Hermes. A Company in Total Confusion!

[Alistair Robertson 1Participant @alistairrobertson1]

[Alistair Robertson 1Participant @alistairrobertson1]

Hi, All.

I am having an unbelievable time with Hermes the Courier Company.

The Saga begins, i bought a cheap £20 Smartwatch to measure my daily activity as an aid to keeping or even improving my fitness.

The watch arrived and I charged it up but there was obviously something wrong as the battery went flat in about 8 hours. I contacted the seller who agreed that something wrong and sent me by email a Hermes label to attach to the parcel and take it to my local Hermes Parcelshop. This I did and I got a receipt with the Hermes return code printed upon it.

I waited about a week expecting some contact from the seller but with nothing happening I got in contact with them to be told they hadn't received the watch back. I tried to trace the parcel using the Hermes Tracking Number but the number could not be recognised. I contacted Hermes who said it was not their number even after I emailed them a copy of the label supplied by the seller emblazoned with the Hermes Logo.

They then said the label was a forgery and that the seller had used this invalid label many times. I sent the email to the seller who must have read the riot act as a couple of days later I received an apology from Hermes for being misled and the parcel was on it's way to the seller.

Well the seller never got the parcel although Hermes said he had, then sent me a tracking code that showed it was still in the Hermes system as "unreconciled" !!

I have now been in contact with four seperate Customer Assistants who all ask for full details of the problem even when everything is listed in my email to them! Any return email from me doesn't go to the original "Customer Services Person" but back into the general pool with a reply from someone who asks for full details again although the full email trail is now five pages long. The return email address listed on the Hermes Emails are now listed as "No Longer Used" and the new contact address will only work in Google Chrome which I find very strange.

I only spent £20 on the Smartwatch but it is MY £20 and I intend to pursue it as far as possible. Has anyone had similar problems and did they find a solution?

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

My sympathies, I have in the past had problems with Hermes, the worrying thing is that in our area Amazon use Hermes for some of their deliveries. Dave W

[OldironParticipant @oldiron]

I had a large batch of A4 photographic paper disappear into their system between here & Brighton. I had to refund the buyer. After many many emails etc etc over a couple of months I just gave up. Never got the paper (5Kg) back or the supposed compensation that was due.

@Samsaranda. Amazon use them in my area also. Wife had (supposedly) 2 small parcels delivered through the door last week. Only 1 was on the mat. After a call to Amazon the other one arrived 5 days later. ??

regards

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

This sort of feckery is now par for the course in the post-Covid dystopia the younger generation particularly are going to need to adapt to or have the collective gumption to change.

Who is the seller, Alistair, or what platform are they selling on?

[J HancockParticipant @jhancock95746]

If you can leave me your email address in my pm of this forum , then I can send you some essential Hermes contacts.

Essentially , until you know the 'way-in' Hermes is a world of pain.

They have an unresolved security problem in their distribution centres , stuff disappears..

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

Stuff I've had vanish at Hermes has always been untracked and reappeared 14 days later, probably when they sweep up under the conveyor belt.

[Clive Brown 1Participant @clivebrown1]

Commiserations, very annoying. I think a problem that you may face in pursuing Hermes is that you do not have a legal contract with them The seller of the watch does. If the seller is bona-fide can he take this up with Hermes? I thought that all goods dispatched via Hermes had an automatic minimum insured value of around £20.

If you paid by, say, Paypal then their Buyer Protection might help.

[Alistair Robertson 1Participant @alistairrobertson1]

Thanks for all the comments.

Yes the problem is I am not their customer, the seller is, but he doesn't want to get involved as Hermes say the parcel was delivered to me in the first place.

The real problem that every reply I have got from Hermes has been different, "Your Parcel has been delivered" although the attached information showed that it hadn't!. "Your parcel is now moving through our system and will be delivered in two days, NOT! "The parcel number you have supplied is invalid? " The parcel number is not a Hermes number" although it is the number on their label! Paypal will not get involved as the parcel was delivered to me and they are not responsible for a lost return parcel!

[Paul RhodesParticipant @paulrhodes20292]

Your contract with the merchant. His with the courier. If your merchant declines to fulfil his end of the bargain, I would speak to Trading Standards., if the credit card/PayPal route is closed to you.

IMHO you should not be negotiating with the courier.

The cynic in me makes me wonder if this is not the merchants first rodeo, and perhaps a grain of truth in the initial response from the courier.

[HollowpointParticipant @hollowpoint]

Was this through ebay per chance? Hermes labels purchased on ebay go through packlink which might explain some of the confusion.

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

This was covered in the latest 'Consumeractive' section of Computer Active wasn't it. I thought that they were chasing this up for you to see if they can persuade or prod Hermes into action and get some resolution to the problem. That said to date I haven't had a problem with Hermes so consider myself somewhat fortunate but as per the norm for any company problems are highlighted but good/adequate service slips by unnoticed.

That said it is always worth knowing when these incidents happen as it can give an indication of the relative merits of any service, but as always it is the companies offering the cheapest service that seem to be more susceptible to making a pigs ear of things. Yet we continue to use these services and hope for the best, it would be interesting to know what percentage of their trade has had a problem and compare that to other couriers performance figures including successful resolutions.

