Hermes "Lost" eBay £336 Lego Star Wars item, court claim raised. **WON AT MEDIATION**

[Droony19]

Hi,

 

Another item "lost" by our friends at Hermes.  I sent an item sold on eBay which was never scanned again after the parcel shop drop off although I'm told it did get to the Avonmouth depot. 

 

Details as follows:

Date Sent: 26 Jul 21

what was the item: Lego
what was its value: £336 eBay sold price
was the item properly declared: Yes
was the value properly declared: I think so - is there any way to check? (I have looked but nothing obvious)
did you take out the so-called insurance: No
did you book this with HERMES directly or did you use a broker such as Packlink or parcel2go?: Direct
Was the parcel simply lost? Or is it damaged and then destroyed? Or is it simply damage?: Lost

 

I've filled in the claim form - Just received their very generous £20 plus refund of postage fee and will now reply with a formal complaint requesting full payment.

 

I'll start reading the other posts in prep.  Loving your work!

 

 

[BankFodder]

Wonderful. Somebody who's actually done all the reading before they have started asking questions.

Well done.

Let us know in about 10 days time when you have been declined or there has been no reply.

Start preparing your letter of claim and post it here

 

 

[Droony19]

Draft Letter of Claim ready to go if all looks in order.

 

Hermes Corporate Headquarters

Capitol House,

1 Capitol Blvd,

Morley,

Leeds

LS27 0WH

 

Date XX Aug 21

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Re: Item lost in network – eBay item number xxxxxxxxxxxxxx – Value £336

 

Reference: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Parcel ID: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

The subject item was posted on 26/07/2021 using Hermes and subsequently lost in your network.

 

A claim form for compensation was submitted on 10/08/2021 including eBay proof of value. On 13/08/2021 I received a response from you stating that you will only refund me £27.88. This offer is unacceptable.

 

The insurance that you offer against your company’s negligence and failure to deliver my parcel is an unfair term under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and therefore unenforceable.  Please make arrangements for payment of the full value of the lost item.

   

If a satisfactory response is not received within 14 days of the date of this letter, proceedings through the county court will be issued without further notice.

 

Yours Faithfully.

 

xxxxxxx xxxxxx

[BankFodder]

Looks good. Send it and start preparing your particulars of claim on the county court website.

 

Let's see the draft of the county court claim before you click it off

[Droony19]

My particulars of claim are ready to go tomorrow:

 

The claimant used the defendant's courier service to deliver an item, value – £336.02 to a UK address. Reference number xxxxxxxxxxxx. The defendant breached the contract by losing the item and refuses to compensate the claimant on the basis that the claimant did not take out the defendant's insurance policy.

 

The defendant's requirement that a customer is responsible for insuring themselves against the defendant’s own negligence or the criminality of its employees are unfair within the meaning of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and therefore unenforceable.

 

The claimant seeks £336.02 + £10 eBay postage cost minus £27.88 received as a unilaterally agreed settlement by Hermes, total: £318.14 plus interest pursuant to section 69 County Courts act 1984 + costs.

 

Cheers all!  Comments welcome.  

[Droony19]

Evening.

 

I got a little side tracked this week but would love to click the claim particulars off tomorrow.  Does it look OK?  I think it is but being new to this - I quick look over by BF would be great.  

[FruitSalad1010]

I would await BF's input but there is no need for you to submit their defence for them or indicate how you will argue against their defence before it is necessary, save this for the witness statement.

 

I know too many cooks and all that... and I expect you will receive a response but if not consider the following:

 

Quote

 

1. The claimant used the defendant's courier service to deliver an item, value – £336.02 to a UK address. Reference number xxxxxxxxxxxx.

 

2.The defendant breached the contract by losing the item and refuses to compensate the claimant in full. on the basis that the claimant did not take out the defendant's insurance policy.

 

The defendant's requirement that a customer is responsible for insuring themselves against the defendant’s own negligence or the criminality of its employees are unfair within the meaning of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and therefore unenforceable.

 

3. The claimant seeks £336.02 + £10 eBay postage cost minus £27.88 received as a unilaterally agreed settlement by Hermes, total: £318.14 plus interest pursuant to section 69 County Courts act 1984 + costs.

 

 

Edited September 8, 2021 by FruitSalad1010

[BankFodder]

Please monitor this thread for a reply tomorrow. I suggested you don't do anything until then

[Droony19]

Hi.  Can anyone advise if my delaying progressing the MCOL submission following the letter to Hermes is detrimental to any success? I understand people are busy so if advice is unavailable, I can proceed with what I have. Thanks all. 

