MyHermes Again!!! **Won**

[Whosaynah]

Hello All,

 

I have unfortunately joined the innumerable number of people who have been let down by MyHermes and their godawful service. I was unaware as to how bad their service is.

 

I booked a pick up from MyHermes on the 13th June, 2020 and both bags with pictures attached were picked up on the 14th June 2020 from Cambridge to be delivered to London. The bags have items worth £200 or more in each bag. I declared the value of £200 for each bag. By the 16th-17th June 2020, the tracking had  stopped progressing for one bag at the National Hub and the other was out for delivery and never arrived. In summary, both bags never arrived

 

I immediately contacted MyHermes via the bot Holly and followed up via email. I sent them pictures of the bags but they did nothing. After so much back and forth via emails almost daily and phone calls, I was initially told to wait 5 days for the items to be sorted from the hobb. I was later informed that the bags were missing and told to fill a claims form. The agent who I called said that after filling the form an investigation will be carried out and 80% of the time, the items turn up. I believed and filled the form. I got an email that the items could not be found and I was offered £27.72 as compensation for each bag. I messaged the CEO saying that it was not okay to just fobb me off saying the items were lost without a sweep of their depot. I got a phone call from on Tasawar offering £25 as a good will gesture. 

 

I do not feel that it is sufficient and I have communicated that to them and they have said thats their last offer with a lot of text as to why I am only entitled to £27.72. I want to make a claim for the items. Has anyone succeed against MyHermes.

 

I also feel it is important to state that I am in Nigeria at the moment ant the things were picked up from my friend but I made all the payments from my card. I am also shocked at the level of service MyHermes  provides; it will be unacceptable even in Nigeria. What can be done about them. This has to stop

[BankFodder]

Well of course you don't have to accept their offer of settlement. It's derisory but this is typical of Hermes.

Please could you post up in PDF format the text that they have sent you disclaiming liability.

You say that there are two parcels worth £200 each. This means that you will be claiming £400. Generally speaking Hermes put their hands up and pay out rather than go to court. £400 might nudge them over the line especially as court hearings are currently being handled on the telephone or by video at the moment.

How much longer are you in Nigeria? Of course you could handle a court hearing if it was on the telephone, where ever you were in the world as long as you had a decent connection – but you will need somebody at a UK address to be able to receive documents and to be able to contact you reliably – meaning the same day with a scanner whatever has been received.

And there is an outside chance that the courts may decide that there should be a face-to-face hearing and that means that you would have to get over to UK

[BankFodder]

There's not much more I can say. The response from Hermes is absolutely predictable – and it's now up to you whether you think that you would be prepared to take legal action and managed action if it gets to a hearing.

As I've already suggested, it's unlikely it would be a face-to-face hearing. I think it would be a very bad idea to let Hermes know where you are because that might prompt them to push for a face-to-face hearing in the knowledge that you would be unlikely to get there.

[Whosaynah]

Thank you for your response. 

I have taken out time to think through the whole process, the financial implication and what happens if it goes to hearing.

I have decided to go through with it. Taking advantage of the social distancing due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, I am happy to take the chance that it will not get to hearing. 

I have been out of pocket due to this incident and it has cost me a lot of distress for the past months since July. It is only fair that I see this to a justifiable end.

 

What do you advise I do with regards to engaging myhermes and notification that I intend to take them to Court.

[BankFodder]

Can you provide a list of the contents of each bag together with evidence of its value

[Whosaynah]

Yes I can. I had earlier sent same to myhermes

 

[BankFodder]

In that case I should send them a letter of claim, confirming that as they have been unable to provide you with a satisfactory solution and they have lost your parcels, that you will be issuing a claim in the County Court within 14 days and without any further notice.

Enclose a list and the valuations of the items.

Use a UK address.

At the end of 14 days issue the claim. Don't bluff because it won't get you anywhere. If you delay then you will lose credibility.

In the intervening 14 days start looking around this website to understand the steps in bringing a small claim in the County Court. Registered on the Moneyclaim website and start drafting your claim.

Post the particulars of claim here before you click them off so that we can check

[Whosaynah]

Hello Bank Fodder,

 

Please kindly find my letter of claim attached.

 

Is this sufficient?

Myhermes Claim 2020.pdf

[BankFodder]

Yes it's fine but I don't understand why you are writing directly to Martin. it won't reach him and he doesn't care anyway.

also only send this letter if you are prepared to carry out your threat immediately at the expiry of the deadline

 

[BankFodder]

Here is a proposed particulars of claim:

 

Quote

The claimant used the defendants parcel delivery service on XXX date to deliver two parcels from Cambridge to an address in London. Defendants reference numbers XXX and XXX. The parcels contained various items total value £XXX - full details have been provided to the defendant in the initial complaint which they declined. Both parcels have been lost by the defendants breach of contract and their negligence. The claimant seeks damages of £XXX plus delivery charge of £XXX plus interest per section 69 County Courts act 1984 plus costs.

