Posting watches - insurance...

Pearcey74 · Jun 17, 2020

Hi, I feel I need to chip my 5 eggs worth.
The Royal Mail and Parcelforce do not insure your watches when you post them.
In the small print watches, jewellery, bullion and coinage are not covered.
I say this from experience, I had a watch go missing and when I tried to claim, the small print was pointed out to me.
Luckily, I managed to get the insured money back as I cited that the post office "employee" was acting on their behalf and should have informed me that the watch would not be insured.
Parcel Pro do not operate here in the UK.

Davidt · Jun 17, 2020

Pearcey74
Hi, I feel I need to chip my 5 eggs worth.
The Royal Mail and Parcelforce do not insure your watches when you post them.
In the small print watches, jewellery, bullion and coinage are not covered.
I say this from experience, I had a watch go missing and when I tried to claim, the small print was pointed out to me.
Luckily, I managed to get the insured money back as I cited that the post office "employee" was acting on their behalf and should have informed me that the watch would not be insured.
Parcel Pro do not operate here in the UK.

This isn't true.

Royal Mail Special Delivery does include jewellery and watches. It even says on the website to ensure you only post jewellery via Special Delivery.

Parcel Pro also operate in the UK - I've used them numerous times (although I understand they are no longer accepting new accounts for private individuals).

Pearcey74 · Jun 17, 2020

Thank you for pointing that out.

This is the section I was referred too when they lost my watch, you can check it on the Royal Mail special delivery restrictions section.

"Our definition of jewellery includes: any precious metal that has been manufactured in such a way as to add value to the raw material, including coins used for ornament;

diamonds and precious stones
watches - the cases of which are made wholly or mainly of precious metal
similar articles with an intrinsic value other than the value of the workmanship."

Perhaps you forgot to mention the bit about "watches- the cases of which are made wholly or mainly of precious metal"

I am only speaking from experience, I guess you have lost watches and was refunded without any issues, or your watch was made from gold or platinum with a value less than £2500.

Parcel pro not accepting new accounts hardly helps the person trying to send their precious and loved watch for a service, but again, thank you for pointing that out.

Pearcey74 · Jun 17, 2020

Japanred, if you live anywhere near Southampton, I will post it free of charge to Simon using my cargo insurance for you.

Japanred · Jun 17, 2020

Pearcey74
Japanred, if you live anywhere near Southampton, I will post it free of charge to Simon using my cargo insurance for you.

Thanks very much for the offer but I’m in Yorkshire.

Davidt · Jun 17, 2020

Pearcey74
Thank you for pointing that out.

This is the section I was referred too when they lost my watch, you can check it on the Royal Mail special delivery restrictions section.

"Our definition of jewellery includes: any precious metal that has been manufactured in such a way as to add value to the raw material, including coins used for ornament;

diamonds and precious stones

watches - the cases of which are made wholly or mainly of precious metal

similar articles with an intrinsic value other than the value of the workmanship."

Perhaps you forgot to mention the bit about "watches- the cases of which are made wholly or mainly of precious metal"

I am only speaking from experience, I guess you have lost watches and was refunded without any issues, or your watch was made from gold or platinum with a value less than £2500.

Parcel pro not accepting new accounts hardly helps the person trying to send their precious and loved watch for a service, but again, thank you for pointing that out.

I haven't been paid out by RM but I did start a claim after a watch I posted didn't arrive. Ultimately I didn't need to proceed as for some reason the package arrived back with me some time later. At no time did RM suggest they would not honour the claim due to the watch being steel. In fact they never asked.

Regardless, I wasn't aware of that fine print so thanks for pointing it out.

To the second point, I didn't state that ParcelPro could help the OP if he doesn't have an account. I was simply pointing out that they do operate in the UK.

sjg22 · Jun 17, 2020

As an overall comment, I would not rely upon the post service to provide insurance in these circumstances. They are not really intending or setup to insure high value items such as watches.

There are some past threads where I have suggested that the best way to insure jewelry and watches is via a "floater", which is an addition to your homeowners (or tenant) insurance policy. Most carriers provide it; some provide significantly higher limits (Chubb is a good example); others are less willing to do so - each insurance company has it's own "appetite".

Furthermore, the policies offered by the various insurers will have different coverages and exclusions - some provide coverage for "mysterious disappearance" - i.e. I can't find it... could've been stolen... could've fell off in the water.... etc. Some will cover goods in transit.

Even the same insurer will have different wordings in different countries, so I cannot make a general recommendation applicable for all on this forum.

If you have watches of any real value, want to protect them and may have need to post them, I would strongly suggest chatting with your insurance broker who places your home insurance policy and ask them for options for coverage to be added to your existing policy.

Trying to do this via Royal Mail (or USPS, or Canada Post, or FedEx, or whatever) is going to end in frustration and tears.

My $0.02 as someone that works in the industry.

ChrisN · Jun 17, 2020

Pearcey74
Thank you for pointing that out.

This is the section I was referred too when they lost my watch, you can check it on the Royal Mail special delivery restrictions section.

"Our definition of jewellery includes: any precious metal that has been manufactured in such a way as to add value to the raw material, including coins used for ornament;

diamonds and precious stones

watches - the cases of which are made wholly or mainly of precious metal

similar articles with an intrinsic value other than the value of the workmanship."

Perhaps you forgot to mention the bit about "watches- the cases of which are made wholly or mainly of precious metal"

I am only speaking from experience, I guess you have lost watches and was refunded without any issues, or your watch was made from gold or platinum with a value less than £2500.

Parcel pro not accepting new accounts hardly helps the person trying to send their precious and loved watch for a service, but again, thank you for pointing that out.

Could you provide a link to that information?

I think there is some confusion here, the major point of RMSD is to send valuables... From here:

"If you’re sending valuables, money or jewellery in the post, you should use Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed®. This lets you to claim compensation if the post is lost or damaged. Valuables sent using any other service aren't eligible for compensation."

They then go on to define money and valuables which is the part you quoted above but they don't exclude them from the compensation. Or, do you have link to information that contradicts this?

Out of interest, was your lost watch worth more than £2500? In which case their conditions are clear and you will not receive any compensation at all.

Cheers, Chris

ExpiredWatchdog · Jun 17, 2020

Somewhere up the tread or perhaps another, someone mentioned having the watchmaker ship a box that already has shipping and insurance from his account. I've also read that some insurers are very specific about the shipping and packaging methods, and if the proper procedure is not followed, they won't cover.

I can understand a watchmaker not wanting to get involved in promising something he may be held liable for but has no control over.

I have watches insured through a homeowner's policy and it's supposed to cover any loss, even if the springbar breaks and it falls into the ocean, at least that's what the salesman (who I trust) said when I brought up that exact possibility. It goes for about $10 per $1000 covered per year.

Posting watches - insurance...

Pearcey74

Davidt

Pearcey74

Pearcey74

Japanred

Davidt

sjg22

ChrisN

ExpiredWatchdog

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