Where and how to sue DHL for damaged shipment and for the hardship, they caused me due to the way they handled my case? ASK A LAWYER

[TheGeekess]

So, let me see if I have got this straight. Your wife carried an unboxed, bare-naked hard disk drive into a rent-a-mailbox place and asked that entity to ship it to you? And it's the entity's fault for treating the HDD as casually as your wife did?

 

[callymo2j]

So, let me see if I have got this straight. Your wife carried an unboxed, bare-naked hard disk drive into a rent-a-mailbox place and asked that entity to ship it to you? And it's the entity's fault for treating the HDD as casually as your wife did?

That is not the case my friend The hard-drive was in its original box which fits it snuggly but the DASC placed it in their own box which is about 10 times the size with no sort of cushioning or padding as a result, the HDD was bouncing around within their box which caused the damage. You can see that even though the HDD was in its original box, it would still be damaged the way it was shipped. The DASC could have shipped the item in its original package or use a box that fits.

 

[Just Blue]

That is not the case my friend The hard-drive was in its original box which fits it snuggly but the DASC placed it in their own box which is about 10 times the size with no sort of cushioning or padding as a result, the HDD was bouncing around within their box which caused the damage. You can see that even though the HDD was in its original box, it would still be damaged the way it was shipped. The DASC could have shipped the item in its original package or use a box that fits.

So why didn't your wife say anything when she saw the shipper placing it in this huge box with no bubblewrap or peanuts? Why didn't she just package it up herself?

 

[Taxing Matters]

Am sorry about the long list but can you tell me what I can do from here based on the above additional information?

You still have the problem that the data stored on the hard drive is almost certainly not compensable, and even if it is, the value of it is mostly sentimental. It has little to no market value. The law does not compensate you for sentimental value. If the insurance is paying for the value of the hard drive that is likely all that you would get if you sued. And there is the potential problem of contributory negligence: had you taken the simple precaution of backing up that data, it would not have been lost. That is what most ordinary, prudent people do with data that is important to them.

 

[callymo2j]

So why didn't your wife say anything when she saw the shipper placing it in this huge box with no bubblewrap or peanuts? Why didn't she just package it up herself?

At the time, my wife was filling out the paperwork, she did not know how the HDD was packaged. She said that the lady took it from her, handed her a form to fill and started boxing the HDD.

 

[callymo2j]

You still have the problem that the data stored on the hard drive is almost certainly not compensable, and even if it is, the value of it is mostly sentimental. It has little to no market value. The law does not compensate you for sentimental value. If the insurance is paying for the value of the hard drive that is likely all that you would get if you sued. And there is the potential problem of contributory negligence: had you taken the simple precaution of backing up that data, it would not have been lost. That is what most ordinary, prudent people do with data that is important to them.

I wonder why anyone needs to buy insurance if it means you will not be covered in a case like this. Is it not criminal to make people purchase a service that one is not ready to provide? In what scenario can DHL honor an insurance contract in a case of a damaged package? I am confused as to why everyone seems to ignore that DHL is taking advantage of her customers and abusing their power as a large cooperation. No one is pointing at the lack of respect, a duty of care and negligence on the part of DHL. Why would DHL allow one to insure something over the value they are willing to pay? It cost my wife $199 for the shipping, $38 for the insurance and I paid AU$375 customer duty to receive it in Australia. WHy is the moral to that? I want to go to court, I need to know which court will be the best to pursue this justice. I am in Columbus Ohio. Thanks

 

[TheGeekess]

Sue your wife. Seriously. Or yourself. You were both negligent in this matter. DHL provided the service - they delivered the package. For all DHL knew, that was a 5TB SSD that may have been worth that much on the open market, and your wife chose the amount of insurance.

 

[callymo2j]

Sue your wife. Seriously. Or yourself. You were both negligent in this matter. DHL provided the service - they delivered the package. For all DHL knew, that was a 5TB SSD that may have been worth that much on the open market, and your wife chose the amount of insurance.

That is not very nice of you but thanks for contributing. I hope someone else does not treat you like this.

 

[TheGeekess]

That is not very nice of you but thanks for contributing. I hope someone else does not treat you like this.

They won't, because I would have backed up my data and packaged such an important item myself before I handed it over to a delivery company.

 

[justalayman]

So file suit against the shipping store for their improper packaging job. It would appear they were negligent in their packaging.


Then refer to your contract with the insurance issue to see what avenues you may be required to follow for disputed claims.