 

 

[Whosaynah]

Dear BankFodder, 

 

Does the required 14 days after my letter of claim include weekends? 

This particulars of claim ok?

 

Quote

The claimant used the defendants parcel delivery service on 14 July 2020 to deliver two parcels from Cambridge to an address in London. Defendants reference numbers 8836280247638782 and 8836280247639086. The parcels contained various items total value £400- full details have been provided to the defendant in the initial complaint. and several correspondence which they declined. Both parcels have been confirmed lost by the defendants notwithstanding the claimant being diligent and alerting the Defendants in time for them to remedy the situation. In the circumstances the Defendants are in breach of contract to deliver the goods and negligent in handling the claimant’s goods in their position which resulted in the items being lost within the Defendants network. The claimant seeks damages of £400plus delivery charge of £ 15.44 plus interest per section 69 County Courts act 1984 plus costs.

 

[BankFodder]

I suggested some edits to your particulars of claim.

14 days is a straight 14 calendar days – weekends included

[Whosaynah]

I have issued the claim this morning.

 

Thank you.

[Whosaynah]

Hello, I have received their defence today. It is attached

 

Any thoughts?

166MC879-claim-response.pdf

[BankFodder]

Okay, no surprises.

They are defending on the basis that you didn't ask for any compensation cover.

There are also requiring that you prove the value of your loss (which I understand you have already done).

They are asking for mediation.

Please read around the Hermes threads on this sub- forum and particularly see what has been said about compensation cover and the unfairness of being required to protect them against their own negligence.
Read what has been said about the unenforceability of unfair terms under the Consumer Rights Act. There are several fairly detailed discussions about the unfair terms provisions and the particular sections of the act have been identified. I can't remember what they are at the moment.

This will be the basis of your argument in support of your claim. That you pay your money and you expect them to do their job and that if they fail to do their job then it is their responsibility. By requiring you to take out some extra protection, they are effectively making their negligence your responsibility and of course this is unfair. Not only is unfair but also it discourages them from improving their game. If all companies did this then the world would be crazy. Imagine going to a restaurant and ordering a meal and then having to pay a bit extra just in case it was served you uncooked or overcooked or over salted et cetera??

Of course many companies do this – using extended warranties – but the extended warranties are in addition to your statutory rights. Here, the Hermes compensation scheme is intended to replace your statutory rights and this cannot be lawful. (Remember this point is is extremely important!)

Have a thorough read around. You have got lots of time and then once you're familiar with the arguments then certainly come back and ask questions.

Have all the proof of value of your lost items to hand – but you will make it clear to the mediator that this has already been provided to Hermes that they are wasting everybody's time by asking for it again.

They are asking for mediation – and you should probably accept this.

Please read around about the way that mediation has been conducted in respect of Hermes claims – and outrageously the mediator seems generally to be putting pressure on claimants to reduce their claims – in other words to compromise their rights.
You can either decide in advance that you will be prepared to accept a compromise settlement – or you can stick your heels in and refuse. The mediator will criticise you and say that part of the mediation process is that you are meant to give a little. We would suggest that your response is that by settling in full, Hermes avoids having to go to court and then having the unfairness of their so-called compensation scheme invalidated by a court judgement which will then become public in the press, over Facebook, on social media – and this will change Hermes way of doing business completely.

Unfair terms tend to be treated as possibly fair if you had a choice. For instance, if there were a number of courier firms and some of them use compensation schemes – like Hermes, and if others didn't and simply took responsibility for their own negligence – but charge you a bit more, then a judge might say well you had a choice. There was proper competition and you chose to shoulder the risk in return for a lower courier fee.

The important thing about the courier industry is that they all operate these compensation/insurance schemes. They all require their customers to pay to protect them against the courier's own negligence – and therefore you have no choice. The mediator may not raise this point – but if it gets to a judge then this point may certainly come up and you should certainly be prepared to make it.

If you can say that in choosing a contract with an unfair term, you had no choice because all of the competitors also use the same unfair term, then the judge is much more likely to agree that the term is unfair.

A final point is that the consumer rights act creates a duty on the judge to investigate of his/her own initiative the fairness or unfairness of any particular term. This means that you can raise it before the judge and asked the judge to consider it and the judge will have to do this.
You can point this out to the mediator as well and tell Hermes that you will be invoking this aspect of the consumer rights act in order to get the judge to investigate the fairness of all of their terms.

Hopefully this will put enough writers on Hermes that they will simply pay up – including your fees. Of course it will be up to you whether or not you want to compromise – but we would suggest that you push Hermes all the way so that they risk going to court.
If Hermes lose in court on this point of insurance, then they and the rest of the courier industry will have a very serious problem.

[mikeuk24]

Hi whosaynah,

 

you need to familiarise yourself with sections 49 and 57 of the consumer rights act.

