Hermes laptop issue

[Nassa10 1]

Hi, looking for some advice and reassurance.

 

Around 12-14 weeks ago I sent my laptop off via Hermes to be repaired,

a few days passed and the item hadn’t moved on the app.

 

After various phone calls I was told my laptop had been lost.

I paid the extra £15.80 insurance to cover this exact thing.

The insurance was up to £200 which was incidentally the price of the laptop.

After Hermes not being able to find the laptop I was told by a customer service agent that I should submit a claim form and I would get my money back.

Fast forward around 5/6 weeks and still nothing.

 

On a day off work I follow this up and by chance I get through to a manager,

after around 1 hour on the phone said manager tells me I will receive my monies within 24 hours and he will call back later for the BACS details,

 

he calls back and takes the details but one hour later, after being told on numerous occasions that I will get my money he tells me the head of the claims department has dismissed my claim as the laptop was “damaged beyond repair” after 1 hours travel and so it was disposed of.

I packaged this item extremely well.

 

I then ring trading standards who informed me I may struggle without proof of being told I would get my money back.

 

The next day I ring back and using the extension number the manager gave me I recorded the call and he confirmed he did tell me I would receive my monies.

 

I sent a letter of deadlock and received no response, after speaking to trading standards I issued a legal letter 2 days ago.

 

What chance do I stand?

thanks

[BankFodder 1,961]

Please will you monitor this thread for a reply tomorrow.

 

However you have posted a long story in a long block of text and that makes it very difficult for people to read and then to give you the advice that you need.

 

Please will you post your story but this time spaced and punctuated and people will be far more enthusiastic to follow you and to support you.

Thanks

[dx100uk 9,435]

post spaced for you

 

you mean you sent a 14 day letter before court Action?

 

[Nassa10 1]

Thanks, yes I sent a 14 day letter of deadlock (told to by trading standards) and now a legal letter has been issued 

[BankFodder 1,961]

Please post up the letter which you sent.

 

Have you read through some of the Hermes threads on this forum.  Do You understand the basis of your arguments and do you understand that steps involved in taking the action?

 

It is good that you are moving quickly and good that you are recording calls but Trading Standards don't always give the best advice.

 

Lets's see the letter

[Nassa10 1]

 

2 mins

 

Hermes
Capitol House
1 Capitol Close
Moriey
LEEDS
LS270WH

Particulars 0f Claim xxxxxxx


27/10/2020
I sent a £200 extremely well packaged laptop with Hermes and took up the option of the extra cost to get the £200 compensation and insurance.

 

For the past 10 weeks i was told that my parcel had been lost but then 2 weeks ago I was told by a manager by the name of Junaid that my laptop had been disposed off without my prior knowledge, the parcel was disposed of as it was "damaged beyond repair" after 1 hours travel.

 

I was told by many customer service agents and a manager that I would receive a refund.

I have an audio recording of the manager assuring me I would get my money back and then he (Junaid) Informed me that the head of the claims department had changed his mind as the laptop was damaged through no fault of my own.

 

I am claiming for £220 plus £25 legal costs.

I also sent a letter of deadlock over 2 weeks ago and I did not receive a response despite the letter being signed for.

 

Details of claim 

amount - £220.00
court fee £25.00
total £245.00

Edited October 28, 2020 by Nassa10

[dx100uk 9,435]

date on the claimform please 

 

and type out your particulars of claim if this is not as above.

 

dx

 

[Nassa10 1]

The date was the 26/10/20

What particulars do you mean?

[dx100uk 9,435]

the particulars of your claim your entered into that section.

 

dx

 

[Nassa10 1]

Oh the particulars are as above 

I am claiming for the cost of the laptop (£200) plus costs

[BankFodder 1,961]

Please can you post the exact particulars of claim. A PDF copy would be preferred.

Also, please could you post a copy of the letter of claim which you sent. A PDF copy would be preferred.

