Undervalued courier parcel may vanish

Naseem Saeed went to a courier in Abu Dhabi early this month and sent his wife’s mobile phone to her in the United Kingdom after she forgot it in the UAE.

Although the item’s value is around Dh1,500, he accepted an advice from a courier employee and valued it at only Dh500 in order to avoid tax in the destination country.

Two weeks later, Saeed received a notification from the courier that the item, a Samsung Galaxy S6, was lost and that he would be compensated Dh500.

When he told the courier that the item has an actual value of Dh1,500, they argued that the compensation would be the same value listed on the parcel.
Saeed said he was not convinced that the parcel was lost as online tracking showed that it was cleared by customs in London.

“I saw that it was cleared by customs in London…when I enquired on the next day, they said that they could not find it and two days later they declared it a lost item,” he said.

“But I did not believe them…I suspect that a courier staff member stole the item because it was undervalued…the employee knew that the real value of the item is nearly triple its listed value so he/she decided to pinch it,” he said.

Saeed said his wife received two forms from the courier to fill in London and that she filled them and e-mailed them back to the courier.

“She was in touch with them almost daily and they assured her that the item would be sent to her once it is cleared from customs…she was waiting at home all day for nearly a week for delivery but the item never arrived,” Saeed said.

Courier sources in the UAE said there were at least 200 cases this year involving missing or mismanaged parcels and that many customers have refused offered compensation because it was too low.

Other cases involved delayed delivery, damage to the item, delivery to the wrong address and storing of the shipment in the warehouse for a long time due to negligence.

Saeed said he suggested a lower value of $200 (Dh735) for his shipment to dodge tax but the courier employee advised him to value it as low as Dh500.

“Now they want to give me a compensation of Dh500…I also demanded payment of the shipping fees since the parcel was not delivered,” he said.

“The same thing happened to my friend, who sent an expensive mobile phone to his daughter to Jordan and undervalued it at only Dh400…three weeks later, it was declared lost…my friend told me that he was sure the item was pinched.”

Saeed said he turned down the proposed compensation from the courier and asked them to buy him the same phone even if they have to pay Dh100 for it.

“They refused again…despite all the inconvenience and embarrassment they caused me and my wife, they want to give me only Dh500…I will not accept this sum and I will report  this courier to the concerned authorities in the UAE,” he said.

“My advice to customers  is to be careful  in  valuing the item they sending with couriers…they better pay a tax than lose a large sum of money by undervaluing their shipment…they should realise that courier employees could be tempted to take their items when they see it has a lower value…this has happened many times,” he said.
Saeed said that the company did not take into consideration the pain caused to him and his wife, especially that it was her personal phone that included private stuff.

“They don’t have any respect for people’s feelings…all they think of is to pay the nominal value of the lost item and get rid of this annoying customer.....they did not appear apologetic when I told them my wife was expecting her phone before Christmas and that she was shattered when she learned that it has gone,” he said.

 

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