AIBU to think £100 comp is not enough after courier damaged my mirror?

[Elizabella]

I bought a mirror from Laura Ashley in a private sale last month.I paid £200but becauseI didn't have a car available, I contracted AnyVan to pick my mirror up for £67 incl basic insurance.I left specific instructions on the booking about the mirror being unwrapped, fragile and needing careful handling. I booked the driver after reading his profile that said he had good ratings and blankets/strapping for furniture.I asked the seller to remind the driver to wrap the mirror etc which she did.

When it arrived at home, the driver set it down and drove off.I was very concerned as it is a large and heavy mirror and he brought it in carrying it one handed under his arm with no especial care and no evidence of wrapping.. I noticed a corner had been damaged with bits missing.I immediately texted the driver to ask him to stop and check the back of his van for any bits of the mirror. he came back with only one bit saying he could superglue it (impossible as it is a gilt mirror and bits of the corner are still missing) then he asked me not to make a claim then stood looking at me like a kicked spaniel to try to get sympathy.

I reported it toAnyVan with photos, receipt, testimony ofthesellerand they have said:

AnyVan acts as an agent within the booking which means we must mediate with the Transport Provider in an attempt to resolve the claim. Upon speaking to the Transport Provider and reviewing the evidence that has been provided, we would like to offer you a settlement of £100 to resolve the claim. This refund is in line with the terms and conditions for the basic compensation cover included in your booking and is stipulated within section 9.2(b) of the terms and conditions sent to you at the point of booking;

9.2 Basic Compensation Cover is included in the Price. This provides:
b.cover for up to a limit of £100 per individual item.

I wrote back and said that the mirror cost £200, the transportation was £67 and £100is not enough to either purchase another or to pay fo ra repair with transportation costs. AlsoLA are no longer trading so I could only get another from ebay and they go for £200+ WITHOUT the cost of transporting. Also quoted the bit of consumer law about reasonable care being taken when it clearly wasn't.

They came back and said they understand my points BUT "Upon placing the booking, you are offered the option to purchase additional comprehensive insurance cover, however, as the basic compensation cover was opted for, this would be the maximum offer we would be able to make.

Should you wish to accept the refund of £100 as the full and final settlement to the claim, please respond to this email with the following details and I shall refund this to you with the 3-5 days;'

AIBU to expect them to either bear the cost of repair or give mea proper refund? What would you do? Anyone know anything about consumer protection law in cases like these?

emilyfrost NickyNacky - you obviously didn't read the original question which relates to consumer rights law which trumps insurance any way as a couple of knowledgable posters have already pointed out. There is such a thing in law as 'reasonable' service, 'reasonable' expectation etc. You aren't actually adding anything at all to the conversation that is remotely helpful. I prefer to wait to hear back from the posters who actually know about these things.

Aaargh I just typed a long reply on my phone and lost it!

OP, I’m happy to send you a draft response to AnyVan’s rejection of your claim, which is wrong in law. In summary, they have not limited their liability to you to £100 and they are being very disingenuous to suggest that the insurance purchase clause has anything to do with this. The insurance contract is completely separate, as they say so themselves in the Ts and Cs where the say that it is provided by the Insurer. They should not even be involved in your insurance claim.

You might be on slightly sticky ground due to Clause 6.1k re packing, but there are arguments to be made there.

I find it very concerning that they are suggesting their liability is limited to the extent of the insurance cover you bought, but suspect that this is more incompetence on the part of their customer service people than a deliberate attempt to hoodwink you.

NB that both AnyVan and the individual driver will have insurance of their own to cover breakages, although this will likely be within the driver’s excess, which is probably why he was trying to convince you not to claim. (And he probably gets a black mark on his AnyVan driver record of a claim is made).

Anyway, I’ll happily PM you a full response tomorrow. However I was a little bit taken aback at the slightly disparaging way you described him as “an Eastern European Man with a Van” in an earlier post, as if his nationality/ethnicity had anything to do with his lack of care in transporting your item. I hope that you will agree that was uncalled for? Dave from Colchester could have fucked it up just as easily.

Finally, you can’t claim back the cost of transport as they fulfilled their obligation to transport it from A to B. However you can include in the damages claimed a sum to cover transport costs of any replacement mirror.

I honestly do think it was naivety on your part. If you had bought this mirror from a shop it would have been bubble wrapped with cardboard protective corners and then boxed in adequate double or treble walled boxing.

You bought from a private seller who made no attempt whatsoever to do any wrapping in protective bubble. You then relied on a service that frankly is not really geared for moving a large mirror without ANY protective wrapping at all. I’ve sent a large tv via this service to a relative but it was bubble wrapped x 4 times then wrapped by me also in a spare towel prior to AV also using their own towel/duvet wrapping.

