DPD Local / Parcel2Go damaged the contents of 21 parcels

[Myerscough1]

I sent 21 well packaged air-filled balloons to a customer via DPD Local and paid for extra parcel protection.  I have sent several before with no issues - all packaged in the same manner.

 

All arrived bits - clearly they haven’t been handled with the care I would reasonable expect.

 

I’ve contacted them via resolver.  But they are refusing to do anything about it.

 

I have had to refund the customer the £525 they paid and I’m out of pocket for the actual materials and cost of staffing.  As a small micro business I can’t afford this loss

 

 

Do I stand a chance if I go to small claims?

Edited February 27, 2022 by Myerscough1

[BankFodder]

Where the items properly declared? Was the value correctly declared?

Who have you been campaigning against so far?

What was the basis what was the reason they gave for declining cover?

[Myerscough1]

The items were all properly declared as ‘Air filled Balloons’.  I have provided a image showing the invoice and the card machine receipt with card info removed for GDPR reasons

 

I first complained to DPD as I thought it was the same company, it was a DPD van that collected the parcels.   DPD responded saying it wasn’t them as I booked with DPD Local which is Parcels2Go.  So I complained to them.

 

* They say I haven’t provided evidence that ALL the parcels were damaged (I provided the 4 images the customer gave me)

* They had no internal support - I have given them images show the internal support

* Helium balloons go down in the cold - They are air filled, they will last indefinitely and are NOT affected by the cold

* Boxes were not damaged - They don’t need to be if they handled roughly.

 

 

[BankFodder]

Thank you.

I don't really understand the product we are talking about here. Any chance that you could provide a picture of one or two of these balloons inflated and then how they appeared after they had been damaged

[Myerscough1]

 I have up loaded a PDF as a visual

Balloons.pdf

[BankFodder]

Thank you. That is helpful.

Do I take it that you run a business supplying precisely this kind of item? How long have you been running the business and how many of these are you sending per week/per month/per year?
Who do you normally used to send them and have you had this issue before?

[Myerscough1]

I have run my balloon shop for 5 years and have been doing these balloons all the time.  

I sell different amounts at different times of the year.  For example I did 56 at Christmas.

They are collected in store (transported by client unboxed). I deliver them all over the Lake District in my Van.  I have sent 7 others via DPD Local with no issue

[BankFodder]

Thanks.

I think it might be a difficult task – but you stand a chance of success and the cost of bringing a small claim for this amount is not very expensive so it's up to you whether you want to decide to take the risk – both because you might get your money back – but also because it could be interesting and there is a learning curve which will help you acquire transferable skills so that you can sue anybody else who gets in your way.

I suggest that you read around the stories on this sub- forum and that will give you an idea of how it works. Normally speaking we tend to tell people that there is no advantage in getting the so-called insurance cover and in any case, the requirement of insurance is unfair and therefore unenforceable.
In your case you will be suing as a business so the question of unfairness of contractual terms under the consumer rights act doesn't apply – but anyway, you may as well base your case on the fact that you were insured.

I think it's going to be important to be able to convince a court that you have lots of experience of packaging and sending this kind of item without any difficulty in the past and not me that you have even used DPD previously without difficulty.

I think you're going to have to emphasise the fact that DPD accepted your "insurance" premium – as no doubt they have done with the previous consignments that the moment that you attempt to rely on the insurance, they renege on the deal and find reasons to shirk their obligations.

I suggest that you sue P2G as you organise the contract with them and also presumably you took out the insurance with them.

On that basis you should start off by sending a letter of complaint and rejecting their refusal. Wait for up to 10 days either to be knocked back or to received no reply whatsoever.
Then send them a letter of claim giving them 14 days.
On day 15 issue the claim.

I suggest that you post a draft of any communications here so that we can have a look.

Make sure you do your reading on this sub- forum

[Myerscough1]

Thanks for your help.

 

I have been drafting an email to answer there latest refusal, which I will tweek into a letter of complaint esp as you have brought some things up that I didn’t think of.  I will post it here before sending.

 

Many Thanks for taking the time to help me