Many thanks BankFodder and sincere apologies as I had added a comment to this yesterday morning thanking you for the feedback on your edit and advising I would work on a redraft last night. I have now updated the letter and we have also had written confirmation from the retailer that the items are sold as a pair and not individually and therefore the claim needs to be for the full value of £1,599 and not the estimate we had of £1,200. The new draft is as follows - any further guidance is gratefully accepted.

Hi - here is my draft letter of complaint for review - thank you very much for the advice and assistance received so far. please note two things - firstly I need to add in some date/address details so I have highlighted them in here. Secondly I need to contact the retailer to request their pricing for the damaged item (this is the item my husband estimates to be valued at £1200). However, I do have a concern that he has also paid for the item that was not damaged but the retailer will not refund this due to being sold as a bundle so he is still out of pocket for that, unless he can sell it second hand. I’m therefore wondering if it is best not to proactively include this detail unless DPD specifically ask for it in their reply? many thanks again though. All advice on the draft complaint letter is appreciated:

Sorry, I advised earlier that I couldn’t answer at the time as my husband dealt with that and he was at work today. He accepted the £50 via DPD’s online portal. It was a case of clicking “accept” - there don’t appear to be any T&Cs visible in the portal or in the emails they sent him

Hi, no complaint sent to DPD as yet, just the initial communication with them when they refunded the postage cost and gave £50 compensation. At that point we had thought Secursus would pay up. Will start drafting a letter tonight. Will also ask retailer for their estimated costs based on the price of their bundle. I had wondered if we might be covered via PayPal Credit given he paid using that?

The broken item retails at £2199 brand new, but he bought it from the retailer as a pre-owned item (this is not unusual as there are a lot of trade ins in this market given the high value of items). He’s estimated the value at £1200 based on how much they sell for on the second hand market

Re evidence of the value, he has the initial receipt for the goods purchased from the retailer. Re your query on damaged beyond repair. We are not quite sure on the extent of the damage as the outer case of the amp has been smashed. He has contacted the manufacturer of the amp who are based in the States. The item is now discontinued but they can ship parts to him for $460 but as it would be coming from the States it will incur VAT and duty costs on top. It would then need to be repaired by a professional here but we don’t know how much that would cost. We don’t yet know if any of the electrical components are damaged either, so there could be further costs relating to that Hi, thanks for the replies and advice so far. It’s much appreciated, especially given it is the Christmas period. My husband has been in touch with Secursus and DPD throughout. He is at work today so I can’t check exactly what information he has had or has signed until he gets home tonight. However I do know Secursus said they were denying the claim due to clause 5.2 (see below). I told him to dispute this as I think they were confusing the fact that the retailer returned the goods to him due to the damage (and they were aware this was happening). For some reason I cannot copy and paste links or insert screenshot photos but I have copied this from their website T&Cs Article 5 - Duration of coverage of the Parcel Insurance 5.1. For Items entrusted to a Carrier, the Parcel Insurance enters into effect at the moment when the insured Items, packaged per the requirements set out in article 8, are handed over to the Carrier and ends upon delivery, to the Recipient, against receipt issued by the latter, or, at the latest, 14 (fourteen) days as from the Pick-Up Date, this regardless of the means of transportation. 5.2. For returned Items, the Parcel Insurance terminates either 14 (fourteen) days after the Initial Pick-Up Date, regardless of the means of transportation. The Goods delivered and then returned to the Sender are not covered by Parcel Insurance (unless agreed in writing by Secursus).

DPD haven’t refused to reimburse us, yet. They have paid £50, plus refunded the cost of the postage which was just over £20, which we accepted as Secursus said we needed to accept it while they were processing our claim. We haven’t yet tried to claim anything further from DPD as we were only told by Secursus yesterday that they wouldn’t pay out. I may be wrong, but I am assuming because my husband accepted the £50, that DPD will now refuse to pay anything else. But he only accepted that as Secursus told him to accept it.

Hi - apologies as it is rather complex. Husband bought a guitar amplifier head and cabinet. They are two separate items but were sold in a bundle deal for £1600. They were packaged in two separate boxes as they are both big, heavy items. The amplifier was damaged on the return. He estimates this to be valued at £1200 (based on the bundle price and their normal retail value) The other item was fine. Retailer will not accept the return due to the damage and will not refund or exchange so they have sent both items back to him. He didn’t pay additional insurance through DPD as the cost was so high, hence taking out cover through Secursus.

He has forwarded the email receipt which has this at the bottom: PayPal UK Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as an electronic money institution under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 for the issuance of electronic money (firm reference number 994790), in relation to its regulated consumer credit activities under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (firm reference number 996405) and for the provision of Cryptocurrency services under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (firm reference number 1000741). Some of PayPal UK Ltd's products including PayPal Pay in 3 and PayPal Working Capital are not regulated by the FCA. PayPal UK Ltd's company number is 14741686 and its registered address is Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1EH.

I am a little confused by this query, sorry. He chose to pay via PayPal credit for this purchase, as he had the option to pay via PayPal credit or PayPal via bank payment.

Apologies, I’m typing on my phone, but very grateful for the advice and help received so far. thank you

No, they were purchased direct via the retailers website, not via eBay. The payment was via PayPal credit, we are based in uk

He said he sent it via the DPD website but then he took insurance through Secursus

He got an automated acknowledgment of his online return arriving back with the retailer at 11.54am and he was then emailed by them at 12.34pm with photos of the damaged goods and advising that they could not accept the return. They even said they thought it was well packaged (in the same packaging that they had sent the goods to him). Incidentally he has just said that they sent it to him via DPD which is why he returned it to them using DPD

Hi, just checked with husband and he says he booked direct with DPD and declared the value correctly based on the total price paid. he purchased 2 items in a bundle deal which are designed to work together - a guitar amplifier head and cab. They were boxed separately as they are so big and heavy - each box weighed approx 16kg - he gave an estimated value for the item in each box based on the bundle price of £1600. One box was delivered fine but the other - the more expensive item of the two, worth in region of £1200 - was smashed when the retailer opened the parcel to process the return. They immediately contacted him and sent photos and details so he could claim on his insurance.