ParcelMonkey Woes! Lost £400 Monitor

I worked a temp job in a Royal Mail depot many years ago. 'Fragile' or 'Do not bend' means 'This item should be used to test your strength' to a typical RM worker.

I worked at DHL (damage it,hide it,lose it) at heathrow airport and there was nothing that came in the shed that was handled correctly,no matter what it said on the parcel.

football was a regular past time of some of the dhl worker's.
 
No compensation for damage is fair enough.. but a £400 item is a £400 item, and if they LOSE it, it is completely unreasonable (T+C's aside) to expect the customer to "suck it up".
 
The existence of other companies is beside the point. The issue regarding the position of the OP relates to the fairness or otherwise of the standard terms presented by the courier company. Would you agree that it is fair for a company to lose the property of another person through negligence and then not to be liable to compensate them? Of course not, and the law would agree. In law, it does not matter what T&C state since a consumer's statutory rights will always supersede them. The T&C are unfair and would be set aside. You can try to argue to the contrary but I know this from experience.



The company would not be losing profits due to the customer's stupidity. They would be losing profits due to their own negligence in losing the item. Why should a customer suffer total loss when the company has been negligent? Had the item been damaged then it would be a different matter - but such a catastrophic failure in their duties under the terms of their contract, ie to collect and deliver said item, leaves them with a very limited defence.

It would be laughed out of a court if it ever got to that stage and we both know it. You cannot change the fact that he accepted the fact that insurance on his monitor wouldn't be provided.
 
Can anyone find the list of City Link 'prohibited items'? I found a PDF saying it was on their website but can't find it there.

If City Link lost it and pay out then Parcel Monkey might have claimed the compensation for themselves, it still sounds like a bit of a scam site to me. I've used Parcel2Ship a few times and they don't mention anything about monitors being not covered...

Goods Excluded from compensation

Please be aware that the following goods are excluded from compensation.

Antiques (objects over 100 years old).
Articles made largely or wholly of gold, silver or other precious metals.
Watches.
Ceramics such as ornamental and decorative china, resin and porcelain**.
Diamonds and other precious stones.
Glass - items partially or wholly made of glass or containing glass
Hazardous or dangerous goods, prohibited or restricted items.
Jewellery (except imitation).
Real fur.
Musical Instruments
Stamps.
Perishable items delivered within 48 hours of despatch.
Eggs in the event of damage
Negotiable documents.
Money - current bank note, currency note or coins, credit cards, debit cards, uncrossed postal orders which do not state to whom they are to be paid, cheques or dividend warrants which are uncrossed and made payable to the bearer; bearer securities including share warrants, scrips or subscription certificates, bonds or relative coupons; unobliterated postage or revenue stamps (except a revenue stamp embossed or impressed on an instrument which has been executed); airline tickets, coupons, lottery ticket, vouchers, tokens, stamps, scratch cards or similar documents which can be exchanged by themselves or with any other document for money, goods or services, national insurance stamps or bankers drafts.

Please note: collectables - items which have appreciated in value either due to their scarcity or due to their being out of production are not excluded from cover. However, any compensation payable for loss of, or damage to, any collectable shall be limited to the actual price paid for the collectable and shall not exceed the courier's stated limits of compensation, subject to the customer providing satisfactory written or printed evidence.

Basically just fragile and rare items, unlike Parcel Monkey who list anything worth stealing.

I would urge Craterloads to contact City Link and see if they can give him any information about the consignment and why it wasn't delivered.
 
Last edited:
He ticked the box saying he had checked and agreed to the list of items not covered and included a link to the list. What more do they need to do?

You cant sign away your statutory rights that protect you from company negligence, because, you know, they are statutory. Look it up.
 
The company would not be losing profits due to the customer's stupidity. They would be losing profits due to their own negligence in losing the item. Why should a customer suffer total loss when the company has been negligent? Had the item been damaged then it would be a different matter - but such a catastrophic failure in their duties under the terms of their contract, ie to collect and deliver said item, leaves them with a very limited defence.

I agree with this. Geez, there are some obtuse people here.
 
It would be laughed out of a court if it ever got to that stage and we both know it. You cannot change the fact that he accepted the fact that insurance on his monitor wouldn't be provided.

insurance for damage is different than claiming for loss of an item through company negligence. I'm laughing at you for the fact you still can't distinguish the difference.

I'm not saying he is entitled to £400 just because it's a £400 thing that went missing, but he is possibly entitled to more than £6 (that he got for insurance refund?).


If something is sent via courier, and it is lost, then compensation is due regardless of any additional insurance.
 
Last edited:
It isn't his job actually, I should know as I do it for a living :)

We do not look at the contents description of anything we collect, nor do we ask if someone has proper insurance and so on. Occasionally if I call to a customers house to collect a parcel and it is covered in writing saying 'FRAGILE GLASS' i'll tell them that it will not be insured, or if its obviously a TV/monitor.

If the customer has gone as far as ordering a collection then they have agreed to the terms and conditions already, its not up to a driver to question them tbh.

It HIS his job, I did it for 15 years, 5 of which I ran the operations for one of the largest privately owned franchises in the UK.

I also spent a year as a roaming troubleshooter with CityLink.

I spent a good few evenings giving idiots who picked stuff they shouldnt of done written warnings, before educating them as to how they should be doing their job.

