whether the same legislation applied to ParcelForce. I just thought the further developments of my claim required a new posting as it was a different situation to the original posting and needed more depth. Hope this was ok! Mad pills? I recommend you take the blue ones... You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. All that red pill and rabbit hole to Wonderland stuff is for suckers who give a monkeys!

I was going to suggest to the buyer that I would take it to them, but it was over 100 miles away and the brakes on my car needing fixing which I couldn't sort out for a week. So I took the next day off work and arranged for ParcelForce to 'collect and destroy'. Er, I mean 'deliver'. (oh, and it gets better... some of the money from the sale of this PC went towards fixing my brakes and renewing my car tax... and then a week later my car got stolen and trashed... and I'm still waiting on the outcome of that insurance claim too...) I have got pictures of the PC before it was sent - these were the pics I used to sell it on ebay. But I think its ridiculous that the onus should be on me to prove it was damaged before I sent it. Why on earth would I carefully pack up a broken computer and then have to deal with all the hassle of claiming for it? The implication if ParcelForce thinks that way is that I am somehow a [problem] merchant. I take on board a previous posters point that when I received the case it was empty, and when I sent it the PC was fully built, thereby making it more heavy. Well, the case was actually a high end, tall, solid and sturdy thing that weighed 14kg. Building the PC into it made it weigh about than 19kg. The weight was fairly evenly distributed, but probably a bit bottom heavy as it was a non-standard design and the heavy duty powersupply and drives are situated on the bottom of the case. But I still think the packaging was more than adequate, and I sold another PC built into the same style case early last year and that got to the buyer without a problem or any damage - that was sent by ParcelForce too. Perhaps this is a pertinent fact I should mention if I appeal? I've thought that maybe I should just leave it be and, like you said shywazz, just try and salvage what I can. It may be that although the case is damaged beyond use or easy repair, the problem of the PC not working might be a relatively minor thing, perhaps just one component loose or damaged but repairable or something. Maybe I haven't got the time, energy or money to fight for this, but I just really feel that ParcelForce have been negligent, and they should be made to pay for that negligence.

Thats it exactly (except I never personally ordered the PC case from China, it's just that thats where it probably came from originally as supplied to my e-tailer)

To answer your questions: 1 - Not sure I get your point here. If you are wondering how ParcefForce know the condition of the packaging, they went to the buyers house to inspect the package and PC after I reported the damage and submitted a claim. 2 - Unless they had the exact same retail packaging they couldn't have replaced it. even though it was fancy retail packaging it was designed for transit as-is - it should not need any further outer packaging, and how I sent it was how it was sent to me. 3 - See my previous post for a review of the product featuring pics of its packaging. I wrote 'Handle With Care' and 'Fragile' in big red letters on the large label I put on it, which was place on the top of the packaging across the join of the flaps. The packaging has images and text on it denoting which way up, plus cutout handles at both ends. The buyer is returning the PC and packaging to me sometime over the next few days (personally by car I hasten to add!) and I'm going to have to refund him his £750. Does anybody think I have a hope-in-hell of getting anywhere if I follow this up with Parcelforce? And how I should go about doing this and how I could word my appeal/demand for compensation? I really don't want to let them get away with their negligence - not to mention the 'theft' of the extra money I paid to them as cover in the event of this sort of thing happening!

Cheers. Like I said, it was packed in the original packaging of the PC case that was shipped to me without problem. This is a thick heavy duty cardboard box, and the internals was that thick sort of dense slightly flexible styrofoam-thats-not-styrofoam packing, 2 to 3 inches thick for the most part, thoroughly surrounding and protecting both ends. Heres some pics of the product and its packaging on a review site if you're interested... Overclock3D.Net :: Review :: Antec P182 Advanced Super Mid Tower :: Introduction The PC case (probably) came all the way from China in this packaging, via my e-tailer supplier, without any issues. I think the lack of damage to the packaging indicates that it must've received a heavy shunt and/or drop on the end - I think the packaging is strong enough to not get damaged, and even with the sufficient internal packaging, the PC case got badly damaged - the front end was effectively smashed to bits, and the force must've damaged some internal components as the PC doesn't work.

