Parcel2Go - Small claims court - advice needed ***WON OOC***

[cumberland77]

Hi All, 

 

total newbie here, apologies if anything i post is wrong or useless info. 

 

i need some guidance as to what to do next, I posted a parcel paid for via parcel2go and the item arrived damaged, the value of the item was £185 and i paid for parcel protection to that value. the item was a diving regulator and a completely sealed unit so no components can be replaced. i immediately go on live chat when the buyer of the goods told me the compass part had been crushed. on live chat the claim was approved and passed to higher management for payment as it was 'high value', then around 10 days later i got an email saying the claim couldn't be paid as the item was actually prohibited as it contained water!! At first parcel2go offered £90 compensation but after a lot of arguing they agreed to pay the claim in full. This was agreed on 09/08/2019 and they advised 3-5 working days for the payment to arrived and they have now repeatedly been saying this for a month, at my wits end i paid and raised a claim with the small claims court. I started the process on the 03/09/2019, the claim was 'raised' on 04/09/2019 and today i was paid £185 by parcel2go not the amount which was advised by Money Claims Online of £242.06 including original postage cost, the insurance protection and the court fees. i need guidance, do i leave the claim outstanding or do i close it as they paid me too close the claim being opened?

[cumberland77]

Also just a heads up, after re-reading the claim form, ive made an error, i calculated the interest due from the date the money was supposed to be paid to the date that i raised the claim and put that in the daily interest box. hope this wont cause too much of a problem! must have had a blonde moment!

Doc_20190905_082540.pdf

[BankFodder]

You should certainly hangout for the full amount and if they haven't put in a defence by the return date then you should go in and apply for judgement immediately. However, I can imagine that they will put in a defence which says that they paid you.

Of course this company – it's just like the others – mean, bullying, and relying on the fact that most people won't stand up to them. Hermes is another one and there are several others. Congratulations on starting the claim without even coming to us and congratulations eventually coming to us.

Let's have a look at your claim. I'm afraid some of it doesn't seem to be very valid to me. Firstly, I don't see how you are managing to claim £8 interest daily. This has to be an error. The interest is a percent per year simple – so it is likely that they will challenge you on that – if they start looking carefully at what you have claimed. This may be what you meant when you said you made an error and put the interest in the wrong box. It would have simply been easier to say "interest pursuant to section 69 of the County Courts act 1984"

Secondly, you are claiming the insurance fee – yet you are taking advantage of the insurance. I have a lot of trouble here with the insurance fee because as far as I'm concerned it is the equivalent of an extended warranty and frankly I don't think it should be charged at all. You pay them good money to carry your item and they go ahead and breach the contract and you then find yourself having to insure yourself against their breach of contract. This simply can't be right and yet it seems to have become the established culture and everybody accepts it. It is they who should insure against their breaches.

The way they will look at it will be that you have taken advantage of the insurance service by claiming the high value and therefore that service has been paid for – and used – and therefore should not be recoverable. If the insurance fee was valid (and I don't think it should be) then they should be right. However, as I have already said, I think it is outrageous that they force their customers to insure themselves against breaches of contract caused by the company itself.

If you're not quite sure how this works – then it is the equivalent of requiring you to take out motor insurance to cover the bad driving of others in the event that they breach their duty to you and cause an accident.
It's like you buying holiday and then mean required to buy extra insurance in case the holiday company ruins your holiday through their own negligence or their own contractual breach.

Follow the link to extended warranties to see what I have written about this in the past. The principle applies exactly to your situation.

Frankly I would insist on getting your insurance premium back because you have already paid to have the delivery carried out properly and without any damage – are not only have they breach the contract by damaging your item – they have not even then honoured the insurance contract without you having to cause trouble. In the event that they argued to a judge that they are entitled to ask you for extra money for the extra value then I would want to say that apart from not being valid, if the judge found that it was valid then part of that insurance is also peace of mind and that there should be no quibble and there in this respect, Parcel2Go have breach that aspect of the contract as well.

You have paid out a claim fee of £25. Presumably you abide by the pre-action protocol which required that you sent them 14 days notice of intention to bring legal proceedings. If you didn't do this then you have probably better kiss goodbye to your £25. If you did send a letter of claim as part of your pre-action protocol then you are certainly entitled to recover your £25.

I would give no quarter to these people. The way they treat their customers is tantamount to dishonesty and they need to experience what it feels like to have it up 'em.


 

[cumberland77]

thank you so much for your reply, i did try and edit my first post but couldn't so posted a response to say i did make an error on the daily interest, i calculated what i believed they owed me and put it in the daily accruing amount in error.

