In February I ordered a Toshiba TV from Amazon which was delivered by Hermes. When I turned it on I discovered the screen was cracked and asked Amazon for a replacement. The new one – again delivered by Hermes – was fine, but I had to arrange the return of the faulty one.
I decided to use Hermes again and paid the delivery fee (to be refunded by Amazon), repacking the faulty TV After the collection, I didn’t hear anything for several days so decided to “track” my parcel. It had arrived at Hermes’ local depot and gone no further.
Hermes initially told me they had lost it but I could make a claim for compensation. It then told me that they do not compensate for TVs – as in their terms and conditions. I had, foolishly, assumed that as Amazon used Hermes to deliver, it would be the best choice to send it back.
Now Amazon has charged me the full price for the missing TV, £408.97. So I have paid twice plus the Hermes delivery charge; a total of £828.23. It never occurred to me that Hermes could “lose” a parcel the size of the packed TV. Hermes is adamant it will not compensate me. And Amazon, despite my pleadings, insists its policy is to charge for items not returned.
SH, Brixton, London SW2
Amazon has apologised and given you a full refund of the cost of the TV and delivery charge. Hermes says the confusion is because, while Hermes does deliver TVs on behalf of some retailers, its separate “myHermes” service (which you apparently used) – for small businesses/consumers/returns etc which is bookable online – will not compensate for loss or damage to certain items such as TVs.
The myHermes website has the list of excluded items which shows that TVs are not covered by compensation for loss or damage. It says you should have seen this when you ordered the delivery.
Hermes adds: “We would like to apologise to SH for the inconvenience caused and are pleased that the matter has been settled satisfactorily. Over the course of the year more than 99% of the 300m parcels we deliver arrive without any problems.
“However, we always advise customers to check whether the items they are sending or returning are on the excluded items list, which is detailed very clearly on our website during the booking process.”
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