Just a small update. I have a remote hearing set for the 10th November 2022. I need to pay my trial fee by 13th October 2022. My documents/witness statement need to be delivered no later than 14 days before the hearing.

I saw on the MCOL site that they had filed a defence on Thursday 25th November. The paperwork arrived today, and from the envelope, it was posted on Friday 26th November second class. I must complete the DQ by 13th December., The defence is attached. It looks like the standard defence that the parcel contained an excluded item and the maximum has already been paid. I will read up again to refresh my memory and complete the DQ. hermes_defence-compressed.pdf

Yes, and the deemed date of service is 6th November.

Hermes Parcelnet Ltd filed an acknowledgment of service on 03/11/2021 at 16:03:12. So they have 28 days to file a defence.

It was an email from their online support/incident system from Ian Mellor (Hermes Claims Team, Manager). Thanks you for the update to the particulars of claim.

Both the original letter of claim from 20th October and the one sent yesterday were delivered today at 10:07. Both signed for by the odd signature LV19.

I am also going through the process after my parcel vanished from a Hermes depot last month. Aside from that process which you should read about and follow, I was also concerned to read the following, which shows Hermes is aware there could be systemic plundering of high value parcels by their employees (-who replace the labels and have the parcels delivered to themselves). Shockingly, parcels disappeared over 9 months before Hermes did a proper investigation. Hermes workers avoid jail after stealing at least 340 parcels using fake labels - Wales Online WWW.WALESONLINE.CO.UK Emanuil Radu and Isac Radu, both 26, were caught after bosses realised an unusually high number of parcels were being delivered to the same address. I raised this early on with Hermes customer support and I asked for the internal CCTV footage to be checked as that is how the thieves above were caught, but Hermes eventually refused. Having read the stories of Hermes claiming the parcels were damaged and then destroyed with no trace or evidence, this seemed the perfect way for depot employees to cover up thefts. So I also informed Hermes that stories on the internet lead me to believe that the destruction without any evidence or trace was used by their employees to cover up their thefts; I stressed thay had no authority to destroy my property, which itself would be criminal damage; and suggested that if it happened then this was probably to cover up theft and they had a duty to thoroughly investigate. I used the Hertfordshire Constabulary (as it was the Hemel Hempstead depot) online crime reporting website to report the possible theft, and after initially being told this was a civil matter I should pursue with Hermes, they gave me a crime number and recorded it as "Theft of Mail". It probably hasn't and won't make any difference, but there may be a small chance that if the police see enough reports of theft then someone might pop along and ask how parcels are disappearing from a secure depot.

Thank you. I provided my bank details, but stated the payment would not be full and final settlement. Five days ago, they responded saying they have processed the compensation refund and allow 7-10 days. When (or if) I receive the payment then is the following draft letter of claim ok?

I sent some items including a laptop via EVRi (my mistake) and EVRi cannot locate them. The value of the items is over £600, but that is the amount I declared (my mistake). I purchased the "insurance" and have been offered £300 plus the original payment for delivery. My next step is to accept the money, but state that their attempt to limit their liability is unfair and unenforceable and "Please understand that I am still considering my options in relation to the outstanding balance.". In the meantime I should work on a letter of claim. Background: My student son left a laptop and some other items at home. My wife packaged them up, and I arranged the EVRi next day delivery online (yes, stupid me!) and dropped the parcel at a local shop on Monday 13th September about 5pm. The parcel was last recorded reaching the depot (6 miles away). On Wednesday 15th September, the status changed to "We've got your parcel and it's on its way but a major event is slowing us down. We'll get it to you as soon as we can". After mostly pointless phone calls that promised a search and response with 24 hours (though it did lead to early access to the claim form), and emails initially to Martijn.deLange@EVRi-europe.co.uk that got a email responses from the "EVRi Support" that promised a search and response within 48 hours, the parcel could not be located. Details as follows: Date Sent: 13 Sep 21 Paid: £18 (£6.90 next day delivery, £0.90 signature, £10.20 insurance) What were the items: Laptop (£566), cash (£40), slider (£15), sonicare toothbrush charger (£11.99), usb cables and chargers (£24.23), printer cable and printer power supply (£5.39, £6.99), a hand towel and tea towel (~£0) What was the declared value: £600 (yes, stupid me again but my wife did not tell me about the £40 cash) Items declared: laptop, sliders, cables, chargers (there is only a limited space allowed on the web page for this) Was the value properly declared: I under-declared, but it would be diffcult to prove the £40 cash anyway Did you take out the so-called insurance: Yes, the maximum £300 Did you book this with EVRi directly?: Yes, direct on myhermes.co.uk Was the parcel simply lost? Or is it damaged and then destroyed? Or is it simply damage?: not able to locate I was sent the claim form link and completed the claim form on 20th September before the confirmation that the unidentified freight team had failed to find it (27th September). I received the following on Friday 8th October: I have investigated your claim, due to the level of cover you chose within our standard compensation, we will be processing a payment for maximum value of £300.00, plus postage costs of £18.00. So that we can process this as quickly as possible for you, we kindly request that you send us some details: - your bank sort code - your bank account number (the short one, not the long card number) - your name as it appears on your bank card ......................... The Consumer Action Group website and posts are incredibly useful. There are some things that I found interesting and wanted to mention (apologies if they have already been covered): evidence of EVRi employees' "systemic plundering" of parcels; "Consumer Rights Act 2015" in the EVRi terms and condtions; recognition of a difference between lost and damaged for excluded items; and the fake insurance con. Evidence of EVRi employees' "systemic plundering" of parcels EVRi workers avoid jail after stealing at least 340 parcels using fake labels - Wales Online WWW.WALESONLINE.CO.UK Emanuil Radu and Isac Radu, both 26, were caught after bosses realised an unusually high number of parcels were being delivered to the same address. From a news story on 20th August 2021, possibly £300,000 of parcels were stolen in 9 months. The judge said: "The systematic plundering of this company by its employees only came to light in September 2020, and it came to light because a remarkably large number of parcels were delivered to a single address. "The employees identified high value parcels and switched delivery labels so they were delivered to their gang's addresses. This happened for at least 9 months before EVRi accidentally spotted it. The internal depot CCTV was used to catch the crime. In my complaint I have repeatedly pointed to this and asked that EVRi check the CCTV as there is a real risk employees use their computer systems to identify high value parcels and steal them. I got this responses eventually: Thanks for your email but no we havent and wont be contacting the police in this respect nor do we check CCTV footage at the depot's as they handle up to 70,000 a day each day and wouldn't identify one parcel within that amount. Consumer Rights Act 2015 in the EVRi terms and conditions EVRi terms and conditions set out how they limit their liability in section 5, but 4.8. has: 4.8. Nothing in these terms and conditions affects your statutory rights nor limits or excludes our liability for: (i) death or personal injury resulting from our negligence; (ii) any damage or liability that you incur as a result of our fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or (iii) a breach of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 unless you are claiming for Business Loss. IUI a blanket attempt to limit liability is not allowed by the CRA 2015, so they even recognise in their own terms and conditions that they are fully liable? Difference between lost and damaged for excluded items Like many others, when things started to look bad then I spotted all the exclusions and read about the various experiences here. However I got this in an email which states loss and damage would be treated differently: Please may I firstly offer my apologies for your parcel containing a laptop being unaccounted for. Would you please provide me with a description of the parcel, any distinctive colours or packaging and a record of the contents of the parcel? This will help my colleague in the depot try to locate it and we can get it on its way to you as quickly as possible. However should the parcel be lost we would cover the laptop for loss however we would not cover for damage. The fake insurance con This is obviously well recognised on this website, and hardly new. The "cover" being sold is not insurance but everyone buying it thinks it is. It is not covered by FCA mis selling rules, but consumers assume that buying an insurance product is covered by financial services rules and think they can buy insurance from EVRi without being cheated or mis sold. Is there anything that can be done? The Consumer Action Group website and posts are incredibly useful. There are some things that I found interesting and wanted to mention (apologies if they have already been covered): evidence of EVRi employees' "systemic plundering" of parcels; "Consumer Rights Act 2015" in the EVRi terms and condtions; recognition of a difference between lost and damaged for excluded items; and the fake insurance con. Evidence of EVRi employees' "systemic plundering" of parcels EVRi workers avoid jail after stealing at least 340 parcels using fake labels - Wales Online WWW.WALESONLINE.CO.UK Emanuil Radu and Isac Radu, both 26, were caught after bosses realised an unusually high number of parcels were being delivered to the same address. From a news story on 20th August 2021, possibly £300,000 of parcels were stolen in 9 months. The judge said: "The systematic plundering of this company by its employees only came to light in September 2020, and it came to light because a remarkably large number of parcels were delivered to a single address. "The employees identified high value parcels and switched delivery labels so they were delivered to their gang's addresses. This happened for at least 9 months before EVRi accidentally spotted it. The internal depot CCTV was used to catch the crime. In my complaint I have repeatedly pointed to this and asked that EVRi check the CCTV as there is a real risk employees use their computer systems to identify high value parcels and steal them. I got this responses eventually: Thanks for your email but no we havent and wont be contacting the police in this respect nor do we check CCTV footage at the depot's as they handle up to 70,000 a day each day and wouldn't identify one parcel within that amount. Consumer Rights Act 2015 in the EVRi terms and conditions EVRi terms and conditions set out how they limit their liability in section 5, but 4.8. has: 4.8. Nothing in these terms and conditions affects your statutory rights nor limits or excludes our liability for: (i) death or personal injury resulting from our negligence; (ii) any damage or liability that you incur as a result of our fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or (iii) a breach of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 unless you are claiming for Business Loss. AIUI a blanket attempt to limit liability is not allowed by the CRA 2015, so they even recognise in their own terms and conditions that they are fully liable? Difference between lost and damaged for excluded items Like many others, when things started to look bad then I spotted all the exclusions and read about the various experiences here. However I got this in an email which states loss and damage would be treated differently: Please may I firstly offer my apologies for your parcel containing a laptop being unaccounted for. Would you please provide me with a description of the parcel, any distinctive colours or packaging and a record of the contents of the parcel? This will help my colleague in the depot try to locate it and we can get it on its way to you as quickly as possible. However should the parcel be lost we would cover the laptop for loss however we would not cover for damage. The fake insurance con This is obviously well recognised on this website, and hardly new. The "cover" being sold is not insurance but everyone buying it thinks it is. It is not covered by FCA misselling rules, but consumers assume that buying an insurance product is covered by financial services rules and think they can buy insurance from EVRi without being cheated or missold. Is there anything that can be done?