I am trying to get my money back and compensation from ParcelCompare.
After finishing his degree in Birmingham, my son needed to get his things back to Northern Ireland. He could take some of them on his flight, and I arranged for the rest – a 32kg suitcase and a 15kg rucksack – to be picked up by UPS, which I booked via ParcelCompare for £71.
I tracked the suitcase to Castle Donington in Leicestershire and the rucksack to Newtownabbey near Belfast, but within a week both were reported lost. I asked if I could contact UPS directly but was not able to do this.
While I had no success with locating the rucksack, my brother was able to retrieve the suitcase from Tamworth in Staffordshire, and I booked a return flight from Belfast to East Midlands airport to bring it back.
The rucksack remains lost, and ParcelCompare refuses to issue a refund or compensation on the basis that “personal belongings, including suitcases” are on UPS’s list of prohibited items.
My contract is with ParcelCompare, and “personal belongings” are not on its list of forbidden items. When I made the booking, I was transparent, describing the contents as “personal items including clothes and shoes”. At no point was this queried.
ParcelCompare offered a £15 credit note as a gesture of goodwill, but has since clawed back £11 to cover an “additional handling charge” for the suitcase.
The value of the rucksack and contents is about £150, while my brother and I spent nearly £200 retrieving the suitcase.
JK, Newtownabbey
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ParcelCompare is “sorry” for the problems, but says that when making a booking, customers are prompted to check the prohibited items list of their chosen courier (most of its partner couriers will carry personal effects).
It says: “Because our customer’s courier prohibits sending personal effects, his items are not eligible for compensation.”
It adds that it “strongly recommends following couriers’ instructions for either sending on or returning missing items once they have been located”.
ParcelCompare has refunded the shipping and extra handling fee (incurred because the items were not packed as instructed).
It offers up to £50 compensation for uninsured items that are lost or damaged and, although this shipment is not eligible, the company is going to pay as a goodwill gesture.
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