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Why I insist on insurance

Richard Lines

Richard Lines

pfm Member
Good Morning All,

I recently sold a pair of boxed Linn Isobarik crossovers on eBay to a guy in France. Spent ages properly boxing them up and then booked them through www.parcel2go.com (other services are available) using Parcelforce.

Dropped it off at their depot in Aberdeen to have some d******d delivery driver for GLS (presumably Parcelforce's chosen courier in France) leave it in the corridor in the wrong part of the building, not leave a note in the correct letterbox, make no call to telephone no. provided and it is now AWOL.

Wonderful so now the buyer gets their money back and I will have weeks of trying to get my money out of Parcelforce........

Regards

Richard
 
Christ that's such a detailed account of how it got lost...I'm surprised they don't know exactly where to look for them!!
 
Yes, always take out insurance for deliveries when selling on ebay. It's always the seller's responsibility that the a) the item arrives and b) the condition is as described, which includes no damage during carriage to the buyer's delivery address.

Over 20+ years I've had to claim twice on Parcelforce. I have to say that the process was reasonably quick and there was no silliness involved, unlike with UPS, parcel service aggregators, etc.
 
Well my only real experience with insurance was a good one - sent an RP3 in original box with Hermes and it arrived with the buyer looking like it had been drop kicked - classic case where the glass platter destroyed the lid - Hermes actually refunded me the entire amount and all I had to do is pay for a new lid :) - they aren't always a nightmare to deal with the whole process took about 4-5 days and a few photos from the buyer
 
I sent a pair of Celestion Ditton 10s to Taiwan and the local Courier ( actually Taiwan Post Office ) dropped off (literally) the parcel and one cabinet was damaged.

The buyer sent me pictures ( the top panel of one speaker had come loose ) and I contacted Parcel2Go.
I was told the package hadn’t been delivered yet, so how come I was making a claim.
Saying I had the evidence of the damage cut no ice with Parcel2Go.

Evidently, Taiwan PO are very slow at getting info. out of Taiwan.
Once Parcel2Go had the delivery confirmation there was no problem and the claim went through.
Interestingly, the buyer had the speakers repaired by a local cabinet maker and all was well.
He even sent me some pictures...
 
Beobloke said:
Sorry to hear of your woes and I hope you get your money back but, for future reference, here was where you went wrong...
Click to expand...

Quite correct if you are a seller, buying though has the occasional bonus. I picked up a pair of Kef Cadenzas that had received the Parcelforce treatment. Seller claimed on insurance, re listed...to be picked up from the original buyer. £10 paid for a pair of T27's, pair of B200's, pair of ABR's and a load of free firewood. The cabinets literally fell apart when the boxes were opened.
 
Beware, turntables are usually not insurable with many couriers but of course they will accept the premium. Look in the list of ‘prohibited items’. Saying that I did get compensated for one that got damaged in transit to me - though it may have been the sender caving in to my persistence to pursue the carrier (Parcelforce) to the bitter end!
 
I stopped using Parcel Force years ago. They were by far the worst of the couriers despite not being cheap. I had parcels disappear for weeks, I think the record was just under a month, and Parcel Force would do nothing about it.

I've been using Hermies for a few years now. Yet to find out how well they handle a problem as I've not had one yet. Shipped quite a few turntables with no issues. As long as you pack them properly they'll be fine.

Guy sent me a turntable years ago, literally just sat it in a box. No packing, nothing. Was totally destroyed.
 
Parcelforce are consistently the worst courier company out there. If you want some amusement, look at the comments to every post they put on their Facebook site. I once sent a centre speaker in it's original packaging (expanded foam inner in very sturdy box). They dropped it so hard, the magnet sheared off the back of one of the main drivers.
Hermes tend to break things now and then, but at least they get there.

I usually use UPS through one of the online bookers for anything vaguely fragile (not had an issue so far), and Hermes for robust stuff.
 
Richard Lines said:
Good Morning All,

I recently sold a pair of boxed Linn Isobarik crossovers on eBay to a guy in France. Spent ages properly boxing them up and then booked them through www.parcel2go.com (other services are available) using Parcelforce.

Dropped it off at their depot in Aberdeen to have some d******d delivery driver for GLS (presumably Parcelforce's chosen courier in France) leave it in the corridor in the wrong part of the building, not leave a note in the correct letterbox, make no call to telephone no. provided and it is now AWOL.

Wonderful so now the buyer gets their money back and I will have weeks of trying to get my money out of Parcelforce........

Regards

Richard
Click to expand...

Use the ebay global shipping program and you're only responsible for it reaching their depot in Lichfield, if it goes missing after that then it's ebay's neck not yours.
 
DHL managed to lose a £400 coffee machine (new) in Helsinki, it just 'disappeared', took me 3 months to get my money back, as they 'found it' then 'lost it' again.
 
Ups lost a 12k preamp and it turned up on ebay a few months later. It was insured and the shop refused to pay out . Caused a lot of stress. I am not keen on couriers now
 
Having used all of the main couriers over recent years with my bespoke Hifi rack business I can categorically say they ALL can and do break/loose your stuff.

I’d suggest Hermes are the worst but you almost accept that when their prices are so much lower than everyone else’s.

Insurance is fine but actually claiming from many of them is the deal breaker for me. Jump through hoops would be how I’d describe it. It becomes a burning hoop when you include a 3rd party such as parcels2go, parcelmonkey, etc. This has been such a problem for me that I’ve stopped insuring lower value items as it’s just not worth the hassle when items are damaged/lost. I’d suggest Royal Mail/parcel force are easier to deal with as they do publish telephone numbers and don’t insist on web chat/email when something goes wrong.

as a small business it’s very demoralising that I’m spending so much time trying to package delicate items all in the hope that the person delivering it takes a degree of care however it’s sadly not always the case.

the best service that I’ve had is actually with pallet shippers both in the insurance process but also the helpfulness of the drivers. I’d urge anyone shipping higher value/heavy/large items to not discount palletising your item...oh and don’t forget to take plenty of photographs of your package before letting it go
 
Pallet delivery is by far the best way to ship precious/delicate/expensive items. My amp (all c35KG's boxed) came on a pallet from Germany. Loaded once so no transfer between driver or vehicle (same wagon, same driver) 48hrs door to door by these guys https://home.kuehne-nagel.com/?no_mobile=1 amazing service and comms. The retailer covered the costs but IIRC it was c£250
 
I've tried most couriers over the years, and I'm not convinced any are better than the others. I feel that the cost of insurance is a bit high in comparison to the basic cost, I'd rather the basic cost was higher but with them taking more care with the box in the first place. I almost always include at least 'some' level of insurance though not always to the full value of the item - I balance cost vs probability based upon my own personal experiences and decide how much risk I'm willing to personally accept. I have had various issues including dropped speakers causing corner damage & xover components to come loose (6 months battle with parcelforce but eventually a full refund which I passed straight on the (Italian) buyer in full, who didn't even say 'thanks' despite having got the speakers cheaply repaired plus every penny of his outlay back), a super-rare Tannoy 'black' driver missing for about 3 weeks in the postal service in Hong Kong, a pair of Tannoy HPD's abandoned but miraculously survived a fortnight uncovered and in the open of the buyers back garden in France (I have no idea why he didn't tell me he was going to be away on his hols, or why their postal service thought that was an 'OK' place to leave them) etc etc.
 
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