Hermes pays retailers ‘hundreds of pounds’ in compensation after they missed out on processing fee because computer glitch marked parcels as undelivered
- Courier firm pays 35p to businesses for every packages successfully processed
- But computer issues saw scores of parcels not logged correctly in the system
- This meant retailers missed out on substantial sums of money earlier this year
- Hermes says problem was quickly fixed and payments were made by last month
Hermes has had to pay retailers across the UK ‘hundreds of pounds’ in compensation after they missed out on processing fees after a computer glitch marked parcels as undelivered.
The parcel company, also known as myHermes, pays 35p to businesses for every package which is successfully processed and therefore able to be dropped off to customers.
But computer issues saw scores of parcels processed by retailers not logged correctly in the system, meaning the money shop owners were being paid was not equal to the number of packages they had in fact handled.
In some cases, this reportedly meant businesses missing out on hundreds of pounds.
Hermes has had to pay retailers across the UK ‘hundreds of pounds’ in compensation after they missed out on processing fees after a computer glitch marked parcels as undelivered
One worker claimed they were underpaid for 1,114 parcels over eight weeks, missing out on almost £400 worth of commission.
Another independent store said they were owed for 300 parcels across a six-week period.
Natalie Lightfoot of Londis Solo Convenience in Glasgow said: ‘Last week, myHermes only paid me for one parcel when I know I had processed double figures.
‘When I see this, it makes me wonder if it has ever been right.’
And Atul Sodha, owner of Peverills Londis Harefield in Uxbridge, said he has since been refunded for 342 missing parcels.
‘The worrying thing is I didn’t even know I was owed this,’ he said.
‘I’ll be keeping a much more watchful eye on the parcels coming into and out of my store from now on.’
Meanwhile, Hardik Patel, owner of Svarn News & Off Licence in Stafford told Better Retailing he was owed payment for hundreds of missed parcels across a six-week period.
He said: ‘Last week, I was underpaid by 74 parcels. This isn’t anything new. I’ve been having issues on and off for more than a year. Between 26 December and 13 February, I was underpaid by 315 parcels.’
The ‘glitch’ came to light following an article by shopping mag Retail Express.
A spokesperson for myHermes said: ‘We can confirm that a data issue at the end of last year resulted in a small number of mistakes in payment for some of our parcel shop partners.
‘Once we had identified the problem it was quickly fixed and the team contacted all those affected to apologise. All payments were made by w/c 14th March.’
The spokesperson refused to comment on how much had been paid out to retailers.