Packlink/InPost tampered with my parcel

[The Warhammer Titan]

Hi,

 

My situation:

 

I sold an iPhone on eBay for £700.

I (stupidly) used eBay Packlink to purchase shipping with InPost.

 

Long story short, the parcel was tampered with. The Buyer told me the parcel arrived but the iPhone itself was not there. I suspected that the parcel box was opened, the iPhone was removed, and then the parcel box was resealed

 

. In order to get Packlink to even launch this investigation, they made me fill in a claims form where I declared the value of the item (£700). They emailed me at the start of December 2021 and told me that the parcel was tampered with

 

. They asked me to provide them with bank details to send compensation. I replied asking how much compensation I will get. I heard nothing back until today. Indeed, today they sent me the exact same email again, asking me to provide bank details.

 

I replied with my bank details. Then they sent me an automated email telling me I will be receiving £25 compensation, which is abysmal considering the value of the item is £700.. They clearly haven't used reasonable care and skill, and even their own investigation concluded that the parcel was tampered with.

 

I would please like help from this forum with chasing this up.

 

£700 is a lot of money (to me at least) and I feel completely let down and scammed by eBay, Packlink and InPost.

 

Incidentally, I have tried contacting Citizens Advice, but they haven't been all that helpful, and it seems the advice I get differs depending on who I manage to speak to on the phone which just adds to my frustration.

 

Ultimately, I would please like some advice on what my next steps should be. Should I contact InPost directly since Packlink aren't being reasonable?

 

 

[honeybee13]

Hello, welcome to CAG.

 

We have people here who can help you, but they don't seem to be around at the moment I'm afraid. We're all volunteers and I expect people are busy with their own lives in the run up to Christmas, but I'm sure people will be along to help later.

 

Best, HB

[dx100uk]

Inpost is hermes

 

type hermes in our top red banner search box and get reading up

 

complaint letter 1st then letter of claim.

 

Dx

[The Warhammer Titan]

Hey thanks both.

 

Sorry so I should contact Hermes, not InPost? I ask because my understanding is my tracking/reference numbers etc. are with InPost/Packlink?

 

Thanks again for replying!

[BankFodder]

As indicated above, you are really dealing with Hermes – but you will have to sue inpost as they are the legal entity which undertook to carry the item.

However read up all the Hermes stories on this sub- forum – at least a couple of dozen. Make Sure You Understand about the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act

 

You should contact inpost and make a formal complaint. After about 10 days they will either declined or fail to respond in which case we moved to a letter of claim and we will help you.

However it's important that you read stories.

Did you pay their insurance?

[The Warhammer Titan]

Thanks for replying and for the information I will read up.

 

Also no I didn’t pay for their insurance - and to be fair I don’t believe that I was given an option to do so.

 

I spent a minute on eBay Packlink (before buying postage) looking but there was no option presented to me.

 

There was some promotion on Packlink going on at the time with InPost, I think because I was a new eBay Packlink customer.

 

I know this is besides the point right now but still thought it was worth mentioning in the interest of giving as much context as possible.

[dx100uk]

i believe inpost is operated and owned by hermes.

 

i'll try and confirm that later.

[The Warhammer Titan]

Just updating this thread to summarise my details.

 

• I sold an iPhone (in original packaging) on eBay for £700.
• I purchased shipping with InPost via eBay Packlink on 26th October 2021
• I did not pay for "enhanced" insurance.
• I dropped off the parcel (Boxed iPhone within brown "postage" box) at an InPost locker on 26th October 2021.
• The Buyer told me (and thankfully sent me a lot of pictures) that the iPhone itself was missing from its original box, but that there was no obvious signs of tampering.
• I contacted Packlink claiming for £700, after some back-and-forths they confirmed with me that their investigations discovered that my parcel was tampered with. They automatically refunded me £25 even though I made it clear I was after the full amount.

 

My next steps:

• I will now Email InPost directly to make a formal claim. I will give them 10 days to reply.
• InPost will more than likely deny responsibility and won't refund me. In which case, I will have to draft a letter of claim and begin legal process against InPost.
  • The Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 legislation allows me to begin legal proceedings against InPost (a UK registered company) and not Packlink (a Spain registered company).
• I will continue to read this sub-forum.

 

Thanks again everyone, you have no idea how much I appreciate this.

[BankFodder]

Well done, you have done your Christmas vacation homework and you get 9/10.

When we see your draft particulars of claim we will consider offering you the final missing mark.

[BankFodder]

However you may need to do a bit of revision on the enforceability for otherwise of the insurance requirement.

 

Lots of information about that on this subforum

 

[The Warhammer Titan]

Hey

 

Sorry it's been a while (not making excuses but had a few personal life-change events). Anyway just for the benefit of documenting and BUMPing this thread I am making this post. I continued trying with Packlink directly for a while since others on the forum had success this way. Unfortunately, they have started to completely ignore my emails now.

 

I did try appealing to eBay directly but this was pointless. Just putting this out there in case someone else is thinking of doing the same. Don't waste your time.

 

In the end, InPost (somewhat ironically) told me I should take the issue up with Hermes. Couldn't for the life of me find an email for Hermes. I managed to dig up [email protected] and sent my claim to this address but received an automatic reply immediately saying:

 

"Thank you for contacting Evri. This email address is no longer a Customer Service contact channel so if you have a question about a parcel, please visit https://www.evri.com/help-and-support/help-centre#/ where you can use our Digital Assistant, Holly, to log an enquiry with Customer Services or she will point you in the right direction."

 

Indeed I went to their live chat but obviously there's no way of actually inputting a claim. Had to jump through some automated live chat hoops before I finally found a random option that actually let me input a custom message. So I did this and the website assured me it was sent to their customer service. Also got an automated email response saying they've received the issue ticket. For good measure, I took a screen recording of my interaction with the live chat bot. Side note: don't waste your time trying to ring their customer service phone number as it is somehow worse than their live chat. Completely unhelpful automated robot.

 

A further detail with my interaction with Packlink is I sold my iPhone as a bundle: screen protector, case and iPhone. All three were individually boxed and placed into yet another box. Packlink basically said that the parcel was damaged, implying that they would have had to remove my iPhone. However, giving them the benefit of the doubt and even ignoring the fact that they would have had to do this without my concern and "disposed" of my property, the very fact is they cannot even claim this because the other two items that did arrive (screen protector and case) clearly showed no signs of damage. I know from reading the forums that this is Hermes' tactic to avoid settling with customers who have had their parcel tampered with, but nevertheless it is scary that their "customer service" can tell me the parcel was damaged but conveniently only one of the contents were removed/damaged whilst the others were not. Anyway I will end my rant there. Sorry.

 

Anyway I'll begin/continue drafting my letter of claim in anticipation that Hermes will not reply or will reject, so in 10 days I should be ready to start the county court claim process.

 

Thanks!

 

[BankFodder]

Well I'm pleased that you are still on the case – although you haven't helped yourself by these delays.

Do draft a letter of claim and we will have a look at it – but when you say that after 10 days you will be ready to start the County Court claim, it shows me that you haven't read around this sub- forum or about the steps involve taking a county court claim.

If you had done your reading then you would know that it is 14 days.

I think you better start informing yourself before you do anything more – but don't take much longer about it