Hermes parcel on 3 week journey across UK

[The Phantom]

I have read a fair few threads and topics on Hermes on the forum.

I seem to have lost a shipment as well now.

 

I sold an item of clothing on ebay last month and decided to send it tracked with Hermes to avoid an item not received case.

Also at less than £3 Hermes is quite cheap. 

 

So I send the parcel on the 29.05.20, destination Blackpool.

The parcel's scanning ends a day later at my local depot. It doesn't seem to move.

 

A few days after that  I get an automated e-mail message from Hermes saying they had an issue with labels not printing correctly and my parcel was one of them.

These parcels would be delayed and they were sorry for this.

A week later tracking starts again online and my parcel now seems to be in Scotland (Airdrie depot) which apparently has "reprinted the label."

(I am in Devon by the way)

 

Next scanning shows there is an "address issue".

 

Then nothing

 

Next scanning says depot in Bolton is returning the parcel to sender. That was on the 9th of June.

Since then there is no tracking anymore.

 

I have been in contact with Hermes through their Holly Robot chat bot countless times which has opened countless support tickets.

The one way response is always 'the parcel is on its way back' the reason give varies from customer service rep to customer service rep.

Some say there was an address issue and some say the recipient declined the goods and some say the local courier couldn't find the house.

(The address postcode only covers one house which is a restaurant in a lane in Blackpool)

 

The recipient claims no one ever attempted to deliver the parcel , she didn't decline the parcel and you can't really miss her property in the lane, as it is the only one there.

 

Needless to say the parcel hasn't come back so far.

Every time I contact Hermes support they tell me to wait another 7 days.

 

Now they say I should wait another 14 days before contacting them again  and every time they close the support ticket as 'resolved'

 

I have opened a case through resolver now but in response all they have done is re-copy their previous messages through their support system.

Again with a note not to contact them again for 14 days (after previously saying 7 days)

Next time they will say 21 days...and all to avoid admitting they lost the parcel and having to pay out.

 

Their standard £20 cover would cover the value of the item, but the entire matter is very annoying indeed

I already refunded the ebay buyer of course but now got to chase Hermes through their endless chat bot loops

[BankFodder]

 

 

send them a letter of claim.

give them 14 days and then issue the proceedings.

Youknow how to do it.

You've done it before and we will support you all the way

 

 

 

And by the way you claim the cost of the parcel the cost of packaging and also the cost of delivery plus interest

[BankFodder]

By the way, if you are going to do this and of course we will be extremely enthusiastic to help you – then I'd like to ask you for some help in return.

There is a private Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/hermessuck/ with over 10,000 people now who are complaining about Hermes.

I'm very dismayed because it seems to have turned into a talking shop where people gripe and complain and make threats and say they going to accuse Hermes of fraud and get the police involved blah blah are but of course all of this is impossible and nothing ever happens except so far as I can tell people get fatigued and eventually dropout and take their losses on the chin.

If you decide to go ahead with a claim against Hermes – then it would be great if you would join the group – and then tell people your story there and then tell them step-by-step what is happening and what the developments are as you threaten Hermes and hopefully eventually get your money back, even if it takes a court claim.

It might persuade a few people to come over to this forum.

The administrator of that group is happy that I am posting on behalf of the CAG and trying to encourage people to take action so there's no problem there. But despite all the encouragement, frankly very few people have come over and have decided to get tough with Hermes.

Of course this is why Hermes gets away with it all the time.

[BankFodder]

I've removed some remarks which I made earlier on in this thread and I realise were really quite over harsh.

I'm sorry

 

I'm curious to know though – what is the attraction of Resolver?

[Andyorch]

It allows consumers to start a complaint process with the minimum involvement and zero effort from the consumer 

 

 https://www.resolver.co.uk/about

 

As long as your complaint fits into one of the only 6 categories they offer. 

[dx100uk]

and is bloody useless

[The Phantom]

I googled "Hermes complaint address uk" or something like that (to send a written complaint to a brick and mortar address. There  isn't one on their website and I was fed up talking to Holly the chat bot)

On the google results Resolver came up , I think it was the second result on the google search.

I clicked on it, initially thinking it had something to do with Hermes directly, it said "Hermes complaints - Resolver"

So I thought I try it.

I had never heard of it before to be honest.

 

It's easy to use, but Hermes doesn't fully engage with that either. In my case they just copied and pasted the responses they sent me through the Holly the Chat Bot support tickets....