[BankFodder]

Have you send the letter of claim above?

there is no particular detriment in delaying after the expiry of 14 days but it doesn't help your credibility.

The best thing to do is that as soon as the 14 days in your letter of claim has expired then you click off the claim.

You should have registered with the money claim website and had it all prepared.

Post your proposed particulars of claim here for us to see.

 

 

[Droony19]

My initial stab at the particulars are in post 5 and post 7 was advice to remove most of it. Then post 8 was you saying hold off and wait. 

Letter was sent. More than 14 days has elapsed so ready to go.

[BankFodder]

Okay.

Can you just post up the final version of your particulars of claim please

[Droony19]

Quote

 

The claimant used the defendant's courier service to deliver an item, value – £336.02 to a UK address. Reference number xxxxxxxxxxxx. The defendant breached the contract by losing the item and refuses to compensate the claimant on the basis that the claimant did not take out the defendant's insurance policy.

 

The defendant's requirement that a customer is responsible for insuring themselves against the defendant’s own negligence or the criminality of its employees are unfair within the meaning of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and therefore unenforceable.

 

The claimant seeks £336.02 + £10 eBay postage cost minus £27.88 received as a unilaterally agreed settlement    payment imposed by Hermes, total: £318.14 plus interest pursuant to section 69 County Courts act 1984 + costs. 

 

 

Edited September 10, 2021 by BankFodder
Edits in red

[BankFodder]

I've made a slight amendment in red. It's fine – go ahead and issue it

[Droony19]

Cheers BF.

 

Submitted.  

 

[Droony19]

Hi BF.   

 

My claim was issued on 13 September so I'm thinking my 28 days is this coming Monday - 11 October?

 

Hermes filed their acknowledgement on 21 September but nothing has happened since.  

[dx100uk]

as soon as you can request judgement via mcol do so...go read like threads

 

dx

 

[BankFodder]

But don't get your hopes up. They make an art form of putting in the defence in the very final minute.

However, monitor the County Court site very closely and the minute it allows you, put in for the judgement.

[FruitSalad1010]

The defendant has 28 days from the date of service to file a defence after filing an acknowledgement of service, as detailed on the claim form.

 

Using the dates you have provided, the date of service is 5 days following the date the claim was issued, the 18th September.

 

Therefore the deadline for the defendant to file defence is 16th October, expect the option to apply for default judgement to be available on or shortly after this date.

Edited October 9, 2021 by FruitSalad1010

[dx100uk]

15th oct by 4pm

[Droony19]

Hermes waited for the last minute to respond with a defence predictably.  I've received the DQ along with their defence detail which is exactly as you would expect - "claimant did not opt to increase the level of compensation blah blah blah"

 

I'll fill in the DQ opting for mediation and request my local CC location and return to the Northampton address as directed.

 

I have one question and apologies if this has already been covered (can't find it) - the N149A form states I must complete the DQ and file it with the court office and serve copies on all other parties. 

 

I'm assuming this means I have to copy the DQ and send it to Hermes?

[BankFodder]

Yes that's what it means.

Continue reading the Hermes stories here and pay particular attention to the arguments that we have suggested that supports our view that their requirement that you pay for your own protection against their sloppy work or the criminality of their own employees is unfair.

Let us know when you get a mediation date.

[Droony19]

Update - My mediation was to be today - 20 Dec 21 between 1000 and 1200.  I've just got off the phone to the mediator who was "disappointed" to tell me that the mediation had been cancelled.  This was due to "an intermittent issue" with their IT systems and that they had just found an email saying that Hermes could not attend.  She was unable to tell me if this would be re-scheduled or not and that I should follow the court process, probably ending up with a small claims hearing.  I expressed my annoyance at this but it was all very woolly with "might's" and "should's" which I thought odd for a legal process.  

 

Not sure if this is a new Hermes tactic in light of their recent very bad publicity but looks like I may be off to court - which I am more than happy to do.

[BankFodder]

Are they going to confirm any of this in writing?

If you are able to email them then I would suggest that you send them an email containing all the points that they made in their call to you and ask them to confirm.

If you can call them then I would ask them to send you an email confirming the points.
I think it will be helpful to have it in writing

[Droony19]

Had a phone call followed up with an email confirming new mediation appointment in first week of January.