Personally I find it difficult to believe your hdd was tossed into some large box with no packaging materials to stop movement. It sounds so implausible given the business they are in. Hopefully you took pictures of the box with no stuffing when you opened it.

On top of that, the data should not be all that difficult to retrieve. Since the hdd was not active while it was damaged it is likely relegated to the functionality of the hdd itself and there is little chance of the data being corrupted. It’s unlikely there was any damage to the disc itself. Until you ship it to a data recovery service you’ll never know and a court isn’t going to award you $8000 on the speculation that it could be that much. You’re going to have to have a real number.

 

[xylene]

I paid AU$375 customer duty to receive it in Australia.

Even with AUS's high import duties and customs charges, that seems over the top.

Perhaps however it may support you claim of the item's value.

 

[callymo2j]

So file suit against the shipping store for their improper packaging job. It would appear they were negligent in their packaging.


Then refer to your contract with the insurance issue to see what avenues you may be required to follow for disputed claims.



Personally I find it difficult to believe your hdd was tossed into some large box with no packaging materials to stop movement. It sounds so implausible given the business they are in. Hopefully you took pictures of the box with no stuffing when you opened it.

On top of that, the data should not be all that difficult to retrieve. Since the hdd was not active while it was damaged it is likely relegated to the functionality of the hdd itself and there is little chance of the data being corrupted. It’s unlikely there was any damage to the disc itself. Until you ship it to a data recovery service you’ll never know and a court isn’t going to award you $8000 on the speculation that it could be that much. You’re going to have to have a real number.

I agree with you about the cost of Data recovery. The problem is, the company that can recover the data are in California and am in Ohio. They will not just take the HDD to look at it and then give me a quote. They did me to give them the business which means am accepting financial responsibility for the cost of doing so. I have already paid twice to have the same thing done once in Australia and here in Ohio but both companies could not recover the data. I have pictures of the box they packed it in and I can produce it in court when the time comes.

 

[justalayman]

There are data recovery services in Ohio. Typing in data recovery Ohio returned so many businesses I stopped counting. Heck even Best Buy offers data recovery services (not suggesting they offer quality services. I have no idea of their abilities) There are data recovery services in every state. I seriously doubt the only people that can handle this are the folks in California you’re talking with.

Anyway, you’re going to have to decide whether you are willing to pay for this yourself if you don’t win your claim or any suit you may file. A court isn’t going to give you a blank check so that means you will likely have to recover the data and then make your claim in court.

Given the poor packing job I suspect dhl will be able to deny the claim due to that. I would imagine there is something in their policy that requires the item be packed properly. You’ll want to look in to that before you get too hot with dhl. That leaves you chasing the shipping center.

 

[callymo2j]

There are data recovery services in Ohio. Typing in data recovery Ohio returned so many businesses I stopped counting. Heck even Best Buy offers data recovery services (not suggesting they offer quality services. I have no idea of their abilities) There are data recovery services in every state. I seriously doubt the only people that can handle this are the folks in California you’re talking with.

Anyway, you’re going to have to decide whether you are willing to pay for this yourself if you don’t win your claim or any suit you may file. A court isn’t going to give you a blank check so that means you will likely have to recover the data and then make your claim in court.

Given the poor packing job I suspect dhl will be able to deny the claim due to that. I would imagine there is something in their policy that requires the item be packed properly. You’ll want to look in to that before you get too hot with dhl. That leaves you chasing the shipping center.

Thanks again for your contributions, I really appreciate your times and valuable suggestions and comments. At first, as a layperson, I did exactly what you said. I google data recovery centers in Ohio and it did produce a few results. I went to 2 of those and in Columbus and just like the one I went to in Sydney Australia, the data cannot be recovered by them because they cannot open the drive to find out what damaged inside as this is a specialty area in data recovery which requires special skill, tools, and environment. They explained to me that for starters, the room where such services are undertaken but be 100% dust free among others. The second place told me they simply collect and ship to a lab in California and they also said that there is nowhere in the whole state that can offer me that services. I will be more than happy to try somewhere else if you are certain they can provide the service. I intend to ask for the maximum $8000 plus all the other costs as I mentioned earlier. What do you think?

 

[justalayman]

a court is not going to give you a blank check good for up to $8000. You will need a number and from your earlier posts there is a huge range possible. So what would happen if it was on the low end of the range. Would you refund the difference?

I personally don’t know who offers the services you need but I strongly suspect it is available in Ohio and the $8000 sounds extremely high, unless you have the biggest hdd ever created.