Discussion
A few weeks back I sent a couple of packages to the US using a company called Express-Exports. The packages had already reached me by Parcelforce so I used their weights and dimensions, which seemed spot on anyway.
Anyway a DHL driver came, checked paperwork and took the packages which were delivered a couple of days later.
Fast forward 2 weeks and I notice £174 has been charged against my card. I've had no email or letter of warning / explanation so write to the shipping agents for an explanation. They have now said DHL say the weights weren't accurate and charged them, so they took the payment from the card they kept on record. I asked who it was who decided the declared weights and dimensions weren't accurate but no reply thus far. I also asked why I was never informed and why money was taken without my knowledge? Again, no reply so far.
Do I have any redress?
Thanks in advance.
Anyway a DHL driver came, checked paperwork and took the packages which were delivered a couple of days later.
Fast forward 2 weeks and I notice £174 has been charged against my card. I've had no email or letter of warning / explanation so write to the shipping agents for an explanation. They have now said DHL say the weights weren't accurate and charged them, so they took the payment from the card they kept on record. I asked who it was who decided the declared weights and dimensions weren't accurate but no reply thus far. I also asked why I was never informed and why money was taken without my knowledge? Again, no reply so far.
Do I have any redress?
Thanks in advance.
This comes up fairly often - a recent post on this subject here
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
basically they will most likely claim to have e-mailed you (they may of course have ended up in your spam) and given you the opportunity to raise a dispute against the claim for additional cost. They would expect you to provide photographic proof of the dimensions and weights of your parcels. Most people naturally don't tend to go to those lengths. Their default position, as it's squirrelled away in their T&Cs, will be to charge you the difference.
Assuming they genuinely aren't playing fair speak to your card issuer and tell them you dispute the transaction and have not authorised them to take a payment from your card. Assuming this follows previous examples, expect to be chased by the company concerned and eventually for 'debt collectors' to send you threatening but utterly unactionable comms about taking you to court (which they can't do as you don't owe them any money if they've bought packaged debt from a 3rd party, as I have understood it).
If you can get them to engage with you, rigging up faked photos will allow them to argue the toss with the courier who will probably roll over and refund them
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
basically they will most likely claim to have e-mailed you (they may of course have ended up in your spam) and given you the opportunity to raise a dispute against the claim for additional cost. They would expect you to provide photographic proof of the dimensions and weights of your parcels. Most people naturally don't tend to go to those lengths. Their default position, as it's squirrelled away in their T&Cs, will be to charge you the difference.
Assuming they genuinely aren't playing fair speak to your card issuer and tell them you dispute the transaction and have not authorised them to take a payment from your card. Assuming this follows previous examples, expect to be chased by the company concerned and eventually for 'debt collectors' to send you threatening but utterly unactionable comms about taking you to court (which they can't do as you don't owe them any money if they've bought packaged debt from a 3rd party, as I have understood it).
If you can get them to engage with you, rigging up faked photos will allow them to argue the toss with the courier who will probably roll over and refund them
Many people* are not aware that chargeback is available on debit cards.
http://www.theukcardsassociation.org.uk/individual...
* That includes quite a few bank staff: you need to speak to to someone sufficiently far up the food chain.
http://www.theukcardsassociation.org.uk/individual...
* That includes quite a few bank staff: you need to speak to to someone sufficiently far up the food chain.
Still speak to your bank, a chargeback might be possible if inside 120 days
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/visa-ma...
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/visa-ma...
Thanks.
The export company are saying all courier companies take payments when they deem packages to be larger than declared. They simply ignored my comments about their not contacting me first. I've told them I want my money refunded till the appeals process is gone through but they're clearly not keen. They make no mention of not telling me before taking payment. Basically they're taking DHL's side so the bank have told me to request a refund. If that isn't forthcoming I can open a dispute after 15 days.
