Postage insurance claim

[weasel]

Had my first ever item damaged in shipping. Cracked bubble as you may have seen from the valuation thread.

http://www.starwarsforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=21342

Anyone know what the process is for claiming on Royal Mail insurance? The item was insured for £1,400 As the bubble is cracked and i've no idea what it's true value is, am i better trying to claim for the whole amount and assume they will offer me a fraction of my claim or will i need to establish his value now and claim for the difference?

Any help appreciated.


Cheers

 

[SOJ]

You'll have to go to the Royal Mail website and seek out the form. How much was it insured for? If you didn't take any out you'll only be able to claim very little.

A couple of months back I had a tri logo biker scout split on route. I sent it via Hermes, but with the help of the buyer supplying supporting photos and a supporting email backing up my valuation (as no money was exchanged, it was a trade) Hermes gave me the full value back. Not worth anything like your Yoda though.

 

[weasel]

Was insured for full value, i don't send stuff without insurance unless it's worth whatever is covered by basic RM insurance. Something like a Yoda was definitely getting insured.

 

[plantman]

good luck with it mate, i had a bubble crack and they refused to pay out, saying it was so fragile and old they couldnt be held responsible.

you might be lucky and get a nice claims rep.

 

[PGowdy]

good luck with it mate, i had a bubble crack and they refused to pay out, saying it was so fragile and old they couldnt be held responsible.

you might be lucky and get a nice claims rep.

Considering this i might be inclined to get the guy to smash the afa case make it look much more dramatic. Rather than lose altogether.

 

[mr_palitoy]

Still waiting to hear about my bubble crack. The Royal Mail have 90 days to reply so I have a few more weeks to wait. The lady who took my parcel threw the box at a parcel bin which missed and bounced off onto the floor so I think I have a good case for negligence.

Jason

 

[plantman]

good luck with it mate, i had a bubble crack and they refused to pay out, saying it was so fragile and old they couldnt be held responsible.

you might be lucky and get a nice claims rep.

Considering this i might be inclined to get the guy to smash the afa case make it look much more dramatic. Rather than lose altogether.

yeah not a bad idea, mine was a yak face that had burst through the bubble, they sent it for inspection and said the bubble was 30 years old and fragile, so in a way they were correct, but still a pain in the ass as insurance was pointless.

 

[Cazza]

Going through exactly the same at the moment. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, I've had to send the figure off, along with the damaged packaging to Royal Mail. They have stated that they will refund the full £50 if I send the items. I have sent detailed pics + all the forms + PayPal receipt etc. Bought it from Bram and he has been mega helpful with advice and paperwork.

I don't see how they can't pay up if the packaging is damaged.

 

[weasel]

Just an update on this, after initially declining my claim because there was no damage, despite the buyer saying there was damage and sending pictures in to show it, Parcelforce have now decided that the damage isn't enough to have cracked the bubble. :roll:

In other words it's damaged but the damage to the box couldn't have cracked the bubble it must have been the magic fairy and so they aren't liable! Either way they have closed the claim and so I'm going to have to take them to the small claims court.

Don't quite see how an item that leaves me in perfect condition, well protected, and arrives broken is anything other than their fault! I definitely don't see why it should result in me being out of pocket by a grand. Especially when I took insurance out specifically to cover any damage happening!

I'll let you know how this ends up.

One thing is for certain, insurance would appear to be useless as in Parcelforce's eyes damage to the box doesn't seem to have any impact on the contents.

 

[plantman]

Exactly what they did with mine mate, they said it was too fragile to travel and it broke because of its age, and i should take them to small claims court.

i would do it mate if you can, check their terms of insurance because thats what the court will look at.

 

[PGowdy]

****ing bastards. This is what my brother told me they do with practically any claim. That's why i use Hermes for expensive UK stuff. I sent 3 Gentle Giant Star Wars Figures to a customer recently and the bubbles got crushed a bit. Nothing was technically broken but the buyer complained so i offered him a partial refund which he accepted. I then put in a claim with Hermes, sent some rubbish photos of a partially crushed box and a day later i got a full refund. Every penny.