 

s.49 basically places them under a duty of care when your goods are in their control. They have lost them or they have been stolen. This is a clear lack of care. print out the photos I posted showing how they fail to care of goods and take them with you to mediation.

 

have you read my earlier post? The fact you did not take enhanced insurance  does not absolve them of their duty of care and they are in breach of your contract with them. They breached the contract ( lost your parcel entrusted to them.) so any other clauses in their favour should be nul and void. I would go to mediation with your court case fully prepared and if they do not offer to pay you in full, tell them you will see them in court.

[Whosaynah]

Dear BankFodder,

 

Sincere apologies that I have not provided any updates since my mediation. I wanted to receive my settlement so I can give a conclusive report.

 

The claim was for £400 - Cost of items lost, £15.44- Postage cost and £35-Cost of the claim. 

The mediation session was via phone and being abroad, I was informed that the call had to be made to a UK telephone number, therefore, I had to roam my line at a cost of £1 per minute. This background is necessary as it was a disadvantage, I couldn't stay on the call for too long.

 

The usual back and forth ensued with Myhermes insisting on the fact that I didn't pay for extra cover and me claiming that I should not have to insure their internal processes. After several offers, I insisted on my money in full as I was co operating  by ensuring that this matter was not taken to court. I settled for the cost of item and postage. I couldn't argue  further because I had 2 minutes left in call time and was not willing to shell out another £10 to get more air time.

 

My take on this as has been emphasised in the group is to stand your ground. Myhermes have no intention to go to court and will settle for the full amount. If I had more time or was in the UK, I am confident I would have gotten my cost of instituting the claim as well.

 

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement and helpful tips. 

 

Edited December 15, 2020 by Whosaynah

[BankFodder]

Thanks very much indeed for this update. Well done on getting the settlement that you did.

Absolutely predictable that Hermes should trot out this insurance business. It's outrageous as you have completely understood, that customers should be required to ensure for the negligence or criminality of Hermes own employees.

I can see very well that you had difficulty dealing with it from abroad and I'm sure the cost of the call must have been pretty expensive.

Did you come under any pressure from the mediator?

I suppose Hermes went away with a little satisfaction that at least they got away with the costs. They seem to thrive on these kind of bonbons.

For future reference, you might consider getting a Skype telephone number. If you have an account with Skype, then you can get a subscription which gets you a UK telephone number so that when people phone you, it diverts to you but the people who call you only pay for a local UK call.

This is a great solution for people who are abroad and don't want to put their friends or other contacts to the expense of having to phone international numbers.

Once again, thanks for the update – and well done.

 

[mikeuk24]

Congrats. Shame you weren’t in uk as this obviously added difficulties for you regards getting your costs as well. . Each one of us who wins after a threat of court action makes it clearer that Hermes (and other parcel shippers) do not want to be exposed in court as having unenforceable , unfair clauses in their terms and conditions. 

[Whosaynah]

@BankFodder, I only became aware of the skype option after the fact. Lessons learnt for next time. To be honest, my mediator was very helpful and I did not feel that I was under any kind of pressure at all. Perhaps my telling her from the get go that I am a lawyer and very knowledgable of what my rights were may have had an influence, I cant say but she was pleasant and quite helpful.

 

@mikeuk24 you are spot on regarding them not wanting to be exposed. If I were in the UK, I would have insisted on going to court just to test the principle. Like I had mentioned to the mediator a court judgement against them will literally open the floodgates of litigations not just for myhermes but for almost all the courier companies who have similar provisions. That is why they make all attempts to settle, bully their customers or hope that people are not aware of their rights.

[BankFodder]

5 minutes ago, Hickling96 said:

Hi Mike, I've had the exact same issue, I was wondering if you could email me over the letter of claim you sent to hermes? They lost my £700 macbook pro but I'm struggling to write the letter.

 

My email is [removed - HB]

 

Kind Regards

 

There is no standard letter of claim. The best thing you can do is to allow us to help you directly and you should start your own thread for this purpose.

If you hijack somebody else's thread then it will simply confuse others. If you tell your own story in your own thread then you will get help dedicated to your particular circumstances. Also, Google will take more notice of it and once again the complaints against Hermes and the help the people get here in order to recover their money will go up in the Google rankings.

Please start your own thread

[mikeuk24]

For the assistance of Hickling96, I have attached copies of my claim letters.

Earlier in this thread are a number of pictures used to demonstrate the lack of care taken by these companies when handling our goods.

Hope this helps.

 

HERMES CLAIM_1.docx PACKLINK CLAIM_1.docx

[BankFodder]

Thank you. But once again, it will be preferable – not only for them, but also for other people who visit this forum to get help with Hermes if @Hickling96 would start their own thread and tell their story.

[Hickling96]

I will start my own thread shortly, hopefully my story will have a happy ending

[BankFodder]

If you stick with us and use our advice then it is almost certain that it will have a happy ending. We will take you through it step-by-step.