One of the stated side effects of the anti-depressants I was taking a while back was 'depression, and increased thoughts of self-harm or suicide'. Just lovely.

Hi, Recently I built a brand new very high specification gaming PC base unit but then sold it for £750 on Ebay as I decided I needed the money to pay off some credit card debt. I sent it by ParcelForce 48hour service, but it got very badly damaged in transit. The casing is smashed to bits, and the PC doesn't work. It must've taken a heavy blow or been dropped to receive such damage - even the hard drives were shifted in their cages! I paid £26.99 for delivery, plus an £22 extra for insurance to cover up to £1000 value. The normal bumps and rattles of transit could not have caused the extensive damage. It definitely seems to have been mishandled in some way - either not secured and fallen off a pile, or dropped, thrown or otherwise treated without care! However, ParcelForce have now inspected the PC at the buyers house and have come back to me and said that though the PC was so obviosuly badly damaged there was no damage to the external packaging and that the damage to the PC could not have been caused in transit. So my claim is rendered invalid, and they are not going to compensate me anything. I find this ludicrous, as the PC left me shiney, new and functioning, carefully packaged in the strong sturdy packaging that the PC case came all the way from China in... and it turned up at my buyer's house smashed to bits and non-functioning. It must have been hit with some force, or dropped, right on a flat end which didn't cause packaging damage (shows how sturdy it was!) but the force of which damaged the PC inside. They are basically implying that I (or my buyer) are liars. What's the point of paying extra insurance if they don't honour a claim against it when an item has so obviously been damaged during tranist in their system? It just amounts to thievery in my eyes. I will refund my customer and take the PC off his hands. But what can I do about forcing ParcelForce to pay my compensation claim?

Cheers. Like I said, it was packed in the original packaging of the PC case that was shipped to me without problem. This is a thick heavy duty cardboard box, and the internals was that thick sort of dense slightly flexible styrofoam-thats-not-styrofoam packing thoroughly surruonding and protecting both ends. Heres some pics on a review site if you're interested Overclock3D.Net :: Review :: Antec P182 Advanced Super Mid Tower :: Introduction

Many thanks for the info about the exemption not applying to ParcelForce. Well, I wondered about him signing for it, but he said it only had one slightly dented bottom corner and a minor crease, which he only noticed afterwards. Nothing that could really cause concern even if he had seen it at the time. I think it is possible to damage an item without obvious damage to its packaging, if something is shunted hard enough to cause internal damage, especially in something as susceptible to mistreatment and forces as a PC - like I said, the hard drives had shifted in their cages, so there must have been some considerable force. Little short of dismantling the whole PC and shipping the components in their individual boxes, I couldn't see what else I could do, apart from maybe putting the already large box inside another much larger box with some kind of elaborate shock absorbing system between the two! Perhaps the front panel & door of the PC case was weaker than the rest of the case, but it would still need considerable force to cause the damage it did, and possibly undue care and attention on the part of ParcelForce (who you entrust your expensive items to whilst paying through the nose for extra insurance options!). ParcelForce do state in the T&Cs that items should be adequtely packed according to their guidelines, and if they are not found to have been so in the event of a claim, they can turn down that claim. Then there is the issue you have raised of if something is signed for at the delivery end, then the recipient has accepted it as being okay. But by the same reckoning, does that not also mean that by them taking my item away, and signing my receipt, that they have checked it out and accept it as being suitable for transit by them? If not, then they should refuse to take away an item at the point of collection if they believe it to not be adequately packaged (which it was anyway!) All this is academic really, as I am just starting the claim, but I just want to prepare myself for the worst, which invariably does happen to me!