 

What infuriates me most is that they close the support tickets as 'resolved' once they responded, although the matter is not resolved as the parcel is nowhere to be seen.

So you have to start again through Holly from the beginning each time.

 

I have joined the Facebook group as suggested and shared the story there.

I have been given a couple of phone numbers to try and an e-mail address to try as well.

 

Some have had some joy with those.

 

I couldn't get through on the phone number so far, but will persist

 

Parcel has not been returned so far need less to say

 

 

 

[BankFodder]

What was the actual value of the item?
Was the value of the item correctly declared?

You've already had some experience issuing a small claim so you should feel reasonably familiar and confident about doing it again if you want.

Although it's only a very small amount, your chances of success are better than 95%. Do you feel sufficiently annoyed that you are prepared to take this action?

[The Phantom]

The parcel has not yet been received back, no

I can't get through on the phone numbers, there is talk on the FB group that Hermes has shut them down and re-connected them to their automated line, where you can just choose between useless automated options, and that would appear to be the case. You can say a tracking number and then they say what you can see on their website tracking and then cut you off.

I e-mailed the CEO and a customer service e-mail address. No response from CEO but a response from the customer service one.

They still won't send me a claim form, although I have asked for it countless times.

They say the parcel isn't lost as it was only scanned on Sunday 21.06.and they have told the depot to deliver the parcel as soon as possible

So I e-mailed back and asked where it was scanned on Sunday and at which depot it is now and when it will come back but no further response to that.

The scan on Sunday does not show on any of their online tracking systems I can view.

I take it that they lied to me to avoid sending a claim form

 

The value of the item is £9 and covered by their standard compensation level of £20

 

In my e-mail to the CEO I already warned them that I will consider legal steps against Hermes if they do not refund the value of the item.

 

However, I don't know whether to wait another week or so for the parcel to come back, just on the off chance they did indeed scan the parcel somewhere on Sunday and it is still kicking around somewhere

 

 

[BankFodder]

I assume that you have got all the correspondence which shows that you have tried to get a claim form and that they have either refused or failed to respond. I assume that you have evidence of all the contacts that you have made with Hermes.

Given the very small value of the item, I would suggest that you wait a week – but after that, you should consider sending a letter of claim. Despite the low value of this item, I think it is worth making trouble for Hermes. I'm sure that Hermes lose a huge number of very small value items and people just give up because they consider it isn't worthwhile.

I'm absolutely sure that if you issued the court papers that Hermes will put their hands up and you would get your 9 pounds plus interest plus your court fee – and it would deliver another little slap to Hermes

[The Phantom]

I have the correspondence through resolver (you can print that off) and my e-mails to them, and it is shocking how they respond to be honest.

I keep asking for a claims form considering on their online tracking they show 'claims code issued' , so I assume they consider it lost as well

But when I point this out to them they ignore it and repeat the same old story 'it's on its way back to you' 

First they said wait 7 days, when those were up  they said wait 14 days, these are up now too and they still say 'wait 14 days' (in their latest reply through resolver today)

 

I have asked where the scan on Sunday took place they were talking about - no response

I have asked for a claims form as their online tracking says ' claims code issued' - not supplied and not even addressed in their response

 

It is really unbelievable.

It is almost a shame it is only £9 value, if it had been any higher I would already have sent them the letter of claim and taken this further.

But as it is only £9 I am still waiting a little while longer, just in case it does show up somewhere eventually

 

But their absolute ignorance in their customer service approach is beyond anything I have ever experienced

[BankFodder]

What makes you think it's ignorance and not a deliberate and systematic ploy to deprive people of their legitimate compensation?

[The Phantom]

I am pretty sure it is deliberate by Hermes as a company, but not sure if it is deliberate on behalf of their individual employees who may be swamped with complaints and enquiries and just try to wade through a daily heap of s**t with little support or tools to assist customers

[The Phantom]

I just managed to submit a claim for lost parcel to Hermes today - WITHOUT having to go through customer services.

I just noticed you can do this through your MyHermes account.

 

Under the heading 'My parcels' there is only one outstanding under 'active' - which is the one that has gone astray.

The tracking against it only shows 'sorted at National Hub' no more. 

Next to this there is a button which says 'actions'. 

When you click on there you usually get the option to view your shipment details.

When I clicked on there today another option came up : Report item as lost

When you click on there it takes you straight to a claims form to fill out, which I did

 

Now let's wait and see