Hello, Thanks for the prompt response, I sell things on eBay, so does that make me a business? Both items were used and I sold them on eBay, would this make me a business entity? I refer to the people who purchased my items as customers, not sure how else to refer them. I will spend the next 14 days reading up other cases on this forum, but I will proceed with a small claim against Hermes after 14 days. Thank you for your guidance on this.

Here the the PDF file, should be working now. Thanks Letter of Claim - Hermes.pdf

Hello, thanks for the prompt response. Here is my letter of claim. I have read through some of the forum posts, but there are many similar incidents and I just want some guidance from the experts on what I should do next. My understanding is that I should give Hermes to agree to my demand of full compensation, which they would not agree anyway, I then need to file a small claim against Hermes and go from there. Just not sure if there is any specific wording and references to any specific consumer laws ...etc that I should be referring. While the amount I have lost is not significant compared with other people in this forum, it really pisses me off that people within Hermes could freely open up customer packages and take what they want and Hermes does not seem interested to find out who these culprits were. Thanks for your help.

Hello, I have now gone through the process of contacting Hermes customer support, and just like the other complaints made by others, Hermes just tried to push responsibility to Packlink and asked me to claim compensation through Packlink. Well, I have already declined the £25 compensation from Packlink as my total loss is £205. I have sent them a letter of claim - to the executive office of Hermes in Leeds. What is my next step please? Could someone provide some guidance please? Thanks.

I saw someone giving 14 days and was suggested to 29 days ? so 14 days is the norm? I will first escalate this to Hermes first (but the online chat person did ask me to speak to Packlink). Thanks for the advice

Thanks word format attached. Also, I need to have a communication with Hermes to confirm that they are not accepting liability for the full amount. I have not been able to send the complain formally to anyone in Hermes yet. Could you point me in the right direction? Letter of Claim v2 - Hermes.docx

What about the below: Also, the claim was made with Packlink because Hermes did not want to speak to me and all the online chat lead to nowhere. I guess they had admitted liability on this one (by paying out £25). Who should I send the letter of claims to ?

Ah ok, less details, makes sense. will update now.

I have done a draft below. Any suggestion on what else to include would be most appreciated.

Wow, thanks for the education BankFodder, much appreciated. I never paid for the additional insurance premium, because that premium is quite substantial - I guess that is how Hermes top up their profits, by taking advantages of the consumers (such as my self) ignorance. I like the idea of giving them 2 slaps by filing 2 claims, gives me some entertainment during this lockdown (again). I have tried looked up Hermes website for contact details to send the Letter of Claim to, but have not been able to find one. Could you share with me a link with the details, and the recommended template for the letter of claim? I will get right on it, first letter of claim, then I guess a small claim to follow. Thank you for your help, much appreciated.

Hi BankFodder, Thank you very much for such a prompt response and advice. Chronology of what has happened: Package 1 Dec 13, 2020: 2 items sold on eBay - a BMW key case cover (sold for £35) and a 70mai Car battery jump starter (sold for £47.10 plus £4.95 postage) Dec 14, 2020: Shipping label purchased on eBay via Packlink (no additional insurance purchased) and package containing both items dropped off at Hermes parcel shop Dec 16, 2020: Package delivered to household at 12:44pm Dec 16, 2020: Customer advised jump starter was missing inside the box, and confirmed using his CCTV footage that no one had touched the box since delivery Dec 16, 2020: a number of photos were sent, and clearly showed that someone else had opened the box and resealed it Dec 17, 2020: A claim opened on Packlink for the theft of the missing jump starter Dec 18 - to date: numerous exchange with Packlink. Claim is still on going as Packlink claims no evidence of tempering" and advised to speak to Hermes, Hermes advised to deal with Packlink Package 2 Dec 11, 2020: 70mai A800 4K Dash Cam (including rear cam and hardwire kit) sold for £146.00 plus £5.95 for postage Dec 17, 2020: Shipping label purchased on eBay via Packlink and dropped off at Hermes Parcel shop. This was one of the 3 packages sent with the same contents, but for this order, I reused an Amazon box with a "package contains batteries label" at the bottom of the box. I did not pay for additional insurance. Dec 18, 2020: Package delivered to household at 11:13am Dec 18, 2020: Customer advised that the box was light for what he had purchased, a number of photos were taken before he opened the box and he cofnirmed that the box received was empty Dec 19, 2020: More photos were sent, including one that clearly showed bottom of package was cut opened and resealed. The "package contains batteries" label was cut and visible in the photo. Dec 19, 2020: A claim opened on Packlink for the theft of the missing contents inside the package Dec 21, 2020: Packlink advised investigation complete and transferred to claims department Dec 24, 2020: Packlink advised that it would settle the claim for an amount of £25 plus postage paid. Dec 24, 2020: I decline the offer citing that contents of my package was stolen by Hermes and I wish to lodge a small claims against Packlink. No response. Dec 31, 2020: Packlink paid the minimum compensation of £25 plus £3.34, despite my explicit reply to decline this offer Dec 31 - to date: numerous email exchanges with Packlink - Packlink has advised to contact Hermes, and Hermes advised me to contact Packlink. So, evidence in both cases clearly suggest that both packages were tempered with by Hermes couriers. I could rule out the Parcel shop as all packages were left behind a counter clearly visible to all customers, it simply was not possible for the parcel shop to temper with customer packages. So the contents of my package would have been removed after a Hermes courier picked up the packages. I understand that I have not purchased the additional insurance, but I believe the insurance is there to cover accidental damage or loss. Theft by the courier company itself should be implicit and should not require any additional premiums to be paid. Do I have a case? I am willing to take it all the way as 1. the total claim amount if £204, while it is modest, it is still significant. and 2. Hermes courier had no right to just take what they wanted with no repercussion. If Hermes cannot implement a process to provide a basic courier service (ensure package is delivered to customer without being tempered with by its own employee), then maybe it should not be operating as a courier company then.

Hello all, It seems to me that there are many people out there who have suffered as a result of thieves working as couriers for Hermes. I have sent 2 packages just before Christmas which were tempered with by the couriers and contents of the package stolen - one customer received one of the 2 items inside the package (only because that item was of no value to the courier - a specific keycase cover) and the other customer received an empty box. In both cases, it was easy for someone working for Hermes to simply cut open the bottom of the packages and took what he/she wanted before delivering the packages. My question is this - as I did not pay for full insurance, which was to cover accidental damage and loss (yes I was prepared to accept the risk of the package being damaged or lost), so Packlink (bought the Hermes service via Packlink) was only offering the minimum compensation of £25, acknowledging the fact that the box was tempered with before it was delivered. I do not believe that the customers should be asked for pay for additional insurance to the courier company to stop the employees within the courier company from stealing customer packages? This is like banks asking customers to pay insurance premium to cover events of bank employees stealing customer money from customer bank accounts - simply makes no sense at all. So in this case, Hermes is telling the customers that it is free to take what it wants from customer packages if customers choose not to pay additional insurance. There seem to be quite a few posts related to packages "lost" by Hermes couriers, and it seems to me that Hermes is not taking any action and allowing thieves to roam freely in its delivery network. Could someone advise whether or not I have a case against Hermes, and who should the small claims be addressed to, the Hermes website does not provide any real contact name or department within the company. While the loss of around £200 from these 2 packages are modest, it really annoys me how the company is handling these cases and I just want to be able to do something about it. Any help or suggestions would be most appreciated. Thanks.

Hello, Thank you to all who have contributed, I will be following the same route to recover my losses.