Le Creuset pot arrived broken but courier denies it was dropped

Q My wife bought a second-hand Le Creuset casserole dish from eBay. It was in great condition. However, you can imagine her disappointment when it arrived broken in two large pieces. She was in no doubt that the package must have been dropped while in transit.

Evri, the delivery company concerned, provides £50 of cover in the event of damage, so my wife applied for this. But Evri declined to provide compensation, saying: “It is clear there are no signs of damage to your parcel’s packaging leading to the damage of your parcel’s contents while in our network.”

We were astonished. The dish had been carefully packed and wrapped in a box. Evri has also made it incredibly difficult to complain. Its telephone line is constantly engaged and I don’t even believe the number provided is bona fide. When I tried to raise the matter via its website, the reply I received was broadly the same as the first. – JB, via email

A Oh dear. I fear this company, Evri, which changed its name from Hermes in a bid to break away from its woeful reputation, may be slipping back into old ways.

It turns out your hunch about the non-functioning phone number was right. The number you were trying to phone was added to a customer service agent’s email footer “in error”, meaning you were indeed wasting your time trying to get through. The line didn’t exist.

And if you’d searched for the correct number to phone you’d have been there all day too, as Evri confessed that its only customer service number was just for the senders of parcels, not the receivers.

So what about Evri’s suggestion that its handling of your parcel had nothing to do with it breaking? Well, it seemed highly unlikely. The only other explanation was that your wife was sold a lemon in the form of a Le Creuset pot that had already cracked or broken and then been stuck back together. Le Creuset pots are made of tough stuff and come with lifetime guarantees, and you say the photos of the pot that were sent to your wife contained no signs of cracks.

To apologise for the damage and the poor service you received, Evri has now compensated your wife with £100. However, she is still upset about her bargain piece of cooking kit being ruined. The pot bought new would cost upwards of £300. I hope she finds something similar to replace it with.