threatened with court action over wrongly measured parcel?
Discussion
I'd be interested in knowing what the delivery price was with the original dimensions and what the revised price should have been with the new dimensions, if the measurements were just a couple of cm out then the price shouldn't vary by much. There's a quote generator on the website so the information would be easy enough to obtain.
robbocop33 said:
I agree with an earlier point,i really thought they should have withheld the parcel before delivery and notified me of my utter uselessness with said measuring tape?
You would have preferred that they held onto your parcel and delayed it as leverage so that you pay the correct fee straight away, rather than not delaying your delivery and getting you to pay later?AyBee said:
hedgefinder said:
Shouldnt they have simply returned the parcel or informed you that there would be a further charge BEFORE they delivered it?
This would be my approach. If I hadn't paid enough for the service, why did they carry out the service?JustinP1 said:
Because they've already started the service by spending their time and money driving to you and picking up your parcel at your request - and you've already agreed to pay them to do so.
No, he's agreed to pay them £X to do so - they now say that it's going to cost £Y, the OP hasn't agreed to pay £Y. Either way, they will have Ts&Cs which the OP will have signed up to and which will no doubt have the details of what they can and can't do regarding parcels which are not what they say they are, so the OP should read those and see what they say!TooMany2cvs said:
Unlikely.
You requested them to perform a service.
You made an error in your request for the service, so their initial estimate of cost was too low.
You are now refusing to pay the amount they say you owe.
You are not, afaict, disputing the error in measurement - simply suggesting that it was an easy error to make. Nor do you have any evidence to refute their claim.
You have a choice. Pay the £60 plus whatever costs have been accrued to date. Or wait to find out if they're bluffing. If they aren't bluffing, then you may wish to consider the risk of you losing and being made to pay a lot more - more costs accrued - or get a CCJ against you.
That advice is wrong on so many levels. You requested them to perform a service.
You made an error in your request for the service, so their initial estimate of cost was too low.
You are now refusing to pay the amount they say you owe.
You are not, afaict, disputing the error in measurement - simply suggesting that it was an easy error to make. Nor do you have any evidence to refute their claim.
You have a choice. Pay the £60 plus whatever costs have been accrued to date. Or wait to find out if they're bluffing. If they aren't bluffing, then you may wish to consider the risk of you losing and being made to pay a lot more - more costs accrued - or get a CCJ against you.
Firstly we don't know that the op made an error in measurement and neither does he. It is up to delivery firm to show that he made an error. In the very unlikely event that this went to Court the onus would be on them to provide this evidence.
They would be mad to sue for such a small sum. Contrary to what they may say they cannot claim costs other than the Court fee so it would be uneconomic for them to do so. Add to this the cost of them appearing in YOUR local County Court as you can transfer the case there.
Furthermore in the very very unlikely event of this happening and you losing if you then paid the Court promptly no CCJ would show against you.
I would ignore them or ask them to justify their claim.
Danattheopticians said:
Exactly! They carried out a more expensive service without cx consent, they can shove their claim, as they are not at a loss, just mischarged a service and made no effort to lease with the OP before providing a service, that's their error, there claim won't stand some people on here will have you believe that every person who make a simple error of judgement need locking up and throw away the key. They'll try it on, then sell it to debt collectors-Laughable, then it'll magically disappear. Court - £60, Service already provided without consent or notification of higher charges - This just wont wash.
Have you read the terms and conditions? (that's rhetorical)dmsims said:
Danattheopticians said:
Exactly! They carried out a more expensive service without cx consent, they can shove their claim, as they are not at a loss, just mischarged a service and made no effort to lease with the OP before providing a service, that's their error, there claim won't stand some people on here will have you believe that every person who make a simple error of judgement need locking up and throw away the key. They'll try it on, then sell it to debt collectors-Laughable, then it'll magically disappear. Court - £60, Service already provided without consent or notification of higher charges - This just wont wash.
Have you read the terms and conditions? (that's rhetorical)Scenario:
John: "Hi Mr Builder, I need a wall building about 14ft long and 3ft high along my back garden. How much would that be?"
Builder: "Based on your measurements, we will build it for £500."
John: "Ok great."
Some time passes and a wall gets built.
Builder: "The wall is built and it was actually 18ft long so you owe me £650"
Stupid...
OR
John: "Hi Mr Builder, I need a wall building about 14ft long and 3ft high along my back garden. How much would that be?"
Builder: "Based on your measurements, we will build it for £500."
John: "Ok great."
Builder: "John I've measured up and the wall you need building is actually 18ft long not 14ft, so will be £650. Do you want me to go ahead."
John: "Oh is it, sorry I mis measured, well I want it done anyway so yes please"
Builder: "No worries John, we'll be down tomorrow to start the work."
Logical - Good service.
