Court action against Hermes

[Saints60]

Hi,

This is a bit of an epic tale, I’ll try to be as brief as possible.

 

 I sold a Serious Reader’s lamp on eBay last January. They retail at over £600 and the auction was won for £255. I had listed it as collection only due to the size and weight of the lamp, however the customer asked if he could arrange for a courier to collect it, which I agreed to. He arranged through Parcel Compare for Hermes to collect. They did so on 28th January. No tracking information was updated on the information page and continued to show as waiting for collection.

 

Hermes have since admitted that the last scan shows as received at their Southampton depot and then vanishing. My eBay customer had paid for additional insurance and went through a prolonged argument with Parcel Compare, to which I was copied into the emails. Parcel Compare refused to instigate a claim as the Hermes collection receipt had not been completed to their satisfaction. Eventually my customer had enough and went through PayPal to force a refund from my account. 

 

Parcel compare issued him with a refund for postage costs and refused any further communication with me as I was not their customer. I tried to contact Hermes through multiple emails (Martjin de Lange etc) received numerous standard replies asking for time to trace it etc and then nothing.

 

 I took out a money claim against Hermes (thinking 3rd party consumer rights?).

 

Today they have replied stating that the contract was with Parcel Compare, not themselves and that it is them that I should be suing.

They have also suggested mediation.

I am now wondering what my next step should be ......

Any advice gratefully received

[BankFodder]

Firstly you've been here for quite a while and we've been helping you substantially with another matter and I really don't understand why you decided to go it alone with this one rather than let us help you at the beginning.

However, you started. Please will you post up the claim form here in PDF format.

Also, you will need to read around the Hermes stories on this sub- forum because they all go broadly the same way. You should agree to the mediation – but you will understand when you've read up the stories.
Of course it would have been helpful if you had done this operation first because you would know all of this in advance. It's important to know your way around before you take steps.

 

You've just issued a court action against the car dealer – I hope that you are familiar with the steps in that one because that is a very much more serious amount with a much more uncertain outcome.

Post your claim form here – PDF format – read the Hermes stories and then come back here.

[Saints60]

Thanks for your reply.

Generally, I’m ok with doing Money Claims, this one being different as I didn’t enter into the original contract, though am the only party to suffer loss.

Naturally, I will accept the mediation and read through the other comments first.

I can’t post the pdf of the original claim as it has too much personal data attached and unfortunately I only have my iPhone to hand. 
I have attached the screenshots though.

[BankFodder]

Well maybe you can redact it later.

I'm also slightly concerned about third party rights here. Frankly I think it's okay because I think it is possible to describe you as a beneficiary of the contract but it could be something that Hermes will focus on.

Do you know that the item was properly declared and the value was properly declared? It's very important to know that your purchaser had it all down correct because if not, that will leave you out on a limb.

Has your purchaser supplied you with any of the original documentation?

 

[Saints60]

Yes, I have all of the original documentation. I parcelled the item up and attached all of the labels. I always make sure that they are very secure and even tape over them in case the printing gets wet.

[BankFodder]

Sounds a bit obsessive to me!

Anyway – well done because many people simply don't bother.

A shame that the purchaser won't get directly involved.

If you find yourself with this kind of thing again – if you agree to a courier, I would suggest that you ask the purchaser to provide you with the money and you make the contract and keep control of it. That way there is no doubt.

I'm afraid that with purchases, once they get refund – they tend to lose interest

[Saints60]

Thanks for your reply.

I certainly won’t get caught out like this again. Until this happened I had no idea about Hermes terrible reputation. You live and learn, I suppose!

I have rejected their claim and agreed to mediation (I will read information on here before I get the call). Cheeky devils asked for the case to be transferred to Leeds court, I’m in Southampton. I rejected that as well.

I’m sure that the guy who originally purchased the lamp would be willing to help if I asked. Obviously he couldn’t stand to lose the money and had no other option than to request a refund. I am assuming that as the contract between him and Parcel Compare was cancelled (Hermes never updated their tracking to show that it was received at their southampton depot and I only received that information yesterday) that I am in the right to sue Hermes directly for their negligence.

 

[BankFodder]

Note you shouldn't be suing Hermes in negligence. You should be suing them in contract.

You seem to be keen on going it alone – but maybe you ought to be more prepared to reveal what you're doing and to ask for help. If you have sued them simply in negligence then you will have to hope that Hermes are sufficiently stupid and uninformed to go along with it and to make you an offer.

If it goes to court then I think you may have difficulty.

You really ought to show us your particulars of claim. I really don't understand why you don't want to. You seem to be similarly reticent in respect of the car dealer you are suing.

[Saints60]

Hi,

No, I’m not suing them on negligence but their negligence will be something that I will bring up in court. Their tracking information was never updated to show that it was actually scanned into the Southampton Hermes depot. It only ever showed as still awaiting collection. Had it been updated , then my customer would have been able to proceed with his insurance claim that he paid extra for with Parcel Compare, and the matter resolved. The fact that only yesterday Hermes admitted that it did actually arrive at the depot on February 5th and was scanned into their system is negligent. Throughout my numerous attempts to trace my parcel Hermes insisted that it was still awaiting collection, despite the courier giving me a collection receipt.
The only reason that I’m not uploading my court action particulars is that they contain private and personal information, which I don’t wish to share. I am, however, happy to share any information that will assist others (for both cases).

[BankFodder]

Why don't you simply redact your documents like everybody else does. It's extremely helpful to other people to understand what others are doing.

That way we all benefit from each other and the only loser is Hermes