Hermes destroyed my parcel, and wont compensate because its on their non compensation list **WON**

[mynamenotjeff]

yeah I've had a read they seem to have a reputation for trying to fleece you and get away with lower that what the claimant actually asked for, and the mediators can fuel that.

 

I'll sort out the scanner, it's a big university, there will be one somewhere, I'll reupload when I find one.

 

I filled out the DQ and I'm personally happy with mediation, I have no intention of settling for any less than what I am owed.

 

I will print off and post a copy to hermes and back to the county court hopefully today

[mynamenotjeff]

Quick question, how long should it be until I get word on mediation/ a response. I posted my letter first class to the court and Hermes nearly 2 weeks ago now

[BankFodder]

In the next couple of weeks probably

[dx100uk]

what does mcol say about DQ's under status of claim?

[mynamenotjeff]

Ah ok thanks for that

mcol says the last thing that’s happened is the DQ was filed so just a waiting game for now I think

[dx100uk]

by them and you?

 

[mynamenotjeff]

Yes Hermes was on the 14th and mine was the 23rd

[mynamenotjeff]

hello again, sorry for the long absence, finally got a mediation date for the 28th July, between 8-10am. I'll do some reading up naturally beforehand. In your opinion, is there in particular is there anything I should mention in terms of this case?

[BankFodder]

I've tried to go back over this thread quickly and I see that the issue is that you sent a laptop worth about 790 quid and that apparently they damaged it and then decided to destroy.
You claimed for the compensation for the laptop and also for Conversion in because they have interfered with your property.

This is going to be interesting because to my knowledge this will be the first time that they have been faced with the issue of conversion and have actually challenged it. The last time we included a claim for conversion, for some reason rather they missed their deadlines so that the judgement was given in default and they simply paid up.

This time they are challenging it.

Actually they are not challenging because their defence has made absolutely no reference to the Conversion element of your claim. Either they didn't understand what was happening or else they didn't know how to deal with it and simply trundled out their standard defence.

Please read up the mediation story is here to understand how it will go. Their initial position will be that they paid you £300 which is the insurance element and that they are not liable for the rest.

Your position should be that you reject this out of hand and that you want everything. Your initial position must be that they should understand that you are more than happy to go to court and put the whole matter before a judge so that the enforceability of the insurance can be examined and also the whole issue of them having knowingly destroyed something which was damaged even though they knew the identity of the owner. The issue is that they took your property worth nearly £800 and decided to destroy it without any reference to you and without any attempt to deliver it – even if there had cost a little bit extra. This is the Conversion.
I think at the outset you must be very firm in your own self belief and your conviction that you are prepared to delay the settlement of this and prepared to go to court.

You will tell them that in any event, the insurance is unenforceable and that you didn't know that when you took out the insurance. You only accepted the £300 to mitigate the loss to them and to you and as a gesture of goodwill to them.

Please read up the pinned/sticky post which I have put up at the top of the sub- forum about the unenforceability of insurance. During the mediation you won't have the opportunity to go through all of these points. Mediation seems to be much quicker than that and it seems to me that there is only a general and informal discussion and no real discussion of the legal aspects of any particular case.
However, you should read up and understand the points that I have made about the unenforceability of insurance so that you are confident when you decide to stand your ground – as I hope you will do.

Your next point should be that you don't believe that the laptop was damaged. Tell them that you believe that the truth is that it was stolen and that somebody decided to use the excuse that it was damaged and then had to be destroyed as a means of covering up the theft.
Tell them that whatever they say about this, you don't believe them and that you don't expect a judge will believe them either.
Tell them that they have provided no evidence of the damage and that any prudent company would have very easily taken photographs and have supplied them to you and although that would not have exempted them from any liability, at least it might help to make the story believable.
Once again, tell them that if they want to go to court you are happy about that and you will point out to the judge that although they had the damaged laptop in front of them, they knew the owner and yet they made no attempt to take photographs or to contact you before deciding what to do with it, that this all points to criminality.

Tell them that whatever their exclusions, there was absolutely no basis for them simply to make their own decision about destroying the item rather than returning it to you in its damaged state. They clearly knew that you are the owner because otherwise they would not have been able to communicate to you that the laptop parcel was damaged.

 

At the end, I think there will be no problem about getting them to put their hands up to the declared value of the laptop. Of course they will want something to save Face. I suspect that the mediation will eventually get to a point where they offer you the declared value of the laptop and require you to give up the £100 which has been added for the conversion and also your court costs.

I think the additional position on your claim for conversion should not only be that they had no permission to destroy your property. It is not written in the contract anywhere and even if it was it would be unfair.
Your position on Conversion is also that they have not responded to it in their defence. The defence is completely silent about your claim for Conversion – and procedural rules governing these documents, if they don't specifically deny it then they admit it.
You should point out to them that you will be explaining to the judge that they have not denied the conversion at all and in fact they have avoided the subject completely. This gives you a winning hand on Conversion.
On the question of court costs, your position is that they force you to go to court because they wouldn't reimburse you correctly and so therefore they are responsible for costs and you are not prepared to carry that burden on your shoulders.