I have no vested interests in Hermes and have to date not had a problem, keeping fingers firmly crossed as I am expecting some deliveries soon.

Hope you get it sorted to your satisfaction soon and as you say 'It's your £20'.

Martin

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

I agree with Paul, I've had problems with deliveries from Herms two or three time over the years, last time was six months ago and I've also had a problems with UPS, in all instances, I've always contacted the seller to get it sorted. It's not your problem if the return label the seller sent you was wrong or it went astray and the seller should either refund you or send a replacement.

Regards Nick.

[Alistair Robertson 1Participant @alistairrobertson1]

I did not realise that Computer Active had looked in to this for me as I have had no correspondance from them since I asked for their advice. I did send them copies af all the emails and bits of paper but I just thought that as it was not directly involved with a computing problem that they did not pursue it. I will have to buy a copy and check it out but I don't think they will get any further than me.

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

I know it’s not always possible but when purchasing from a distant merchant I try to ascertain which carrier they are contracted with, if it’s Hermes or Yodel then I don’t purchase, having had problems with both. Recently purchased a wheelbarrow from Amazon, it arrived in a flimsy cardboard box which was torn open and all the pieces of the wheelbarrow were rattling around inside and damaged, carrier was Yodel and their performance was about par for the course in our area, again didn’t realise that Amazon used them, my experience is that they are as useless as Hermes. Dave W

[Grizzly bearParticipant @grizzlybear]

Last month, I purchased an item off eBay. Hermes claimed the had posted it through our letter box at a certain time.

We were in, but nothing came through our letter box in the from door. We are ten feet/ three metres from the main road. House name on the gate and on the house.

We have CCTV.

After many emails to the Seller, we got a refund. The item was £6.

I'm sure the seller thought we were on the fiddle.

My thoughts were: Cheap Courier, expect failures, but don't expect us to fund them.

[J HancockParticipant @jhancock95746]

I bought a garden spade from ESSTOCK, Hermes delivered the label !

Someone in their system had ' disappeared ' the spade the label had been attached to.

To their credit ESSTOCK sent another spade , which arrived safely.

[Richard MarksParticipant @richardmarks80868]

I sent a chop-mitre saw to a buyer through Hermes and he came back to me with a photograph of the saw all smashed, It was packed OK by me so I can only say that it was VERY BADLY HANDLED by the company, I tried contacting them through their website but they said the tracking number and the postcode don't match anything on their site so I shall be ringing them to tell them I have a photo and to contact the buyer so that we can get it sorted Hopefully.

[Paul RhodesParticipant @paulrhodes20292]

Richard on the occasions I do sell something I document the packaging process with a few snaps just to give me some "proof". Touching wood, I have had no need to defend my packaging abilities….yet.

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

Alistair

I have sent you a PM

Martin

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

Alistair

There are a couple of PMs for you.

Martin

[Bob StevensonParticipant @bobstevenson13909]

My missus is currently trying to get a parcel which Hermes have had for a couple of weeks. She has been exchanging emails with the seller who is Marks & Spencer but their hands are tied and they apparently have to use whichever carrier is immediately available to the distribution centre.

It needs someone with a media connection to do an expose of Hermes since they appear to more or less use slave labour and at least half their business seems to end in frustration for both buyers and sellers…..there's more to the story than most people know.

[John Paton 1Participant @johnpaton1]

Yes Bob I have a similar issue – paid for express delivery and then get this message from Hermes

'There's a delay with the delivery of your Lighting Direct parcel.

We'll let you know when your parcel will be out for delivery.'

At one point the Hermes website referred to some exceptional or major issue but did not specify what that is / was. I had wondered if maybe that was connected with the WhatsApp outage recently as their confirmation of receipt of the parcel from the retailer appeared slow and Hermes sent that message twice, however your wife's experience predates the WhatsApp outage so maybe it is a separate issue (driver shortage, fuel difficulties and associated backlog at depot?)

 

Having paid the retailer extra for express delivery (1-2 days) last Thursday' and the goods not arrived on time I have asked for a refund of the postage cost (the delay has caused me to miss the deadline on the job in hand.)

Edited By John Paton 1 on 12/10/2021 08:31:54

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Had a parcel delivered by Hermes last week, it was fish food for my Koi purchased from Amazon Prime, the food is contained in a stout plastic drum and the weight is 10 kilos. When it arrived it was the drum just wrapped in grey plastic, on opening the plastic wrapping I found that the drum had been crushed and the lid had burst open, must have take a fair force to achieve that amount of damage, and the fish food pellets were spilling out of the drum and through tears in the plastic wrapping. I emailed Amazon and asked them to tell their carriers to take more care of items that customers have paid good money for, their response was immediate and apologetic and they refunded the total cost of the fish food which amounted to £68.85, so full marks to Amazon on that score but I wish they wouldn’t use cowboy carrier firms. Dave W

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

They do get it right sometimes! I have had two packages delivered by Hermes recently, both on time and within the 2 hour delivery slot. Not quite sure that the driver has got the idea of photographing the package with an open door.

Nice picture of my doormat though!

John

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