Hermes swapped the graphics card out of my package for a pair of curtains, only gave me £100 compensation. How do I go to small claims?

[TheLongHalloween]

Hi All, I've just found these forums and hope you can help. First of all I'll say I'll never use Hermes again in my life, what utter shite.

 

So I wanted to swap my graphics card for a gaming one about 6 weeks ago. I had a Radeon VII, worth £590 at rrp, now going for £1000+ because of the shortages across the globe.

 

I was experiencing compatibility issues, so I wanted to swap it for it's little brother, a 5700 XT worth about £450 rrp, now going for £500-800 on Ebay.

 

I found a guy on Reddit who was selling his and I offered a swap. I didn't want to sell and then have to look for a new one so a swap was Ideal. He was skeptical of me as my card was worth more than his but I just wanted stability for gaming, not a compute beast that was power hungry. We agreed that he would pay me £100 on top of the swap to make it fair. We both sent our packages with Hermes with next day delivery, insured to the max (£300). His graphics card took 4 days to arrive with me as it was an awkward time before the weekend, mine arrived on a Saturday with him. The box had been tampered with and the graphics card removed, replaced with a set of brand new curtains worth about £90. I was and still am devastated.

 

Hermes took 6 weeks to resolve the issue and decided that I'm only owed £100 as that was the PayPal transaction amount, despite being paid in goods, not purely money. They have failed to acknowledge that they lost an item now worth £1k, and closed the claim really smugly. 

 

I want to take them to small claims, but I'm unsure who to do it "to". Do you guys have any advice and details of what I should do next? Ideally I'd Oh flip them for the full amount but I appreciate their terms have been agreed to and an amount of £300 is their maximum.

 

Regards

 

David

[Andyorch]

Hello and Welcome to the forum.

 

There are plenty of threads here for you to read on how other users have sued this company.

As for the process...click the word here small claims or in your own post.

 

Post further if you are unsure of any of the stages involved.

 

Andy

 

 

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[BankFodder]

In addition to the reading above – which is essential that you should do, please can you tell us what value you declared for the item that you sent.

Do you have any photographs?

During a reading, make sure that you understand what we have to say about the necessity to have insurance in order to protect yourself against their own negligence or the criminality of their employees.

Also, did you accept the £100?

[TheLongHalloween]

Hi BankFodder/Andyorch,

 

Thanks I'll look into those other posts!

 

I put on the website that it was worth £600 when I paid for postage. We have photographs of the package after it arrived, I have a picture of my box with my reddit username and date on, and we have photographs of the curtains.

 

I would have expected foul play from the person receiving but given that he sent me his own card (which I'm still using), I believe him. We've talked loads on WhatsApp and both tried our best to get the police involved, messaging the CEO etc, but to no avail.

 

I paid him for his graphics card (£360) and refunded the £100 he sent me, so I'm £360 down. I got no say in accepting or rejecting their compensation, they just sent it to me on Paypal and told me the case was closed, scummy.

 

 

[BankFodder]

How long ago did they send you the money?

I'm trying to understand exactly how much you're out of pocket. It's a bit confusing.

 

[TheLongHalloween]

They sent me £100 on the 11/03/2021. The incident happened on 07/02/21. I'll try to say it in value rather than items.

 

I sent him £460(GPU1), he sent me £360(GPU2) + £100 to make up the difference. He ended up with no £460 in the box, So I gave him his £100 back plus £360 in cash instead. I'm out £360 in effect as I was paying with an item rather than cash. All in all they've stolen a £600 graphics card so they owe me the maximum no matter how you look at it.

[BankFodder]

And you declared what value to Hermes when you sent it off?

[TheLongHalloween]

I put £600 in the box on their website when paying for the postage.

[BankFodder]

Okay so you declared £600. You pay something for the delivery – how much is that?

We will help you recover that less than £100 already paid.

Please have a very thorough read at the Hermes stories on the sub- forum and then come back here when you understand all the principles – including the insurance scam, what's important only to claim what you have declared, the process from letter of claim through mediation and eventually going to court if it goes that far.

Come back here when you understand it and will take you through the next step.

Please don't shortcut on the reading. It's not hard – and if you understand what it's all about then you will have confidence and you will be better poised to succeed.

[TheLongHalloween]

Thanks for all the help.

 

Do you have any suggestions on which one to read? There are many and I don't know which is relevant.

 

Is the small claims post still relevant? It was made in 2013 so just want to check.

[BankFodder]

The more reading you do the more you will start to understand what is relevant.

[TheLongHalloween]

Ok I will get reading. Do I have a time limit before I can make a claim?

[BankFodder]

6 years

[Faclon]

What can I say?

I ordered a new Graphics Card from Amazon for £1670, and guess what?  Delivery through Hermes!

And guess what?  1.5 weeks later, on the last day of the delivery window, my parcel was out for delivery at 10am, and then 1 hr later (parcel cannot be delivered due to "external factors".

 

Yup, 1 week later and it's not turned up.  Shock horror something went 'walkies' from a Hermes delivery driver!
 

I was lucky, I went straight back to the Amazon vendor and demanded my money back.  Hermes are shocking!  That same vendor told me they have issues with Hermes all the time, but Amazon actually forces them to use them as their preferred partner!
 

Best of luck.  I hope you succeed.  Their conduct is truly disgusting!

[BankFodder]

Thanks for this information.

You are absolutely correct to have gone to Amazon. Where there is a UK retailer, they have responsibility to ensure that the item is delivered.

At that price, it must be one hell of a graphics card.