 

[Nassa10 1]

What are the exact particulars? The letter I sent in the post I sent recorded delivery but I don’t have a copy, the legal letter is the letter above 

[Nassa10 1]

The laptop was sent on 03/08

On 13/08 I sent an email to Martijn De Lange

21/08 I was told to submit a claim form

30/09-01/10 Promised my money back by manager (01/10 call recorded) 

02/10 Deadlock Letter sent 

26/10 Legal letter sent 

[BankFodder 1,961]

We are doing our best to help you with professional level of advice. you're getting it for free but that is no reason to treat it as simply a piece of social media exchange.

if you are very confident about what you are doing then you don't need our help. However, reading through this thread so far I have the impression that you aren't entirely certain of the steps. in order to give you the best help and to give you the best chance of success, we need to understand exactly what you have done so far.

 

have you registered on the money claim county court website? Did you issue a claim there? What date did you issue it? do you understand the rules about acknowledgement of service and then defence?

 

Also, you have referred several times to a deadlock letter. Please could you post that up in pdf format.

[Nassa10 1]

I have registered on the money claim website and I did issue a claim on there on 26/10. I sent this in the post but I don’t have a copy

 

Is the acknowledgment of service that they have 14 days?

[BankFodder 1,961]

I'm a bit puzzled that you didn't keep a copy of your claim form. it's very important that you keep a full set of documents – especially once you have entered the litigation process.

You say that you registered on the moneyclaim website but you then sent your claim form by post. You didn't issue the claim online.

that is very unusual. Why did you decide not to send it online? 

 

I think it's important that you get a copy of your claim form and I think you should phone the courts and explain to them that you didn't keep her copy and that you need one and can you have one by email.

 

 

[BankFodder 1,961]

Can we see a copy of the so-called deadlock letter please. I understand that you at least kept a copy of that.

also I suggest that you take a bit of time and start reading on this forum about the steps needed to take a small claim in the county court.

 

have you read through some of the hermès threads on this forum so that you understand the issues and the basis of your case and that you have started to formulate your arguments?

 

 

[Nassa10 1]

The legal letter was sent online and it is above 

I will repost below

Hermes
Capitol House
1 Capitol Close
Moriey
LEEDS
LS270WH

Particulars 0f Claim xxxxxxx


27/10/2020
I sent a £200 extremely well packaged laptop with Hermes and took up the option of the extra cost to get the £200 compensation and insurance.

 

For the past 10 weeks i was told that my parcel had been lost but then 2 weeks ago I was told by a manager by the name of Junaid that my laptop had been disposed off without my prior knowledge, the parcel was disposed of as it was "damaged beyond repair" after 1 hours travel.

 

I was told by many customer service agents and a manager that I would receive a refund.

I have an audio recording of the manager assuring me I would get my money back and then he (Junaid) Informed me that the head of the claims department had changed his mind as the laptop was damaged through no fault of my own.

 

I am claiming for £220 plus £25 legal costs.

I also sent a letter of deadlock over 2 weeks ago and I did not receive a response despite the letter being signed for.

 

Details of claim 

amount - £220.00
court fee £25.00
total £245.00

 

I have read through some of the Hermes threads

[BankFodder 1,961]

Thanks for the letter. But I see that once again it refers to a deadlock letter and you haven't posted that.

 

I'd be grateful if you could post that and also will you try to contact the court and get a copy of your claim form.

 

how long was the claim form question mark is there any chance that you could try to reproduce it here to the best of your memory

[Nassa10 1]

The claim form I used via Hermes to try and get a refund? 
the deadlock letter was not a legal letter, it was a letter of intention telling them I would send a legal letter, I sent this in the post and I don’t have a copy but it was very similar to the legal letter I sent (just longer)

[BankFodder 1,961]

Why don't you keep copies of this important correspondence that you send?

[Nassa10 1]

It was a mistake on my part 

But it was sent via recorded delivery and Hermes head office signed for the correspondence 

[BankFodder 1,961]

You started off this thread by asking us if you had a chance of success.

i'm afraid that your chances of success don't only depend on the initial story but they depend on the documents that you have sent and how you have presented your case.

as you seem not to have kept copies of anything that you have sent and so we are unable to understand exactly what you have done or how you have presented your case, we aren't able to make a judgement on your chances of success.

