Claiming value of a discontinued/vintage item

[AM24]

Hi there, first post and it's one much like many others I see, but I'm a bit confused of how to approach the value on this one.

 

Backstory, I restore vintage mopeds. In this case, I purchased a small joblot of parts for £300, receipt signed by seller and myself. In this lot were two parts I needed to complete a project.

 

Fast forward to April 1st, I sent off these two parts to a specialist in the Netherlands for minor repair. This was done with Parcel2Go, via Hermes (That classic combination). I took them to the drop off point and away they went.

 

The next day, tracking details showed them as in the sorting depot/"In the Hermes network". Now it's the 14th and tomorrow is the delivery deadline. The package is still "In the Hermes network" and neither Hermes or P2G can seem to help me.

 

Now in my job, I deal with other couriers on a daily basis and often have lost parcels and damaged parcels. The next step is usually to claim the value, they don't bother searching for the package.

 

However in my case, these vintage parts are discontinued... They're from the 60s. You can't buy brand new, and unless you get lucky like I did, the only way to get hold of one if to buy the whole bike (or engine, if you're lucky).

 

I didn't take out insurance, stupidly, and left the "Value of goods" at 0 on the initial booking since I really have no idea what I could've put there without ramping the premium up. "Oh it's priceless? Better charge him £150 instead of this £14 delivery."

 

I don't know how to approach this next step here. I know I'm being preemptive of P2G's next move based on past experience and I haven't even waited until the deadline to confirm what happens next, but I can't settle until I know what to do in every case scenario.

 

If they can't get my parcel back to me, how do I go about being compensated for these invaluable parts?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[dx100uk]

Give it atleast 1 more week

 

Hermes tracking is never correct anyway. 99% of the time. Esp on out of country parcels

 

 

[AM24]

Hi DX,

 

Thanks for the response. I've rarely needed to track anything personal. It usually goes through without any problems, but 2 weeks to reach NL?

 

I'll get in touch with them tomorrow anyway and see what can be done to update the tracking. I know this was s very emotionally charged decision to post it here. 

 

Thanks

[dx100uk]

I can tell you that stuff to/from most of Europe is taking about 3-5 weeks now.

 

stuff I posted 20th march has only just arrived in belguim, france, Italy, Denmark, and slova

stuff back to me in many instances from the same time is still outstanding.

[ericsbrother]

do you sell the restored bikes afterwards?

Business contracts are different to consumer so you may be able to claim for your losses in full but that means you will have to account for things properly