Of course it's up to you how badly you need the money – but frankly I think your arguments for conversion are extremely powerful and I don't see that you should give up anything. They have wantonly destroyed your property and I'm quite sure that a judge would find in your favour on this point because it's simply an extraordinary story and of course they are doing this with the property of many other people.

We have had a few cases where people have stood their ground and Hermes also have stood their ground and said they are prepared to go to court. What is interesting about those cases is that the claimant's , who we have been helping, have never come back to us.

I'm pretty certain that outside of the mediation Hermes is eventually settling before the court hearing so that there can be no findings against them on the question of the enforceability of insurance that part of the settlement is that Hermes pays all the money in return for confidentiality – and that's why people are not coming back to us.

I suspect that that is what may happen here.

I think the conversion issue is a huge risk for Hermes because this story about them damaging people's property and then destroying it without permission is fairly common. I can imagine that Hermes would not want this to be decided by a judge because they would not want it public.
I can also imagine that Hermes would not want this decided at mediation because they would not want to appear to give way on the question of Conversion.

So I think it's quite possible that you will get to a point where you are offered your 800 quid and they will refuse to pay the money for the conversion and if you insist then they will say that they will go to court and that will be the end of the mediation.
In fact before the court hearing I think is extremely likely that you will find that Hermes will reach out to you and offer you the rest of the money but in confidence.

Of course this is not at all guaranteed – but I think it's significant that we have had several other people here where the mediation has apparently failed and then the story has simply disappeared from view. I'm convinced that Hermes is settling claims in full behind-the-scenes rather than get a reputation for doing this.

It's up to you.

If you badly need the money then I suppose you will be prepared to accept the 800 quid and forego the rest. If you think that you can wait a bit longer and take a risk – very small risk – then you can tell Hermes that you are happy to see them in court and to make an issue of it in public.

Obviously my own preference is that you don't back down. That you insist for every last penny including interest on the 800 quid for the laptop and the compensation for the conversion. The destroying of your damaged item is outrageous and frankly it doesn't fall far short of criminal damage.

Please do ask any questions you want.

I suggest that you make a list of points to have by you during the mediation.

Don't forget you won't really be able to discuss very many of these points during the mediation because it isn't a legal discussion – but they should give you confidence to stand your ground. Other people have stood their ground and won completely. There is no reason why you shouldn't either.

Have a pen and paper and take notes because during the conversation you may think of things which you want to say and later on you forget.

Finally, we'd appreciate an update and also a summary of the mediation process if you can.
As seen other people summaries here and I'm sure that you have found them very useful.

We would especially like to know if you come under pressure from the mediator. That would be quite improper of the mediator but it is happening sometimes.

Also, unless confidentiality has been agreed as part of the eventual agreement, you can certainly come back and tell us everything.

If you do find yourself in some kind a confidential agreement then we would certainly be grateful if you would let us know in confidence on our admin email address about what has happened. This would be enormously helpful to other people.

Let us know what other questions you might have.

Finally, if you get your money back, you may consider giving us a donation. That would be very welcome – but I suggest that you spend the money on a scanner because quite frankly for the help we giving you the quality of what you are giving to us is really quite shockingly bad
 

[mynamenotjeff]

This is incredible information I’m immensely grateful

i will 100% provide a summary I don’t intend to use these services and ghost afterwards it would frankly be rude and disrespectful 

I do now have a printer/scanner so any documents that need scanning will be done so appropriately 

I don’t really intend on losing out on my court costs but to be honest the extra £100 I can probably live without, naturally I will try to gun for it as hard as possible though

again your help is much appreciated 

[BankFodder]

Yes, I expected that was what you would say – and it is not unreasonable.

From our point of view of course we will be extremely pleased if you stuck out for the Conversion because there is an extremely important principle to establish here.

Anyway, over to you and make sure you ask us questions as you need

[BankFodder]

By the way, you are a student – if you like what we do here then why don't you get it put into the student magazine. I'm sure there must be one. You can even tell them the story and then refer to us and say that we will help anybody with anything if they are up for a scrap.

[mynamenotjeff]

Will do, also sent a donation your way, just as a token of gratitude and will send more when we finally win this thing!

ive actually already told a few friends about this site who have had trouble getting refunds etc but I will definitely do that excellent suggestion

Edited July 20, 2021 by mynamenotjeff
amendment after new post

[BankFodder]

Well thanks for the gift. I've returned it to. Get a result first and then see which you feel like

[mynamenotjeff]

That’s fair enough, hopefully not too long

[BankFodder]

Update: the matter has been settled – although at the moment we are not in a position to disclose any further information