The export company are saying all courier companies take payments when they deem packages to be larger than declared. They simply ignored my comments about their not contacting me first. I've told them I want my money refunded till the appeals process is gone through but they're clearly not keen. They make no mention of not telling me before taking payment. Basically they're taking DHL's side so the bank have told me to request a refund. If that isn't forthcoming I can open a dispute after 15 days.
e30m3Mark said:
Thanks.
The export company are saying all courier companies take payments when they deem packages to be larger than declared. They simply ignored my comments about their not contacting me first. I've told them I want my money refunded till the appeals process is gone through but they're clearly not keen. They make no mention of not telling me before taking payment. Basically they're taking DHL's side so the bank have told me to request a refund. If that isn't forthcoming I can open a dispute after 15 days.
The courier companies will take payment if sizes and weights are different but it won't be much, it'll just be an increase to the next weight segment, 90% of what they're charging you will be their surcharge and handling fees. The export company are saying all courier companies take payments when they deem packages to be larger than declared. They simply ignored my comments about their not contacting me first. I've told them I want my money refunded till the appeals process is gone through but they're clearly not keen. They make no mention of not telling me before taking payment. Basically they're taking DHL's side so the bank have told me to request a refund. If that isn't forthcoming I can open a dispute after 15 days.
On mine it more than doubled the price - most of it is punitive. Or if you are cynical it's the aggregator services failing to accurately supply information on your parcel that generates an accurate quote. Volumetric weight seems to be a particular challenge for them, especially as carriers tend to use slightly different calculations to derive it. I'd never use one of these outfits again if I'm sending stuff abroad - just go direct and the risk is reduced
I had similar with UPS: I sent the case of a Grandfather clock to Italy (just the wooden case, the clock was taken personally by the new owner), it wasn't particularly heavy but the package was 2.3m long.
I disclosed the full dimensions & weight and got a price so booked it but after delivery they sent me an invoice for £200 more than the quote, stating the excess was because it was over 2m long!
I spoke to them but the person on the phone seemed incapable of understanding that I had told them it was 2.3m long, despite having the very measurements on file, they then wanted proof that it was 2.3m long despite the fact that I had told them it was and that they had measured it as such - sort of the opposite of what you'd expect.
I sent them a copy of the invoice for the custom made packing case plus pictures of the package and eventually they accepted it and credited back the extra.
I suppose it was easier in my case as it was on an account and so payment wasn't automatically taken and I refused to pay the invoice until it was correct - it may well have been different if they'd got my money? But the hardest part was finding someone with the intelligence or who could be bothered to actually look at the details.
I disclosed the full dimensions & weight and got a price so booked it but after delivery they sent me an invoice for £200 more than the quote, stating the excess was because it was over 2m long!
I spoke to them but the person on the phone seemed incapable of understanding that I had told them it was 2.3m long, despite having the very measurements on file, they then wanted proof that it was 2.3m long despite the fact that I had told them it was and that they had measured it as such - sort of the opposite of what you'd expect.
I sent them a copy of the invoice for the custom made packing case plus pictures of the package and eventually they accepted it and credited back the extra.
I suppose it was easier in my case as it was on an account and so payment wasn't automatically taken and I refused to pay the invoice until it was correct - it may well have been different if they'd got my money? But the hardest part was finding someone with the intelligence or who could be bothered to actually look at the details.
e30m3Mark said:
A few weeks back I sent a couple of packages to the US using a company called Express-Exports. The packages had already reached me by Parcelforce so I used their weights and dimensions, which seemed spot on anyway.
But you didn't actually weigh or measure it yourself?e30m3Mark said:
They have now said DHL say the weights weren't accurate
...
I asked who it was who decided the declared weights and dimensions weren't accurate
<scratches head>...
I asked who it was who decided the declared weights and dimensions weren't accurate
e30m3Mark said:
I also asked why I was never informed and why money was taken without my knowledge?
What do their Ts & Cs say happens in the event of mis-reported dimensions/weights?Forums | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff