Any Insurance minded people on here?

[SMEE]

heres the craic.....I bought a record deck off a seller on ebay. He sent it via DHL WITH insurance. Basically, it arrives at mine with the dust lid cracked and hinges broken. The sender took every care to ensure the item was securely packed.

To cut a long story short...the sender got in touch with DHL, I supplied pics of the damge and of the packaging used. They have offered ?30 to cover the damage. Problem is, a replacement lid costs ?45, then it needs posted too, (due to its limited availability) which i assume it will cost a further ?10. So they have offered about half what it will actually cost!

Isnt the concept of insurance to cover the costs of replacements etc? I mean, had it been a car bonnet damaged, the insurance wouldnt pay to fix half the bonnet would they!!

Anyone got any advice?

[SMEE]

For those intrested.....i consulted my mate, who works as an insurance assessor, and according to him, the Insurance company have acted accordingly. They are not obliged to replace old for new, only like for like!

So lesson is...if you are in a similar position with an Insurance Company, always give an optomisitc price to replace the item and NEVER do what the dude that sent me my Record deck did, by mentioning they were available second hand on ebay at half the price!!

Edited December 26, 2008 by SMEE

[Charles Bannerman]

Anyone got any advice?

Don't use ebay.

[CaleyD]

Even if they weren't available cheaper second hand on ebay, the Insurance Company are only obliged to pay an assessed value on the item if it's not brand new.

[The Mantis]

Never liked insurance companies anyway! They're just put there to give people like me something to moan about. They'll take your money but they always have a list of exclusions which are often the things you're most likely to claim against..

E.g. a couple of years ago my mobile got nicked at work. The council would have nothing to do with employees' personal effects. The trade union would cover you but not for mobiles. I claimed it off my personal insurance but of course that had a ?25 excess.

Now the other day Mrs Mantis has gone and scraped the car (to be fair she's never done it before in umpteen years).

In principle the problem is a bit like yours Smee- we don't get it all back because there's a ?250 excess. So even the car bonnet would have an excess or else the premium would be higher.

Actually, despite what Charles says, eBay are good at sorting you out if the seller defrauds you, though there's a limit on what they will pay. I've done well over 100 deals on eBay and I got ripped off once when the seller had no intention of sending anything, and I used their buyer protection scheme. But even then I should have seen it coming as the guy had zero feedback.

[starchief]

Shouldn't the seller be responsible for the damage in this case? You didn't receive the goods as sold, so you should be entitled to send them back.

[+Tree]

Shouldn't the seller be responsible for the damage in this case? You didn't receive the goods as sold, so you should be entitled to send them back.

There are a number of pieces of legislation including the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations which provide recourse in these circumstances. Unfortunately if the deal was concluded by auction then much of the legislation does not apply.

Given the value of the damage it is unlikely to be worthwhile persuing unless Ebay's own terms and conditions provide a direct means of compensation or restitution

[Heilandee]

Stick a bit of tape ower the crack, buy some beer wi the 30 quid...Sorted

[johnnykipper]

Wouldn't have had any touble if you had purchased it from sammy Lee like I suggested.

[MrsICTFC]

Wouldn't have had any touble if you had purchased it from sammy Lee like I suggested.

Is that still open?

[SMEE]

Sammy closed his shop about 3 years ago!