The service isn’t perfect and gets 3.5 stars out of 5 on Trust Pilot. That’s fairly average I would say. I think you have to chalk this down to experience as frankly between you and the seller a fragile mirror should have been protected before transporting.

I understand it’s disappointing and has cost you money but in reality your fragile mirror was not adequately packed prior to transport. If it had been properly bubbled by the seller (or you) then put in the back of a van with additional padding around it it would have been ok.

Probably shouldn't have posted this in AIBU when you've repeatedly said you're not accepting YABU despite the majority of people saying you are - never understand that!

The fact is anything could have happened to the mirror in transit so the insurance should have been taken out, which it wasn't. It's clearly in the contract T&C's that you've posted, that without taking out the extra insurance you're covered for £100 for an individual item, which they have offered you.

You said yourself the driver had loads of good reviews, therefore it looks like a one off for him rather than something he does all the time.

It clearly states in what you have posted that they 'blanket wrap' the items, this is what you have agreed to and what they have deemed as having "adequate" seems pretty clear to me that anything more than a blanket wrap and that needs to have been arranged by you. A blanket would never have protected a mirror.

To be honest you're lucky they're paying that at all, most companies don't cover glass etc because of how easily it can be damaged.

YABU (not that you're willing to hear that)

CheetasOnFajitas -I can't thank you enough for your amazing response and knowledge that you have so generously shared.

No! Absolutely I didn't mean it in that way, just that his spoken English wasn't great and perhaps he couldn't read the description of the item correctly or that perhaps a native speaker had advertised/written his write up on the site as I myself have helped out Eastern European and European neighbours with written letters, CV's and government forms doing exactly that because they didn't understand them and sat in as a 'helper' to explain things in Job Centre interviews, intervened with crap landlords etc. That is my fault for not correctly expressing myself because yes, native born folks are just as likely to screw up! Have had experience of that too in other respects!

I would be so grateful if you could PM me tomorrow. Thank you very, very much for your time and expertise. If it has been a case of just being able to stick the bits back on,I would have done that, but there are bits missing that will need to be moulded and the gilding matched and I can't do that. I just wish the whole thing hadn't happened at all. You have been amazing

Lou98 please see Cheeta's response which sets out that them rejecting my claim is wrong in law etc..

No probs. I’ll do it tomorrow when I can type it on a keyboard.

@Elizabella

Lou98 please see Cheeta's response which sets out that them rejecting my claim is wrong in law etc..

I've read it, I stand by what I wrote. Take some responsibility.

You can try fighting it, but I personally highly doubt you'll win

Perhaps, perhaps not but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Have a good night.

@Elizabella I also think that when purchasing a service, one has the right to expect a reasonable standard.

oh you poor dear. im sorry youve had to go through this. one most definitely does have the right to expect a reasonable standard. i think its best if you write these chaps a letter and explain that this just won't do. You require the £200 for the mirror, delivery money and also a spot of compensation for the fact an eastern european showed up. how ghastly for you.

It's clearly in the contract T&C's that you've posted, that without taking out the extra insurance you're covered for £100 for an individual item, which they have offered you.

@Lou98 yes she is covered for £100 under the insurance. But AnyVan have no right to offer that to her as they are not the insurer. They just arranged for her to buy insurance.

If the driver breached his contract with her by damaging the mirror (this depends on the facts as applied to the various terms of the contract including those re packing) then the driver is liable to her (she has a contract with him into which AnyVan entered on his behalf as his agent). His liability is not limited to £100- rather it will be determined according to the usual principles of quantification of damages for breach of contract.

You’re not necessarily wrong that she will not recover more than the £100 insurance payout, but your reasoning is flawed.

@CheetasOnFajitas I still stand by what I wrote - she should be taking some responsibility instead of posting in AIBU despite not listening to anyone she doesn't agree with.

Like I said crack on, but I still think the OP is in the wrong🤷‍♀️

Lou98 - you are correct that I shouldn't really have posted this in AIBU but you are quite wrong to assume that I only listen to those who agree with me. I listen to those who have knowledge in this area. Quite different things. I may or may not recover the money for a replacement or a decent repair but I believe that it is worth trying for as I do not have the money to pay another £200 plus. I have been left with a damaged item and £167 down if I just rollover and take what AnyVan have offered to shut up and go away. I really wish this hadn't happened or that it had been something that was easy to fix myself but it isn't and as I have recently lost my job, I don't have the money to pay out large amounts to repair/replace. Besides, as stated in my original question, I am interested in what consumer rights law asserts because I am not the only person this has happened to and perhaps it may help someone else

Why on earth wasn't the mirror wrapped?

[quote Lou98]@CheetasOnFajitas I still stand by what I wrote - she should be taking some responsibility instead of posting in AIBU despite not listening to anyone she doesn't agree with.

Like I said crack on, but I still think the OP is in the wrong🤷‍♀️[/quote]
You mean morally wrong? Fortunately contract law doesn’t give a shit about morals.

