Parcel lost by Evri ***Settled in full before trial and without mediation***

[Sandyfoot18]

I recently used Evri to send a parcel to my mother containing gifts for her birthday. After initial evidence of progress, the tracking system reported the parcel had been delayed 2 days later, then silence.

 

That was over 3 weeks ago. 

 

Subsequent interaction with the chatbot and customer services helpline yielded nothing.  A series of emails to the CEO were responded to but only to advise that Evri took no responsibility since I had booked the service through Parcel Compare. 

 

On contacting Parcel Compare, I was able to get the delivery charge back but nothing more since I had not paid what I regard as protection money to stop the parcel being stolen.

 

At that point I thought there was no more I could do until I read other stories on this site which have encouraged me to take matters further with Evri.  Accordingly, today I have sent a complaint to the CEO by post and email giving 10 days to respond.  I plan to send a letter of claim if there is no satisfactory response.

[Sandyfoot18]

This is what I have drafted so far:

 

Quote

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

              Letter of Claim - Parcel Reference: xxxxxx

 

On 22 March 2023 I used your service via Parcel Compare to send a parcel with the above reference number.

 

The parcel never arrived at its destination, and I have been informed by your support team that everything has been done to try and locate the parcel but after investigation it hasn’t been located and due to the timescale since it was last scanned on 24/03/23 it has been declared lost in the network.

 

The shipping was purchased via the 3rd party Parcel Compare but I am pursuing yourselves as I am entitled to do under the Contract (Right of Third Parties) Act 1999.

 

Also, I did not purchase your so-called enhanced compensation policy but as you know and I know and as I know you know, all you are doing is trying to sell me duplicate rights and this insurance policy is therefore unnecessary and unenforceable by you and you already have at least four judgements against you on precisely this point - – so don't try to rely on that one in your response to me or in the forthcoming court action against you.

If you try to withhold my reimbursement on the basis of no third party rights on the contract or on the basis of no insurance then I can assure you now that we will go directly to trial and we won't waste anybody's time going to mediation as is your normal practice.
 

The value of the items in the parcel was £73.96. The parcel contained 6 items: 3 gift items recently purchased from Waterstones at a cost of £56.97, 2 books recently purchased from Amazon at a cost of £11.99, and a further book purchased earlier which could be replaced via Amazon at a cost of £5.00.  I have already provided you with a photograph of the contents as you had requested.

 

I am only claiming for the loss of the goods since Parcel Compare have refunded me the delivery charge.

 

I have had email contact with your Executive team (having found it impossible to make contact with your customer services team) to try and resolve this but have been unable to. I sent a letter of complaint on 19^th April concerning these events requesting a proposal to resolve the issue within 10 days.

 

You have so far not responded so I am therefore informing you that I propose to begin a county court claim against you within 14 days of this letter. I will not begin this process if you reimburse me for the lost parcel before that date.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

XXXX

 

 

Edited April 19, 2023 by BankFodder
Edits in red and violet

[Sandyfoot18]

Thank you.  I will include both additions to my letter of claim which I will send upon expiry of 10 days from now if no satisfactory response to my letter of complaint.

[Sandyfoot18]

Evri have replied to my complaint, more or less as before, saying:

 

Dear xxxx

 

In reference to parcel xxxxxxxx

 

My name is Stephen and I also respond to enquiries on behalf of Martijn De Lange, within the Evri executive office.

 

I am truly sorry to see that you have had such a negative experience with our service and that your parcel hasn't reached it's destination. I'm afraid that we are only able to process claims for compensation against parcels when the original delivery order has been placed directly with us. As this order was originally placed with ParcelCompare, all claims must be processed by their team.

 

Please accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience this may cause.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Steve

 

In view of this unsatisfactory response, on Monday I will post and email my letter of claim which goes as follows:

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

              Letter of Claim - Parcel Reference: xxxxxx

 

On 22 March 2023 I used your service via Parcel Compare to send a parcel with the above reference number.

 

The parcel never arrived at its destination, and I have been informed by your support team that everything has been done to try and locate the parcel but after investigation it hasn’t been located and due to the timescale since it was last scanned on 24/03/23 it has been declared lost in the network.

 

The shipping was purchased via the 3rd party Parcel Compare but I am pursuing yourselves as I am entitled to do under the Contract (Right of Third Parties) Act 1999.

 

Also, I did not purchase your so-called enhanced compensation policy but as you know and I know and as I know you know, all you are doing is trying to sell me duplicate rights and this insurance policy is therefore unnecessary and unenforceable by you and you already have at least four judgements against you on precisely this point - so don't try to rely on that one in your response to me or in the forthcoming court action against you.

 

If you try to withhold my reimbursement on the basis of no third party rights on the contract or on the basis of no insurance, then I can assure you now that we will go directly to trial and we won't waste anybody's time going to mediation as is your normal practice.

 

The value of the items in the parcel was £87.46. The parcel contained 6 items: 3 gift items recently purchased from Waterstones at a cost of £56.97, 2 books recently purchased from Amazon at a cost of £11.99, and a further book (hardback) purchased earlier which could currently be replaced via Amazon at a cost of £18.50.  I have already provided you with a photograph of the contents as you had requested.

 

I am only claiming for the loss of the goods since Parcel Compare have refunded me the delivery charge.

 

I have had email contact with your Executive team (having found it impossible to make contact with your customer services team) to try and resolve this but have been unable to. I sent a letter of complaint on 19th April concerning these events requesting a proposal to resolve the issue within 10 days.

