Makes sense, I have responded and offered them a 1hour slot within the 2hour window that they suggested. Let’s see if it works for them.

Quick question, I have got a mediation appointment for Tuesday next week but won’t be able to make it due to recent work commitments. I have requested to change the date but because of current high demand for mediation they won’t be able to change it and said that the case would be transferred to a court hearing if I wish to cancel this appointment. Does it have any disadvantages for me to go straight to court and would you recommend to arrange for a third party to mediate on my behalf in this case?

Hi, quick update, today I have got a response, after EVRi requested an extension, from April 11th to April 25th, to respond to my claim. Response below: I have rejected their response and accepted phone mediation, which should be arranged within 28 days. It seems their main defence is, that the responsibility is with Packlink, but I will do some further reading through other stories to prepare and get back if anything is unclear.

Noted, revised version below:

I will issue it right away, please find new draft below: Let me know if this version is good to go.

I see, yes they have been two separate deliveries to different UK addresses but are you suggesting to issue two individual court claims? In my communication with Hermes, I have mentioned both of them in one email and wanted to do the same here to avoid having to pay twice for issuing a claim to the county court. Noted on simplifying the particulars of claim.

Ok, I have drafted the particulars of claim form below: Please let me know if you would change anything before issuing.

Great, thank you!

Hi, so I have send the revised letter of claim to Hermes and got the following reply: It seems like they either completely disregard what I have written or didn't even bother to read the letter of claim properly... I guess at this point I can go ahead and issue the claim or would you respond anything to that?

I found some very useful letter of claim examples here on the forum and tweaked one of them to apply to my case: Please let me know if you would change / add anything or if its good to go.

Ok, so I just got the following reply from Hermes: I guess the next step is to respond with a letter of claim and mention that according to the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 I enjoy all the rights of a direct contracting party and propose to sue them in the County Court to recover all lost money incl. court fees, correct?

Hi @BankFodder, thank you for the advice so far. Packlink has now processed one of my items and their claims department told me that I will receive a “Goods Compensation” of £25 + refund of the postage fee. Today, I chased for a response to my claim for the other item (which was submitted at the same time, but being processed by another agent who hasn’t responded yet) and was told that I will receive an update on Monday. In the meantime, I am starting my claim process with Hermes and have just drafted the following email to them: As I understand, the next step will be to send them a Letter of Claim / Particulars of Claim, if I do not receive a satisfactory answer within 10 days? Many Thanks!

Hi All, First of all I wanted to thank you for the advice and support you give on this site. I had read through a couple of cases and beginning to have hope again that there is a chance to recover what I have lost recently. And so, I wanted to get it out here first since I am probably only at the beginning of a very lengthy and time consuming process. Basically, I had 2x MacBook Pro’s stolen only a few days apart during shipping with Packlink / Hermes in the following ways: Item 01: I sold a 15” MacBook Pro with original packaging and power adapter for £400 on eBay and posted it to the buyer using Packlink/Hermes It was packaged in a sturdy 42 x 32 x 15cm parcel, weighting 3.65kg, with fragile-tape wrapped tightly around the center of the parcel and the shipping label attached with brown packaging tape thereafter I dispatched it at Hermes Collection Point: Tesco Express, 4-6 Station Parade, TW9 3PZ, Richmond Upon Thames on Sunday, Jan 30 at 14:20 When the buyer received it on Wednesday, Feb 02, he provided photos and reported that the parcel was battered, looked loosely repackaged and had a bunch of piano books inside, which are much lighter than the Mac would have been He has since returned the parcel to me and I also noticed an additional layer of Fragile Tape wrapped around the back of the parcel and below the brown tape he used to close it I have reported this theft with Action Fraud, registered the serial number & Mac specifics with Immobilise.com and refunded the buyer as instructed by eBay I have then opened a claim with Packlink, who have begun an investigation and asked me to send them a signed DOR (letter of denial of receipt) by the buyer, which he was happy to provide Currently awaiting further response from them.. Item 02: While the first Mac was still in transit (and I didn’t know what happened to it yet) I sold another 13” MacBook Pro with original packaging and power adapter for £470 on eBay and shipped it in the same way using Packlink/Hermes It was again packaged like the first one using a sturdy 36 x 28 x 13cm parcel , with fragile tape, weighting 2.5kg and dropped off at the same location on Tuesday, Feb 01 at 08:06 am After the buyer received it on Thursday, Feb 03, he reported that there was no Mac but a coffee cup inside Furthermore the delivery picture provided by Hermes tracking, was showing additional fragile-tape wrapped around the sides & back of the parcel and on top of the brown tape I used to attach the shipping label in the end As before I have reported this to Action Fraud, registered the Mac as stolen on Immobilise.com, opened a claim with Packlink and currently awaiting their response To be honest, I have used Hermes in the past without problems and thinking that a delivery company would open perfectly sealed and secure parcels and replacing its contents was just crazy to believe. However, I am determined to do whatever it takes to recover the value of those items and hoping for your guidance in the absurdity that is surely about to come along my way..