For what it’s worth, I think that a company that tells a customer its liability is limited to £100 when it actually means “you only bought £100 of insurance” is not dealing fairly or transparently with consumers. There is a wider benefit to other customers in pushing this until it lands on the desk of someone in their legal team who can make recommendation to the customer service people as to how to word things better.

A few big mistakes here

The first being only taking basic insurance that does not even cover the purchase price of a fragile item

The second is thinking that wrapping - which is simply putting a moving blanket around an item - before strapping into the van. The strapping stops items from moving about too much.

For a mirror, it should have been correctly packaged up for delivery by the seller. If the seller does not Ito use that service, then anyvan was not the correct courier straight off the bat. The mirror should have had styrofoam in the glass area, cardboard around it, bubble wrap and then all takes up. A simply moving blanket was never going to be enough.

You also need to understand that a courier service as you chose would do a round, so stopping to collect and stopping to deliver. Your item would be moved in/out and all around the van for these stops which is why it should have been adequately packaged up prior to anyvan collecting it.

Sorry but in this instance, even though it is crap service, YABU

Did you see him pivoting the mirror OP? Or was it the damage that made it look as though it had been pivoted?

You wrote both and so I’m not sure if you saw him do it or not.

ILoveYoga The guy did not handle the item with care and that was quite clear when he came in with my mirror held under his armpit with one hand! It is a large, heavy and delicate item. Two hands carrying minimum for safety!

Fair enough, OP. You're just someone who can't afford to lose £167 easily.

I expect the Eastern European bloke can't either.

If I were you I'd acknowledge I was a bloody idiot for trying to transport a fragile mirror with just a blanket wrapped by someone who's paid by the hour to get stuff quickly from A-B and decide not to take it any further on an intellectual "might help someone else in a consumer rights" justification.

But that's the joy of us all being different, eh?

I saw it was unwrapped in the back of his van.The seller told him to wrap it but he didn't at pick up. He carried it in one handed like a newspaper under his arm with only one hand. All of the damage is on one corner with bits broken off and marks that show the mirror has been turned on the corner (the pattern in the gilt) which is clear to see in person and in photos. He put it down on its damaged edge so it wasn't immediately apparent what had happened untilI saw a gilded piece twinkling up at me from the floor. I immediately called him and told him to stop and check his van for any gold pieces in the back of his van and he found 2 and brought them back.However, he didn't bring all of the missing bits back.He admitted he had damaged the mirror but asked me not to make a claim.

If the mirror was only 10 miles from your home, it would have been cheaper to collect it yourself by taxi. Then you could have ensured it was properly wrapped

That's what I wondered too. If the van man held it under one arm, it's clearly manageable by a reasonably strong, healthy person. I would have called the taxi company, explained the item to be transported and my disability and asked them if they could send an averagely fit, healthy driver with an estate car and promised to see him right for a good tip.

Unfortunately, vans are often unsuitable for delicate items, because of the big, uncarpeted space for them to roll/fall around in. Even when you're moving house and have a big van or lorry available, you would normally take the delicate items separately in a car where at all possible.

I gather that it's far from unusual for some removals/transport firms to promise the ultimate in kid-glove care, but then bump it around ("You just leave it all to us, love - no need for you to stick around"), haphazardly shove it in the van and then just rely on the insurance paid for by the customer to cover the damage. You expect 100% of the goods to be transported carefully and safely as the standard, but often, from their pov, if most of it arrives in an OK condition and there's insurance in place for the rest, what's the problem? If there are four movers being paid by the hour, as well as the overheads of the lorry, and it would take them any significant length of time to carefully move a tricky item, they make the 'business decision' to just let it get trashed (could even trash it deliberately) as it's cheaper for them to let you claim on the insurance.

I'm sure there are plenty of firms who do do as they promise, but I'm not convinced it's the default.

No I can't. I recently lost my job. If it was a quick easy repair then I wouldn't kick up a fuss but it isn't. I couldn't afford the mirror brand new but always wanted one so I saved some money over the summer months and my mum gave some to put towards it as a birthday gift s the lady selling it agreed to hold it for me. I don't have to acknowledge anything because you tell me that I have to and I won't be bullied into it either so yes -Vive la difference!

So you didn’t see him bump and pivot it.

Ok. That bit got a wee bit lost in translation.

I don't have to acknowledge anything because you tell me that I have to and I won't be bullied into it either

Indeed. I'm not sure how you've got "bullied" or "have to" from my post though. I just said "if I were you".

NoSquirrels -Your tone and assertions. Fortunately, two of the posters here seem to have actual legal knowledge that they have been generous to share because other people may not know the ins and outs of insurance through a third party contractor and about them trying to incorrectly limit insurance liability so yes, it is helpful to others even if it isn't to you. Have a good night.