Electric Bikes Conversion Kits EMTBS eRoad/Commuting What's New?

The sorry saga of Khat

jerrysimon

jerrysimon

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 27, 2009
3,292
112
Cambridge, UK
Ok like me up until a couple of weeks ago you have probably never heard of this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khat

The sorry saga started about 6 weeks ago when I was approached by a forum member to build him an electric wheel for his Brompton. The forum member was based in the USA.

I don't run a business (who really can make money in a small ebike business) but have done the odd conversion for friends and members from the forum which just about covers costs and gives me some spare change to fund the hobby.

Anyway having built the wheel, included a programmed controller, thumb throttle, cutout brake etc (no Khat just steel and plastic parts) I posted the parcel to the USA with Parcel Force via Parcels2Go.

The package duly headed off but seem to then get stuck in customs. Finally after over four weeks the tracking info was updated to state that the parcel had been delivered by DISPOSED!

After many emails to and fro between myself and both parties each which just seemed to blame each other I was informed that the parcel had been rejected by the USA customs as it contained Khat and returned to the UK where it was promptly then destroyed by PF without any reference to myself.

Oh well chalk that one up to experience but frankly the mind boggles :(

The forum member has been very patient and has agreed to take some of the financial hit, but this leaves me still considerably out of pocket in that although the parcel was insured, both parties are refusing to refund me.

Just wondered if anyone else has had a similar experience. Needless to say I will not be sending any more ebike related parcels to the USA.

Jerry
 
Last edited:
D

Deleted member 4366

Guest
That's very weird. They probably got it mixed up in customs. They put it aside to check, and found the Khat in another parcel. Somehow, they swapped them over, but I can''t understand why the UK customs didn't inspect it.

Have a look outside your house. Is there a guy sitting in a car up the road? They're probably hoping that you'll lead them to Mr Big!
 
tillson

tillson

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 29, 2008
5,252
3,197
Are you going to pursue the insurers? Presumably you took out insurance with the carrier you appointed( PF)? Regardless of who has made the mistake, your insurer must compensate you. The consignment has failed to reach its destination and can't be returned, so they must reimburse you and try to recover their loss from the organisation responsible for destroying the parcel. That's how insurance works.

Parcel Farce are b@$tards for trying to shirk their responsibility. They damaged a parcel which I entrusted to their abuse once and then refused to compensate me. I went down the route of the small claims court and out of nowhere a cheque appeared. I never went anywhere near a court.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mountainsport and jerrysimon
C

Cyclezee

Guest
What a bummer Jerry, surely you must be entitled to some compensation from whoever is responsible for this act of total incompetence:mad:

Totally unrelated, but several years ago I sent a PC and CRT monitor by Parcel Force to Herefordshire, 2 stout cardboard boxes and original packaging.

Both were sent on the same day, but where delivered separately on different days and both arrived looking like they had been dropped from a great height and both the PC and monitor were smashed.

I did get compensation, but it took 3 months and no apology.

Since then I have never used Parcel Force and wouldn't trust them with an iron bar.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jerrysimon
D

Deleted member 4366

Guest
tillson said:
Are you going to pursue the insurers? Presumably you took out insurance with the carrier you appointed( PF)? Regardless of who has made the mistake, your insurer must compensate you. The consignment has failed to reach its destination and can't be returned, so they must reimburse you and try to recover their loss from the organisation responsible for destroying the parcel. That's how insurance works.

Parcel Farce are b@$tards for trying to shirk their responsibility. They damaged a parcel which I entrusted to their abuse once and then refused to compensate me. I went down the route of the small claims court and out of nowhere a cheque appeared. I never went anywhere near a court.
Click to expand...
I was going to suggest the same.

Once you've exhausted normal communications, send them a letter/email giving them a fixed time to pay (say 14 days) with the threat of court action and additional costs. Last time I used the online small claims court, it cost £80 (IIRC), which is recoverable when you win. You add it to your claim plus anything else like cost of time, cost to send, packaging etc. You should add the last two to your claim anyway before court action. It's very straight forward to do. You just fill in a form giving details about your case, and they do the rest. The threat of action will probably be enough.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jerrysimon
jerrysimon

jerrysimon

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 27, 2009
3,292
112
Cambridge, UK
Thanks yes I may pursue further. At one point PF did admit that they thought the parcel had got muddled up with another. But then they told me I had to seek advice through Parcel2Go as the originating account holder.

PS I have emailed them asking about the appeals process and threatened to take them to small claims court. I guess the next step is to write formal letters to both parties.

Jerry
 
N

neptune

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jan 30, 2012
1,743
353
Boston lincs
The USA Customs are a law unto themselves, and they make stuff up as they go along. They have a history of seizing and destroying stuff that USA courts have declared legal at the time, such as shipments of vaping gear. I had heard of Khat. The World Health Organisation rate it as less addictive than tobacco. If you think things are bad now, wait while theTobacco Products Directive takes hold, and mountains of banned stuff starts arriving from China. The whole International parcel thing will descend into total chaos.
 
shemozzle999

shemozzle999

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 28, 2009
2,826
686
Hi Jerry,

I know it won't help after the fact but I adopt the Chinese procedure and photograph the open box identifying all the contents prior to sealing the box before sending out packages.

It helps if you have to make a future claim.
 
C

Cyclezee

Guest
Problem is photos prove nothing, there is no guarantee that they are authentic.

With the exception of the one of me below:rolleyes:
download (2).jpeg​
 
  • Like
Reactions: martin@onbike
D

Deleted member 4366

Guest
I was just thinking. I wonder if the guy in the UK customs has a Brompton. I wonder if he opened up the box and said, "that's handy", and then "disposed" of it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jerrysimon and neptune
jerrysimon

jerrysimon

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 27, 2009
3,292
112
Cambridge, UK
Yes Dave a sense of humour is always useful in these situations. I will update once I have written and had replies to the formal letters I plan to send to both companies.

Regards

Jerry
 
C

cwah

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 3, 2011
3,048
179
www.whatonlondon.co.uk
Still don't get it. I got a list of coat by entering khaki cat on google image
 
C

cwah

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 3, 2011
3,048
179
www.whatonlondon.co.uk
Wow thanks. That's a huge mistake.

My guess is that they lost the parcel in transit, maybe stolen and are now using **** excuse to not refund you
 
C

cwah

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 3, 2011
3,048
179
www.whatonlondon.co.uk
Obviously if they marked "stolen" or "lost" you'd be absolutely entitled to refund as it was their obvious fault.

Marking that it was customs fault is a nice way to free their hands up. Especially for the driver who would be checked if parcels are stolen or lost
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Related Articles

View more

Advertisers

Top Bottom