DHL offering £51.95 for the full and final settlement of my goods worth £1850 which they could not deliver and is lost.

[Devi Mishra]

Hello there,

I have a serious issue regarding my parcel shipment from UK to Nepal.

 

I had sent 2 ounces of gold along with other 21 pages of documents via Dhl to Nepal on 4th June 2014. I was not sure if they ship gold. I went to the DHL service point and asked if they deliver gold. The agent said that the value has to be less than £5000. Since my gold was worth £1850 I was happy to proceed.

 

Gold along with my 21 pages of other documents were packed and shipped for £51.95 in 1kg box. Declaration on the parcel cover was clearly made 1) Documents 21 copies

2) Gold Bar 2 pcs and the total value of the item was mentioned £1850.

 

After few days the receiver of the Parcel in Nepal got a message from the DHL Nepal saying the parcel was with the custom department and some legal formalities to be done by the receiver. When they went to Customs, they were told that we were not allowed to ship gold on a parcel. Further, they said that DHL was not allowed to ship gold in that manner. They should have stopped us in Uk. They said us to speak to DHL instead. But when they went to DHL there, they said to speak to customs department.

 

This went on for few months. Then I called customer services DHL UK. They took a month and half to find out what was happening and finally said that my Parcel was destroyed by the Customs in Nepal.

 

I opened a claim file in DHL UK and after few arguments DHL sent a letter yesterday offering £51.95 for the full and final settlement of my claim.

 

I have no idea at all what I should do next.

 

I would be very thankful for any ideas and ways to come to a conclusion. Its really hard to give up since it is a big amount of money for me.

 

Many Thanks,

Devi

Edited October 5, 2014 by citizenB

[renegadeimp]

Was the parcel insured?

[Devi Mishra]

Was the parcel insured?

 

 

 

No, unfortunately it was not insured.

[ashmk]

No, unfortunately it was not insured.

 

[renegadeimp]

My thoughts exactly ashmk. Something doesn't add up here.

[citizenB]

Really, you sent £1,850 worth of gold overseas with no insurance ? Was there compensation built into the shipping costs ?

[king12345]

"my Parcel was destroyed by the Customs in Nepal"

 

They surely destroyed two bars of gold!

Christmas bonus came early for Nepal custom!

[rebel11]

Hi Devi

 

These are the T & C's for DHL, no.2 refers to unacceptable shipments, 'bullion' is listed.

 

http://www.dhl.co.uk/en/express/shipping/shipping_advice/terms_conditions.html

 

If you can provide proof that you checked with DHL (check your phone bill for dialled numbers for a date / time) and were told by a DHL employee that it was o.k. as long as it was below £5,000, then they might do something.

 

(although the onus is on you to check the T & C's the employee should know and not give out misleading information).

 

You could consider writing a Formal Letter of Complaint, mark it as such. Explain what's happened, how

they have let you down and what you want them to do.

 

Send it to:-

 

Mr Phil Couchman

Chief Executive

DHL UK

phil.couchman@dhl.com

 

It sounds like Nepal Customs checked with DHL, DHL said it was on their 'unacceptable' list, Nepal Customs state to you that they have destroyed it, contact them, ask them 'how did they destroy your gold?'. So now you want to know who has taken it. Keep chasing them. Loads of email addresses on the net for Nepal Customs, etc.

[*RainbowTears*]

Ouch!!

 

Why did you not take out the extra insurance? As you would have been entitled to the full value of your items.

 

I recently sent a very expensive item via Courier & as such I got a lot of quotes. I went for a middle of the road quote.

 

I then had to put the value of the item in, which in my case was £1350.00, as i did so, a message alert came up asking if I wanted to take extra insurance out, just in case my item went astray or was damaged. I would be entitled to the full value.

 

The message alert, also said if I did not take out the extra insurance then I would only be entitled to £50.

 

I could only proceed with my booking once I had decided whether to have the extra insurance or not. In my case, I paid for it, which cost approx £40 on top of the Courier price.

 

So when you booked yours & you put the item value in, you too would have received such a message & it's at this point, is when you decide to take the risk or not to go ahead with or without the extra insurance.

 

Why did you not pay for it, esp when sending gold?

 

I truly hope you are able to find a resolution, in future I'd definitely suggest you take the extra insurance.

[citizenB]

All I can suggest is that you make a Formal Complaint to DHL's head office - if you were specifically advised that you could ship the gold when they knew they couldn't and that it was in their Terms and Conditions that it was on their "do not/cannot carry" list - you might just be able to persuade them to cough up..

[shahnish]

DEar Devi,

 

if you had gone to the local DHL office and someone has advice you this information, that you are allowed to send gold as long as it is less then £5000, then you must tell DHL what branch it was and the date and time you went to DHL, as they will have record of the staff working in reception.

if you booked online and called them then it may be difficult to try and re-call this information but the number you dialed will be on your telephone bill.

also if you had gone to the dhl office or the driver came to collect form you, they would have done a security check and if they did they would have not allowed this to go through. so i can only think that you must have went to the Local dhl office and receptionist must have gave you this info.

 

even if you asked for Insurance DHL would have reused to offer insurance as it is NOT allowed to go through there network.

 

DHL have a good reputation and do care for the customers unlike other Large carriers, but if goes were allowed to be sent as you said then the same lady would have also given you details on insurance, if she was new and did not know the rules or was not experience enough.

 

if you have all the proof to where you went and date and time and also what the person looked liked who gave you this information then i think DHL will try and help but as customs have destroyed the goods it may not be in DHL hands to do anything, because once destroyed they are no way of checking if the goods are worth the amount you declared.

 

you must check with Nepal customs and find out when and how they have destroyed the goods and get proof from them, i dont believe they would have destroyed the gold as if need be they may have charged you duty on the amount declared.

 

i hope this will help

 

Kind Regards

 

Nish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello there,

I have a serious issue regarding my parcel shipment from UK to Nepal.

 

I had sent 2 ounces of gold along with other 21 pages of documents via Dhl to Nepal on 4th June 2014. I was not sure if they ship gold. I went to the DHL service point and asked if they deliver gold. The agent said that the value has to be less than £5000. Since my gold was worth £1850 I was happy to proceed.

 

Gold along with my 21 pages of other documents were packed and shipped for £51.95 in 1kg box. Declaration on the parcel cover was clearly made 1) Documents 21 copies

2) Gold Bar 2 pcs and the total value of the item was mentioned £1850.

 

After few days the receiver of the Parcel in Nepal got a message from the DHL Nepal saying the parcel was with the custom department and some legal formalities to be done by the receiver. When they went to Customs, they were told that we were not allowed to ship gold on a parcel. Further, they said that DHL was not allowed to ship gold in that manner. They should have stopped us in Uk. They said us to speak to DHL instead. But when they went to DHL there, they said to speak to customs department.

 

This went on for few months. Then I called customer services DHL UK. They took a month and half to find out what was happening and finally said that my Parcel was destroyed by the Customs in Nepal.

 

I opened a claim file in DHL UK and after few arguments DHL sent a letter yesterday offering £51.95 for the full and final settlement of my claim.

 

I have no idea at all what I should do next.

 

I would be very thankful for any ideas and ways to come to a conclusion. Its really hard to give up since it is a big amount of money for me.

 

Many Thanks,

Devi

[ericsbrother]

this thread is now a year old so the matter has probably withered on the vine.

I would not trust the Indian or Nepalese governments with any gold shipments, they confiscate them at the drop of a hat. Many ex-servicement have found this out to their cost