38 parcels lost / stolen by My Hermes- booked through Parcel2go

[OnlineSeller]

So, on Monday 10th January 2022, I dropped off 38 parcels to my local My Hermes drop off point. I use them daily, and very rarely have any issues. The parcels were booked through Parcel2go.com, as I use multiple couriers, and it is easier this way. My parcels consisted of clothes, shoes, and some DJ turntable accessories. 

After a few days, the tracking still said "collected", and had never reached the hub. P2G and Hermes kept telling me to wait. By Monday (7 days after dropping), there was no update with the parcels at all. It was becoming very obvious that they had never reached the hub.

I complained on Twitter, and Hermes actually sent me a private message. I sent them all the info, all the tracking numbers, and descriptions of the parcels. (P2G in the mean time have done nothing, not been in touch, not emailed me, and fobbed me off on live chat).

Today (Wednesday 19th), the lady I was talking to via Twitter messages, called me. She informed me that the driver had been ambushed, and had his phone and the van with 479 parcels, stolen. She said she would contact P2G, and tell them to compensate me for the loss of goods, and postage costs. 

P2G have emailed me to refund the postage on 38 items, but are saying because I did not carry out insurance, they will not pay for the goods. I have been on Live Chat again telling them I need to send them a Letter Before Action. They said we don't compensate as I didn't take out insurance. I said lets go to Court, you are in breach of contract. 

They changed their tone after I said that, and now said the claims team will email me. In total the goods are worth around £1,000, and postage was around £150.

I have read a lot of posts on here, and noticed that a lot say I should put pressure on Hermes and not P2G? What would you advise in this situation please?

Thank you

[BankFodder]

This is a spectacular story.

We normally advise people to sue Hermes because generally speaking the contract has been made through Packlink which is domiciled in Spain and too difficult to reach with a county court action.

In this case you have a choice of suing Hermes or P2G.

Generally speaking we have tended anyway to find that Hermes are easier to go up against. 

 

As you are dealing with the loss of 38 parcels here, I would suggest that the way forward is to sue in respect of them individually or just a couple at a time.

This will be much cheaper for you – which means less risk and you can see how the claim goes. 95% certain that Hermes will put their hands up after having come up with the usual arguments. They will force you to mediation and then at mediation you will have to stand your ground and insist on every last penny.

Once you have done that, then we can communicate with Hermes and tell them that either they sort out the rest of them although are more court cases coming and it will be the death of a thousand cuts.
Also, the amber stories interesting and I suppose it is probably true but I want to know the crime number from Hermes whereas P2G are not the victims of crime and they wouldn't be obliged to provide you with this information.
Personally I can't imagine that Hermes isn't insured against theft and if this is the case, then it would be quite a scandal if they put in a claim for the value of the parcels et cetera and then they pay you are on the basis that you had no insurance. I think this is a point worth leverage in.

And of course we could have a bit of fun and sue Hermes for one parcel and at the same time sue P2G for one of the others and see how both cases went along .

I suppose a lot depends on how much of a hurry you are into get reimbursement and whether taking the small claims in the County Court actually interests you or you simply just want to get them out of the way.

I would certainly counsel against suing for all in one go. It reduces the risk factor to Hermes if they lose the case because they will only have to pay one claim fee and one hearing fee whereas if we deliver the claims separately, then the sum total of the claim fees and hearing fees which they will eventually pay out to you would be far greater – by a considerable factor.
We would make this clear to them after they had settled the first case.

You would not be able to run more than one case against Hermes at any one time because there is a risk that the cases would be joined. They would have to be done separately and the second one would only be started once you had your victory in the first one