I'm going to assume you sent it via UPS? They are normally the cheapest when going via Interparcel.
If this is the case your package would have been scanned by a dimensional weight & scanning machine, these are very accurate. They scan the package from about 15 angles to get the exact measurements and weigh it at the same time. They have to be calibrated regularly by the DFT as this is how weights are calculated for the air cans that get loaded into planes at the airport, for obvious reasons that has to be very accurate. When they pass through the machine the measurements are taken and recorded, they combine with the unique information on the tracking label which links it to the customers account (Interparcel) If the measurements are over what the limit is for the discounted rate that Interparcel are given then it will adjust the billing on their account accordingly. It will be nowhere near £60 but Interparcel will add their own surcharges, most likely to stop people from under measuring items to make the cost cheaper.
There is usually a small window for error so if you had mis-measured it then difference should have been reasonable. Don't forget you get charged for the largest measurements so an odd shaped parcel will be billed for the largest dimensions even if 90% of it is a lot smaller.
Contact Interparcel and find out what the measurements you are being billed for actually are. It's possible it wasn't measured correctly but that's unlikely.
Btw i have known people to ignore those threats and have heard nothing from Interparcel since but that's your call.
If this is the case your package would have been scanned by a dimensional weight & scanning machine, these are very accurate. They scan the package from about 15 angles to get the exact measurements and weigh it at the same time. They have to be calibrated regularly by the DFT as this is how weights are calculated for the air cans that get loaded into planes at the airport, for obvious reasons that has to be very accurate. When they pass through the machine the measurements are taken and recorded, they combine with the unique information on the tracking label which links it to the customers account (Interparcel) If the measurements are over what the limit is for the discounted rate that Interparcel are given then it will adjust the billing on their account accordingly. It will be nowhere near £60 but Interparcel will add their own surcharges, most likely to stop people from under measuring items to make the cost cheaper.
There is usually a small window for error so if you had mis-measured it then difference should have been reasonable. Don't forget you get charged for the largest measurements so an odd shaped parcel will be billed for the largest dimensions even if 90% of it is a lot smaller.
Contact Interparcel and find out what the measurements you are being billed for actually are. It's possible it wasn't measured correctly but that's unlikely.
Btw i have known people to ignore those threats and have heard nothing from Interparcel since but that's your call.
Edited by Nickyboy on Wednesday 28th September 16:07
Just remembered something there.When i printed out the postage label to put on the parcel it didn't have a barcode on it,thought this was odd but bashed on with it.
Subsequently a good few days go by and no tracking info?(delivery driver shouldn't have taken it seemingly without barcode at my door)After lots of chasing it up new labels had been put on the parcel 'somewhere' and then everything was back on track.
In the meantime lots of hassle from the Ebay buyer.It was a nightmare,interparcel saying one thing,courier Ups saying another,meanwhile 700 quids worth of my goods missing!,so i'm thinking,is this maybe some way of them recouping some kind if costs in a roundabout way?Just them making up my measurements were wrong?
Subsequently a good few days go by and no tracking info?(delivery driver shouldn't have taken it seemingly without barcode at my door)After lots of chasing it up new labels had been put on the parcel 'somewhere' and then everything was back on track.
In the meantime lots of hassle from the Ebay buyer.It was a nightmare,interparcel saying one thing,courier Ups saying another,meanwhile 700 quids worth of my goods missing!,so i'm thinking,is this maybe some way of them recouping some kind if costs in a roundabout way?Just them making up my measurements were wrong?
Danattheopticians said:
I'm just outlining the logic here.
Scenario:
John: "Hi Mr Builder, I need a wall building about 14ft long and 3ft high along my back garden. How much would that be?"
Builder: "Based on your measurements, we will build it for £500."
John: "Ok great."
Some time passes and a wall gets built.
Builder: "The wall is built and it was actually 18ft long so you owe me £650"
Stupid...
OR
John: "Hi Mr Builder, I need a wall building about 14ft long and 3ft high along my back garden. How much would that be?"
Builder: "Based on your measurements, we will build it for £500."
John: "Ok great."
Builder: "John I've measured up and the wall you need building is actually 18ft long not 14ft, so will be £650. Do you want me to go ahead."
John: "Oh is it, sorry I mis measured, well I want it done anyway so yes please"
Builder: "No worries John, we'll be down tomorrow to start the work."
Logical - Good service.
Except that by the time any discrepancy had been found the parcel had already been collected, passed through the screening process, and the job possibly contracted out to a third party, so costs have been incurred before the courier has to opportunity to check the parcel.Scenario:
John: "Hi Mr Builder, I need a wall building about 14ft long and 3ft high along my back garden. How much would that be?"
Builder: "Based on your measurements, we will build it for £500."
John: "Ok great."
Some time passes and a wall gets built.