 

i absolutely agree with you in regards to these [causing problems] companies paying extra for them to provide a service you expect and should receive.

 

i made parcel2go aware that i was going to progress the complaint to small claims court however i never sent an official letter of claim. is that going to come back and bite me?

 

thanks again for your input, greatly appreciated

 

[BankFodder]

If you gave notice that you are going to the small claims then that would be quite sufficient. How much notice did you give them? The pre-action protocol requires that you give them 14 days

[cumberland77]

hi yes the first time i made them aware that i wanted to start small claims court proceedings was via live chat on the 06/08/2019 and then again when i made a trust pilot review on the 07/08/2019. hope that would be sufficient as i've never had to do anything like this before. 

 

if you've got a moment could you explain what im to do next, at the moment the claim is 'issued'

 

thanks again

[BankFodder]

But the important thing is that you appear to have given them notice of a forthcoming legal action by means of live chat. I expect that they are likely to challenge this and a judge may consider that you have not complied with the pre-action protocol. The courts are only just starting to get used to email.

I think that sending a warning via trustpilot is probably ineffective – although you may as well refer to it if you are challenged on it.

Now that the claim is issued, they have 14 days from date of service which is a couple of days after the issue date either to file a defence or else to acknowledge the claim and in which case that gives them a further 14 days to put in a defence.

If they don't acknowledge or they don't defend then you should go straight in and apply for adjustment. So monitor money claim online closely on day 14/15/16 and then again on day 28/29/30 et cetera.

If there is a defence then you should come here and tell us what it is. It's likely to be a fairly extensive document – it generally is in most of it is nonsense but in this case they will probably say that they have paid you and they may also say that you have failed to observe the pre-action protocol. In the end, the amount of money outstanding is so little that it is very likely that they will simply put their hands up. They may balk at the interest but it seems absolutely reasonable that they should pay the claim fee and they may well offer you that.

If they feel really bloody about it then they may decide to call your bluff to see whether you are prepared to pay the hearing fee – which I think is about 80 quid (check it up). Once you pay the hearing fee then they would probably put their hands up to the claim fee and also the hearing fee.

In all likelihood I think they will end up offering you the claim fee and if this is what happened then I would suggest that you take it and consider that you've done well.

Next time, read up the steps and be more careful. Now that you know about us, come here first

[cumberland77]

yes of course, i didn't even know advice online like this existed so thanks again for all the guidance you have provided so far.

 

ill keep you up to date with the information as soon as i hear back.

[BankFodder]

Ta

 

By the way, as your negotiating position, I suggest that you agree quickly that there was an error with the interest but that you want the insurance fee as well as the claim fee. Explain to them how you object in principle to the insurance fee and that you are prepared to discuss this with the court as well. I'm quite sure this is the point they would not want decided in court because it would run a coach and horses through a lot of their business model.

However, if it looks too heavy then step back from the insurance fee and simply settle for the claim fee. That way they feel that they have made some headway and it will help them save face. It's always worth trying to find a way to help your opponents save face. It makes an advantageous outcome for you more likely and much easier to achieve

[cumberland77]

Morning. Just wanted to drop a quick update, the claim has been updated by P2G saying they intend to defend all of the claim...

is the next part just a waiting game now?

[adchesney]

@cumberland77 best wishes, keep us posted. I too would like to make a claim for lost clothes valued in excess of £700 (https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/topic/418232-hermes-lost-wifes-clothes/)

 

Kindest regards and best wishes

ANDREW

[cumberland77]

@BankFodder Hi just wanted to check in to see if I’m still going along the right lines. P2G Filed an acknowledgment of service on the 06/09/19 and said they intend to defend all of the claim, does this give them 28 days or do I need to take action before them?

Edited September 16, 2019 by cumberland77

[BankFodder]

they get 28 days from date of service.  Just wait

[cumberland77]

@BankFodder great thankyou.

[cumberland77]

success!!! P2G have agreed to settle out of court, they wouldn't refund the parcel protection but have agreed to pay the rest, i will close the court case when i get the money in the bank!

[BankFodder]

This is good news – and of course it was entirely predictable. They always back down because they know that they are acting unfairly.

Thank you for updating us and please do let us know when the money arrives. Make sure it includes all of your costs including any claim fee et cetera. If it doesn't then apply for judgement.

Do not withdraw the case until you get the money.

[cumberland77]

@BankFodder hi there thanks again for your help during the case, the money arrived the next day! :)