 

[Mr-shifter]

This is such utter bullshit on so many levels.

How can they say the piece was not damaged by the damage to the parcel. The thing is graded, so they have proof of the condition of the piece before it left you, and they could resubmit it for grading now to get proof of the condition now. Everything that happened to it in-between must be as a result of their incompetence.

Surely, since they have accepted they have damaged it they must now accept the damage. This stinks. I really hope you get somewhere with them in small claims court.

Have you tried emailing and hassling the CEO?

http://www.royalmailgroup.com/about-us/management-committees/group-executive-team/gary-simpson

http://www.ceoemail.com/s.php?id=9552

I have generally found that once you start annoying the man at the top with emails and such like then something gets done. Luckily, businesses are still too stupid to alter the email address of their director from the standard format so they are normally easy to get hold of. If it is a publicly registered company the directors have to submit their home addresses with the accounts returns. You can get these records freely, I think from companies house. They get even more annoyed when letters and phone calls from disgruntled customers start interrupting saturday morning with the kids. Dirty tactics to deal with these dirty bastards.

Best of luck with this.

 

[plantman]

they base it on the principle that you cannot stop the figure from cracking the bubble and as no actual damage has happened to the rest of the item its the loose figure moving around thats caused the damage. so they deem it to be unfit for transport.

 

[mr_palitoy]

Result on mine. The 90 days was up on Friday do I called them to find out what was happening. They said they are sending me a cheque for the full amount, only a hundred quid in this case. I think throwy at bin lady helped my case in this instance as I witnessed negligence/damage occuring on their end.

I can see Royal mails stance on fragile bubbles, especially AFA graded ones where bubble support is not possible. Some of these have aged to the point where posting them just isn't viable any more.

Solutions? Would a new case with plastic encasing the sides of the bubble prevent cracking when the figure is jolted into the top of the bubble? Thoughts anyone?

Jason

 

[plantman]

it would have to be a very precise support for the bubble and even then i dont think you could be certain it would work, if the bubble was mis-shaped or had dings it wouldn't protect that area.

you have to stop any flex when the figure hits the bubble, but it would only stop it bursting, it could still crack.

 

[Stargeezer]

makes you think next time you have something like this, better just to give the box it was send in a good kick before taking pictures, so the box is damaged enough....

I always said shipping AFA figures is a risk, specially when bubbles are yellowing, are there is enough space for the figures to move up and down.
Safest bet is to ship them out the the acrylic case with the bubble well protected.

 

[mr_palitoy]

makes you think next time you have something like this, better just to give the box it was send in a good kick before taking pictures, so the box is damaged enough....

I always said shipping AFA figures is a risk, specially when bubbles are yellowing, are there is enough space for the figures to move up and down.
Safest bet is to ship them out the the acrylic case with the bubble well protected.

Indeed. I doubt I would ever send my expensive figures to AFA for grading due to bubble risk there and back again. Plus I don't value
their opinion on authenticity/grading these days having inspected some of their efforts up close. So for me, the increase in value
I would get from AFA grading would be outweighed by the risk of damage via the post. I would be more likely to use UKG and drop
down an pick up myself to avoid those issues. Most of my expensive cards were bought in face to face deals, and that's how I
would like to sell them, if I decided to sell at any point.

Jason

 

[weasel]

makes you think next time you have something like this, better just to give the box it was send in a good kick before taking pictures, so the box is damaged enough....

Yeah, definitely a good idea!

 

[mr_palitoy]

The cheque has arrived!

Here's the cover letter I got:-

No admission of any wrong doing on their part. My claim form did detail throwy at bin lady as the cause of the damage. Still, they coughed
up which is what counts.



Jason

 

[Dark Sith Lord]

Glad you got a satisfactory outcome Jason