Builder: "The wall is built and it was actually 18ft long so you owe me £650"
Stupid...
OR
John: "Hi Mr Builder, I need a wall building about 14ft long and 3ft high along my back garden. How much would that be?"
Builder: "Based on your measurements, we will build it for £500."
John: "Ok great."
Builder: "John I've measured up and the wall you need building is actually 18ft long not 14ft, so will be £650. Do you want me to go ahead."
John: "Oh is it, sorry I mis measured, well I want it done anyway so yes please"
Builder: "No worries John, we'll be down tomorrow to start the work."
Logical - Good service.
Danattheopticians said:
dmsims said:
Danattheopticians said:
Exactly! They carried out a more expensive service without cx consent, they can shove their claim, as they are not at a loss, just mischarged a service and made no effort to lease with the OP before providing a service, that's their error, there claim won't stand some people on here will have you believe that every person who make a simple error of judgement need locking up and throw away the key. They'll try it on, then sell it to debt collectors-Laughable, then it'll magically disappear. Court - £60, Service already provided without consent or notification of higher charges - This just wont wash.
Have you read the terms and conditions? (that's rhetorical)Scenario:
John: "Hi Mr Builder, I need a wall building about 14ft long and 3ft high along my back garden. How much would that be?"
Builder: "Based on your measurements, we will build it for £500."
John: "Ok great."
Some time passes and a wall gets built.
Builder: "The wall is built and it was actually 18ft long so you owe me £650"
Stupid...
OR
John: "Hi Mr Builder, I need a wall building about 14ft long and 3ft high along my back garden. How much would that be?"
Builder: "Based on your measurements, we will build it for £500."
John: "Ok great."
Builder: "John I've measured up and the wall you need building is actually 18ft long not 14ft, so will be £650. Do you want me to go ahead."
John: "Oh is it, sorry I mis measured, well I want it done anyway so yes please"
Builder: "No worries John, we'll be down tomorrow to start the work."
Logical - Good service.
John : please dig me a foundation for my new wall
Builder: Assuming it's 1m deep that'll be £x
John: OK
Builder: Building Inspector said we had to go deeper because there's a well we didn't know about, so you now owe us £y.
How could the courier know the parcel was bigger than he said until they'd already started the service?
Nickyboy said:
I'm going to assume you sent it via UPS? They are normally the cheapest when going via Interparcel.
If this is the case your package would have been scanned by a dimensional weight & scanning machine, these are very accurate. They scan the package from about 15 angles to get the exact measurements and weigh it at the same time. They have to be calibrated regularly by the DFT as this is how weights are calculated for the air cans that get loaded into planes at the airport, for obvious reasons that has to be very accurate. When they pass through the machine the measurements are taken and recorded, they combine with the unique information on the tracking label which links it to the customers account (Interparcel) If the measurements are over what the limit is for the discounted rate that Interparcel are given then it will adjust the billing on their account accordingly. It will be nowhere near £60 but Interparcel will add their own surcharges, most likely to stop people from under measuring items to make the cost cheaper.
They certainly don't always do this ^^^If this is the case your package would have been scanned by a dimensional weight & scanning machine, these are very accurate. They scan the package from about 15 angles to get the exact measurements and weigh it at the same time. They have to be calibrated regularly by the DFT as this is how weights are calculated for the air cans that get loaded into planes at the airport, for obvious reasons that has to be very accurate. When they pass through the machine the measurements are taken and recorded, they combine with the unique information on the tracking label which links it to the customers account (Interparcel) If the measurements are over what the limit is for the discounted rate that Interparcel are given then it will adjust the billing on their account accordingly. It will be nowhere near £60 but Interparcel will add their own surcharges, most likely to stop people from under measuring items to make the cost cheaper.
I've arranged for many items I've bought to be collected via Interparcel / UPS and have assumed that the package would be a similar size to the goods packaged in it - sometimes I've discovered people have used a massively oversize box meaning I have unknowingly under declared - I've never had an issue.
Equally I send a lot of wheels and wrap them in cardboard - meaning a cylindrical parcel - I've then deliberately under declared the size as they are assuming it's rectangular - again never an issue.
I recently received a parcel from a very annoyed courier (Hermes or Yodel) it was a 500x1800 radiator that had been declared as 5kg and weighed approx 50kg - he was fuming as his truck could well have been overweight but said it's common occurrence and that no one cares.
Tom_C76 said:
But it's more like
John : please dig me a foundation for my new wall
Builder: Assuming it's 1m deep that'll be £x
John: OK
Builder: Building Inspector said we had to go deeper because there's a well we didn't know about, so you now owe us £y.
How could the courier know the parcel was bigger than he said until they'd already started the service?