I hope you won't mind me saying but that your litigation style so far doesn't really bode very well for you.

 

we can help you and we can get you back on track and we can put you in a powerful position but I think that you're going to have to deal with things in a far more business-like way because at the moment you are treating it very casually.

 

i suggest that you begin by contacting the courts and getting a copy of your claim form. That would be a good start and we can see exactly what you said, and advise you on whether it is good enough or whether there should be changes and also on how it is likely to run.

 

I'm afraid the I'm not sure what else we can do until that happens. in the meantime, start reading up on how to take a small claim in the county court. We have lots of information on this forum. It's not difficult but it is worth knowing the steps so you have confidence.

 

also, read up on the hermès threads here so that you understand the way that things normally happen.

 

However, as I have already suggested, I think you need to start taking more seriously than you have done. There isn't a large amount of money at stake but it is better that you win it than you lose it.

 

you have done well to start your case and to decide to take action. Many people don't. However, you really aren't dealing with it at all efficiently and I think you need to change your attitude.

 

Contact the court tomorrow and get a copy of your claim form emailed to you and then post it up here

 

 

 

 

[Nassa10 1]

Please find below my claim form

Doc_20201028_212943.pdf

[BankFodder 1,961]

OK.  It is highly likely that you will get your money back and the recording will have helped you.

 

The way that Hermes work on these cases is that they normally try to stall you and to test your resolve.

 

If it goes the normal way, they will file an acknowledgment of service within the 14 day limit and that will then buy them a further 14 days.

Towards the end of the 14 days they will then file their  defence. At that point you will have to make a decision whether or not to pay your further fee in order to go on to have a hearing. For the value you are claiming the fee will be about £80 although you need to check the county court website to be sure.

 

In their defence, Hermes will have indicated that they are prepared to go to mediation. Please read up what we have to say about mediation. Hermes will treat this as an opportunity to try and beat you down and to reduce the amount that they have to pay you. as long as you stand by your guns, they will eventually back down and they will pay you your entire claim including the fees in order to avoid going to to a hearing.

 

It is in respect of the mediation  the recording that you have will be helpful. Let me say that Trading Standards are wrong because in terms of establishing any legal right to the money, the recording is not relevant although it might sway a judge in your favour.

 

The real issues here are that you entrusted Hermes with your property for a fee and they breached the contract by their negligence and damaged it.

 

Frankly you didn't need to insure it because customers shouldn't need to insure against the supplier's negligence - but you did get insurance and that will place extra pressure o Hermes to settle for the full amount.

 

The other element which concerns me is that Hermes now take it upon themselves apparently to destroy other people's property when they themselves have damaged it through their own negligence.

I don't think that they have the right to do this and it is very easy for them to try and avoid liability of losing something by then saying that it was damaged and so they destroyed ir - and without presenting any evidence of the damage or of the  destroying of the item.

 

Hermes are disreputable and people should avoid them.

 

Please read up on the Hermes threads and about small claims in the County Court and about mediation.

We will be happy to help you all the way but I would point out to you that you have made 17 posts and taen up a considerable amount of useful time simply trying to get you to tell us the story and to post up some important documents.

It was all so unnecessary.

 

I have read your claim form but it has now been hidden in order to protect you as you had left your personal details on it.

 

I suggest that you redact documents in the future.

 

Feel free to ask questions as you go along.

 

By the way, the 14 day period runs fro the date of deemed service of the claim which is about   2 days from the date of issue.

 

You issued on the 27th.  So count 14 from the 30th.  Monitor the Moneyclaim site closely and apply for judgment the moment it lets you.

You never know, there is a remote chance that they may nor file an AOS - very remote.

 

There is also a remote chance that they may pay you out in order to get you to withdraw the claim.  The recording may have helped if they do.

 

Keep us updated