 

Your response to my complaint was unsatisfactory so I am therefore informing you that I propose to begin a county court claim against you within 14 days of this letter. I will not begin this process if you reimburse me for the lost parcel before that date.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

XXXX

[Sandyfoot18]

The letter of claim went to Evri yesterday by letter and email so 8th May is date set for submitting court claim via MCOL.  This is filled in and ready to go.  The claim particulars section reads as follows:

 

Claim Particulars

 

The claimant used the defendant's courier
service to deliver a package containing three
books, a pair of gloves, a book stand and a
phone stand, value – £87.46 to a UK address.
Reference number xxxxxxxxx. The defendant
breached the contract by losing the package
and contents and refuses to reimburse the
claimant to the full value of the package.
The defendant's requirement that a customer
is responsible for insuring themselves
against the defendant’s own negligence or the
criminality of its employees are unfair
within the meaning of the Consumer Rights Act
2015 and therefore unenforceable. The
shipping was purchased via a third-party
however the claimant is pursuing the
defendant as entitled to do under the
Contract (Right of Third Parties) Act 1999.
The claimant claims interest under section 69
of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of
8% a year from 24/03/2023 to 08/05/2023 on
£87.46 and also interest at the same
rate up to the date of judgment or earlier
payment at a daily rate of £0.02.

 

[Sandyfoot18]

A brief update on my case:

 I commenced my court case on 8th May and have received notification from HM Courts & Tribunals Service that Evri have acknowledged service as of 23 May and have 28 days from that date to file a response.  The notification confirms that Evri intend to defend all of the claim.

 Meanwhile I continue to follow other threads and noted a comment on one of them where you advised as a claimant you will only be able to claim for your declared value.

In my case I do not recall what I put as the declared value other than it was a round sum amount, not the specific amount I have now calculated to be my loss.  I had assumed that was ok on the basis that a precise figure was only needed for the purpose calculating the additional charge for ‘insurance’ which I wasn’t taking out and the basic price for delivery is based just on the weight and size of the parcel, not the value of its contents.  Furthermore, I reasoned that the higher the value quoted the more likely the package was to go missing.

[Sandyfoot18]

Yesterday I received correspondence from the County Court Business Centre providing a copy of Evri’s defence and requesting my completion of form N180 by 30 June.  A redacted copy of Evri’s defence is attached.

Regarding the N180, I propose responding as attached.  As I see it:

A1.  I should not agree to Mediation since I advised in my LOC that I would not be using it.

C1.  I should agree since the claim is under £10,000.

D1.  I should not agree since the claim needs the rights of third parties act to have full consideration in a hearing.  Without a hearing there could be a risk of this act not being given sufficient weight.  I’m unsure how much detail should be provided in the text box – I’d welcome views on whether what I have drafted is sufficient.

E1 – E5 are routine questions.

I'd welcome any comments.

N180_draft response pdf.pdf Defence document redacted.pdf

[Sandyfoot18]

Hope I haven't messed up.  Evri sent their defence to court with copy to me on 29 June.  I have just read on gov.uk website that I am supposed to advise court what I want to do next within 33 days so I'm possibly almost out of time.  Clearly I want full settlement or to go to court, but I'm not sure how I give this instruction. Can you help?

 

[Sandyfoot18]

Hope I haven't messed up.  Evri sent their DQ to the court copying me on 29 June and I have just read on a Gov.uk website that I am supposed to advise court what I want to do within 33 days.

 

I had uploaded a form N9B from Evri.  What I received on 29 June was a form N180 from them.

[Sandyfoot18]

In the intro it says: 'If you are unable to reach agreement with the other party at mediation, the claim will proceed to a small claims hearing.'  Does this mean the next step is the court setting a date, or should I be doing something?

[Sandyfoot18]

Yes, I have submitted my own DQ.

[Sandyfoot18]

I have still not had a notice of allocation from the court.  I tried ringing today for an update but got no answer.  Meanwhile I have logged back on to MCOL where I note some updates, the most recent of them are these:

Case Stay Lifted on 24/08/2023

EVRI filed a DQ on 24/08/2023

Your claim was transferred to LEEDS on 24/08/2023

I requested the hearing to be in Milton Keynes, my local court, and do not wish it to be in Leeds.  Can I challenge this, and if so, how?

I have not seen any DQ from Evri since 29th June, so do not know what they filed on 24th August.  Do you know how I can obtain a copy?

Is the case stay lifting on 24 August significant?

 

[Sandyfoot18]

The full claim history on MCOL is as below.  It isn't really clear, since there are 3 references to a DQ.  From my notes, I can confirm I posted the DQ to the court and to EVRi on 21st June and I received theirs on 29th June.  Neither of these events is accurately recorded on MCOL.

Claim history shown on MCOL:

You submitted a claim on 08/05/2023 at 15:32:16

Your claim was issued on 09/05/2023

EVRI filed an acknowledgment of service on 22/05/2023 at 12:05:06

 

  

A bar was put in place for EVRI on 12/06/2023

EVRI filed a defence on 12/06/2023 at 16:05:10

 

  

DQ sent to EVRI on 13/06/2023

Case Stay Lifted on 04/08/2023

DQ filed on 04/08/2023

Case Stay Lifted on 24/08/2023

EVRI filed a DQ on 24/08/2023

Your claim was transferred to LEEDS on 24/08/2023

[Sandyfoot18]

I clearly wish the case to be heard in my local court (Milton Keynes), so do you think it worthwhile sending another DQ reiterating this request?  It appears that EVRi have made two submissions even though I have only seen one of them.

[Sandyfoot18]

A final update on my claim against EVRi:

In October Evri offered to settle excluding court costs which I declined.  I made a counter offer to waive interest if they would cover loss plus court costs which they declined. I repeated this offer last month and they accepted with the result that I received full pay out of my claim today. 

Thank you to CAG for guiding me through the process.  It is clear that with your help, persistence and a little patience a satisfactory result can be achieved.

I have made a donation in thanks for your assistance.