But happy trails anyway.
 
insurance for damage is different than claiming for loss of an item through company negligence. I'm laughing at you for the fact you still can't distinguish the difference.

I'm not saying he is entitled to £400 just because it's a £400 thing that went missing, but he is possibly entitled to more than £6 (that he got for insurance refund?).


If something is sent via courier, and it is lost, then compensation is due regardless of any additional insurance.

Yet it was sent at his own risk, which is what these websites say in bold when you actually use them. Laugh all you want, I'm still right.
 
Now this has come to light (again, hoho)...

...would a large company, who have been using ParcelMonkey, be able to claim back a sizable fee from them? considering they must have been sold a lot of unneeded insurance over the years.
 
ParcelMonkey act as an agent or reseller for the courier, they won't ever have seen the package, they merely book a contract.

He still needs to find out if City Link compensate for lost monitors because otherwise Parcel Monkey could be fobbing these people off with their T&C and then claiming the compensation for themselves.

If I were him I'd be chasing City Link with the consignment number given, to find out if compensation has been payed out on it or anything.
 
Last edited:
Now this has come to light (again, hoho)...

...would a large company, who have been using ParcelMonkey, be able to claim back a sizable fee from them? considering they must have been sold a lot of unneeded insurance over the years.

This is a very good point, just checking over my account history and i know for a fact i have payed many times for insurance on items sent which wouldnt actually be covered. Times that by millions of other people unwittingly doing the same and i would imagine parcelmonkey owe a lot of people a lot of money.

He still needs to find out if City Link compensate for lost monitors because otherwise Parcel Monkey could be fobbing these people off with their T&C and then claiming the compensation for themselves.

If I were him I'd be chasing City Link with the consignment number given, to find out if compensation has been payed out on it or anything.

Will be doing this 1st thing tuesday, cant imagine parcelmoney actually doing this as that would be actual fraud?
 
It HIS his job, I did it for 15 years, 5 of which I ran the operations for one of the largest privately owned franchises in the UK.

I also spent a year as a roaming troubleshooter with CityLink.

I spent a good few evenings giving idiots who picked stuff they shouldnt of done written warnings, before educating them as to how they should be doing their job.

But happy trails anyway.

No it isnt m8, get off that high horse your on. The idiots you talk about probably have little enough time to complete the runs never mind check up on every single parcel that they collect. I have worked for a few couriers and have never been told to check an items description.

You sound like the type of guy that sits in front of a computer imagining how you would do the job but in reality would be at a complete loss if you were to actually be put out on the road for a while.
 

Lopez, from memory I think you work or have worked for a courier. What is the best way for the OP to deal with this situation? Is there any way of getting at least some money back as a good will gesture or is he shafted?

A £400 is a lot to lose and I feel sorry for the OP.
I would try and at least get £100 or something like that. I just don't think that this company is going to pay up.
 
This is a very good point, just checking over my account history and i know for a fact i have payed many times for insurance on items sent which wouldnt actually be covered. Times that by millions of other people unwittingly doing the same and i would imagine parcelmonkey owe a lot of people a lot of money.

You are right in saying that Parcelmonkey would have taken a lot of money on insurance when their T+Cs say they won't pay out. However, it is not the responsibility of the company to check each and every order and search through T+Cs to see if insurance is valid or not.

The buyer is given the T+Cs to read and it is upto him to check if it is worth paying for insurance.

If the company were to check for each and every item and whether the insurance is valid or not, they would need to hire a huge number of staff to go through the checking process and then refunding the money which was paid for the insurance.

I guess its like me putting a sign at my door, that if you ring the doorbell, you will get an electric shock. You choose not to read the sign (even though it is printed in big letters), you press the doorbell, get a shock and then decide to take legal action. The T+Cs are presented to the buyer, before he presses the purchase button and it is up to him to read the T+Cs.
 
You are right in saying that Parcelmonkey would have taken a lot of money on insurance when their T+Cs say they won't pay out. However, it is not the responsibility of the company to check each and every order and search through T+Cs to see if insurance is valid or not.

The buyer is given the T+Cs to read and it is upto him to check if it is worth paying for insurance.

If the company were to check for each and every item and whether the insurance is valid or not, they would need to hire a huge number of staff to go through the checking process and then refunding the money which was paid for the insurance.

I guess its like me putting a sign at my door, that if you ring the doorbell, you will get an electric shock. You choose not to read the sign (even though it is printed in big letters), you press the doorbell, get a shock and then decide to take legal action. The T+Cs are presented to the buyer, before he presses the purchase button and it is up to him to read the T+Cs.

^ This, this and this.
 
It would be laughed out of a court if it ever got to that stage and we both know it. You cannot change the fact that he accepted the fact that insurance on his monitor wouldn't be provided.

I'm afraid we will have to agree to differ on this. Unfair contract terms was my first essay topic on contract law quite some years ago and since then it has cropped up repeatedly during my professional and personal life. Whilst I no longer practice advocacy, I am rather more well versed on the subject than you seem to give me credit for. But never mind, feel free to continue to ignore what I have posted!

Besides, as I have posted numerous times already. The main position for the OP is that the non-compensation clause was not part of the T&C and, therefore, not part of the contract. That is somewhat blatant.
 
Back
Top Bottom