Your a man after my own heart I'm always doing comparisons and they never bloody work ! Where does the well fit in? I just get funny looks and go quiet.John : please dig me a foundation for my new wall
Builder: Assuming it's 1m deep that'll be £x
John: OK
Builder: Building Inspector said we had to go deeper because there's a well we didn't know about, so you now owe us £y.
How could the courier know the parcel was bigger than he said until they'd already started the service?
robbocop33 said:
Just remembered something there.When i printed out the postage label to put on the parcel it didn't have a barcode on it,thought this was odd but bashed on with it.
Subsequently a good few days go by and no tracking info?(delivery driver shouldn't have taken it seemingly without barcode at my door)After lots of chasing it up new labels had been put on the parcel 'somewhere' and then everything was back on track.
In the meantime lots of hassle from the Ebay buyer.It was a nightmare,interparcel saying one thing,courier Ups saying another,meanwhile 700 quids worth of my goods missing!,so i'm thinking,is this maybe some way of them recouping some kind if costs in a roundabout way?Just them making up my measurements were wrong?
The UPS label would look like this:Subsequently a good few days go by and no tracking info?(delivery driver shouldn't have taken it seemingly without barcode at my door)After lots of chasing it up new labels had been put on the parcel 'somewhere' and then everything was back on track.
In the meantime lots of hassle from the Ebay buyer.It was a nightmare,interparcel saying one thing,courier Ups saying another,meanwhile 700 quids worth of my goods missing!,so i'm thinking,is this maybe some way of them recouping some kind if costs in a roundabout way?Just them making up my measurements were wrong?
Did you drop it off at an Access Point or did the driver collect it? If it was collected from you then the driver should have refused it for not having the shipping label, if you dropped it at an Access point then we have to collect it and sort the problem out once it gets to the depot, it might involve putting our own shipping label on it or if it has a return address, returning it to the sender. If we put our own label on it then it wouldn't bill Interparcel for excess size as there would be no link to the parcel being shipped through them without the barcoded label. This is probably a manual entry to them for it having no shipping label, we may charge them a few quid for doing it but defo not £60. It sounds weird that they're claiming it was over size but you said you sent it without a shipping label so there is no way the two can be linked. Sounds like Interparcel are trying it on with regards to it being oversized while they've likely been charged a few quid for UPS having to label it and ship it onwards
V8RX7 said:
They certainly don't always do this ^^^
I've arranged for many items I've bought to be collected via Interparcel / UPS and have assumed that the package would be a similar size to the goods packaged in it - sometimes I've discovered people have used a massively oversize box meaning I have unknowingly under declared - I've never had an issue.
Equally I send a lot of wheels and wrap them in cardboard - meaning a cylindrical parcel - I've then deliberately under declared the size as they are assuming it's rectangular - again never an issue.
I recently received a parcel from a very annoyed courier (Hermes or Yodel) it was a 500x1800 radiator that had been declared as 5kg and weighed approx 50kg - he was fuming as his truck could well have been overweight but said it's common occurrence and that no one cares.
As long as the size/weight isn't over the limit on the agents (Interparcels) account then it doesn't matter, it's when it goes over their account limit then you end up getting charged extra, if it's over what you state but is still within their limit then you'll be fine. I've arranged for many items I've bought to be collected via Interparcel / UPS and have assumed that the package would be a similar size to the goods packaged in it - sometimes I've discovered people have used a massively oversize box meaning I have unknowingly under declared - I've never had an issue.
Equally I send a lot of wheels and wrap them in cardboard - meaning a cylindrical parcel - I've then deliberately under declared the size as they are assuming it's rectangular - again never an issue.
I recently received a parcel from a very annoyed courier (Hermes or Yodel) it was a 500x1800 radiator that had been declared as 5kg and weighed approx 50kg - he was fuming as his truck could well have been overweight but said it's common occurrence and that no one cares.
If you state something is 5kg but it actually weighs 10kg but their limit is 12kg then you'll be ok, if actually weighed 13kg then they might well charge you an excess. All depends on their negotiated rate.
Tom_C76 said:
How could the courier know the parcel was bigger than he said until they'd already started the service?
Maybe the collecting driver could have checked it? I know they're on a schedule etc but they would have time if these companies weren't abusing them in order to minimise costs, advertise low prices and then make the customer pay by imposing unfair charges for spurious reasons.REALIST123 said:
Maybe the collecting driver could have checked it? I know they're on a schedule etc but they would have time if these companies weren't abusing them in order to minimise costs, advertise low prices and then make the customer pay by imposing unfair charges for spurious reasons.
How does the driver check it exactly? Carry around a set of scales? Tape measure? How does the driver know what dimensions the shipper has enter on their computer? The whole industry is worked around the shippers putting the correct details on their shipments, if they don't, the machines i explained earlier adjusts the billing so they are charged the correct amount. It also credits them back if their packages are underweight, it's not just about making extra revenue. Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff