Hi, this is my first post on this forum, I have been reading some threads relating to Hermes losing parcels and not paying compensation as this has happened to me recently.
I sold a guitar on eBay for £350 and unfortunately decided to use Hermes to deliver the item as it was very large and heavy. I paid £6.98 for standard delivery and could not take out insurance as musical instruments are on the exclusion list of non compensation items.
A courier collected the parcel on 26/11/21 and I got a tracking number but after several days the tracking information didn't update beyond stating "collected by courier" which rang alarm bells.
I contacted Hermes customer service several times by phone and they kept telling me that the package was in a depot in Normanton and it would be delivered shortly. This didn't happen so I contacted them again and they opened a Support Incident which resulted in me receiving an email stating that despite carrying out an extensive investigation they could not locate the parcel and admitted it was lost.
They then told me to complete a Lost Claim Form which I submitted on 06/12/21. I didn't hear anything from them until 31/12/21 when they sent me another email asking me to complete and submit the Lost Claim Form again and I replied to this saying I had already done it. Then I got a Support Incident update stating this:
"Response By E-mail (Madeline Fox) (31/12/2021 02.49 PM)
Good Afternoon Garry,
Firstly I would like to apologise as I am unsure why you were sent another claims form when you have already completed it.
I have looked into your claim and unfortunately, I am going to have to reject it due to the item being an excluded item. A full list of excluded and prohibited items can be found here;
https://www.myhermes.co.uk/_assets/pdf/carry-guide.pdf
Due to this, I am unable to process your refund.
Kind Regards,
Maddy Fox
Customer Service Advisor
Hermes Send Claims Department"
Obviously I am not happy about this outcome, they did not even offer to refund the postage fee. I sent a letter of complaint to their head office a couple of weeks ago but have not had any response. I have had to issue a full refund to the eBay buyer who was supposed to receive the guitar which was £350.
I am considering taking this matter to the small claims court in order to recover my loss. I want to claim compensation for the value of the item plus the postage fee plus the special guitar shipping box I had to buy (I took care to package the item really well so it wouldn't get damaged).
I have drafted a Letter of Claim and would be grateful if you could look at it and tell me if there is anything I have missed. I have contacted the Citizens Advice Bureau who have passed on some information about my case to trading standards and pointed me towards a template for making a complaint but haven't been much help otherwise. They also said this:
"Your rights and obligations:
Under common law, when you enter into a contract, both parties are bound by any terms and conditions that have formed part of any pre-contract negotiations.
We would advise you to thoroughly read these to see what the maximum value you are covered for is.
If nothing related to your issue is included in the terms and conditions, or, the trader is not following terms included, you may be able to hold the trader in breach of contract.
You may be able to seek redress from the trader for a breach of contract by repudiating the contract; this means bringing the contract to an end and being put back into your precontractual position, which could include money back.
Alternatively, you may request the trader honour the contract as agreed and seek damages; damages could be for a monetary amount you feel is reasonable to compensate for the breach.
The burden of proof is on yourself as the consumer, therefore you will need to provide evidence if the trader is not complying with the terms and conditions."
Does that mean I have not got a case against Hermes because of the excluded items list which is part of their terms and conditions? And if I lost the case would I be made to pay their legal fees (because I certainly cannot afford to do that).
I have never had to do anything like this before so don't have any experience of the legal system apart from what I have read online. Apologies for the long post and thanks in advance for taking the time to read it and I appreciate any advice you can provide.
Letter of Claim to Hermes.docx