Hermes is refusing to pay compensation after losing a £169 pair of binoculars. It says that under its terms and conditions, they are excluded because they are made of glass – even though I insured them to the value of £120. I can understand withholding a payout for breakage of glass but not if they were lost. In any case, they have a plastic lens! SM, London
Hermes’s T&Cs absolve it of liability if it loses a number of goods including musical instruments, chinaware, furniture, food – and human remains. As you say, fragile items are more likely to get damaged in transit and therefore could more logically be excluded from payouts, but a pair of binoculars is no more likely to go missing than a box of books.
The exclusions appear all the more unreasonable as Hermes sells the insurance, so you would think it would pay if an item was lost.
The Hermes PR team says it’s passed this point on to its head of customer services. It also agrees that you should have been covered as the lenses were plastic. It has now paid in full and refunded the £7.29 postage.
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