If the item is damaged in transit, who is responsible and how to compensate?

Original title: The item was damaged during transportation, why should it be compensated so little?

The reporter investigates the phenomenon of low compensation for damage to logistics and transportation goods

Not long ago, after the passenger landed on the plane, he found that the brand luggage worth 10,000 yuan was damaged in transit, and he was told that he could only compensate 400 yuan when he found the airline.

At that time, Ms. He, a citizen of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, was traveling abroad, and after the plane landed, she found that her suitcase was cracked during transportation, and the lock was broken, and she could no longer use it. The airline said that Ms. He did not declare the price of the suitcase, and said that it would compensate according to the weight of the suitcase, and the compensation amount was 400 yuan.

Ms. Ho's story is not unique. A recent investigation by a reporter from the "Rule of Law Daily" found that many passengers have the experience of receiving only a few hundred yuan in compensation for damage to high-value luggage after checking. At the same time, the reporter noticed that similar cases of damage and loss of items are not compensated according to the actual value of the items, which are also common in express delivery, moving and other industries.

The interviewed experts believe that airlines, logistics companies, etc., as carriers, should be liable for compensation in the event of damage or loss of goods during transportation. At the same time, the consumer has the burden of proof for the actual loss of the goods. In the process of express delivery and consignment, if the consumer does not explain the value of the goods in advance, there will be certain difficulties in determining the actual loss amount in the future.

The damage cannot be compensated at the price

Passengers can only consider themselves unlucky

Ms. He believed that the compensation of 400 yuan was far from her actual loss, and rejected the compensation plan. Because Ms. He had other travel arrangements in the future, the counter staff issued a bill for her to be compensated, saying that she could contact them during working hours to file a claim.

"There's no way, I'm still in a hurry in a foreign country, so I can only ask them to wrap the box with tape for me first, and then ask them to repair it after I go back. Ms. He told reporters that although she couldn't accept that her intact suitcase had become a "repaired suitcase", the compensation was too low, and she could only agree to mail the box to the airline for repair, and the airline would bear the mailing costs.

Coincidentally, on February 20 this year, Ms. Xu from Shanghai returned to Shanghai from Milan on a flight with an airline and found that her two suitcases had been damaged to varying degrees, so she filed a claim with the airport staff.

The two suitcases were just bought, totaling 1,880 yuan. But the airport staff said that each suitcase could only be compensated 300 yuan, a total of 600 yuan. In this regard, Ms. Xu clearly refused and demanded that the airline compensate the full price of the suitcase.

Since the two parties could not reach an agreement on the amount of compensation on the spot, the staff offered to let Ms. Xu go home first, and then contact her to discuss the compensation. On March 4, Ms. Xu received a phone call from airport staff informing the airline that she had proposed an additional 100 yuan in compensation for each box, totaling 800 yuan.

Ms. Xu believes that the compensation amount is still too low and is unwilling to accept it, and is still negotiating.

In June 2023, Mr. Wu, a citizen of Ningbo, Zhejiang, took a flight from Guangzhou to Ningbo on an airline flight, and when he picked up his luggage, he found that his suitcase had been hit with a big hole, and the clothes inside the suitcase could be seen from the cracks, in addition to many other damage marks, and he could no longer be used.

Due to the tight schedule, Mr. Wu left first after taking photos and leaving the permit, and then communicated about the compensation. The airline offered to compensate 200 yuan, but Mr. Wu's suitcase was worth more than 400 yuan, and only less than half of the amount was compensated.

The staff then proposed that they could help Mr. Wu apply for an increase in the amount of compensation, but Mr. Wu needed to issue a purchase invoice or purchase record for the suitcase, and the airline would then compensate for depreciation according to the time of use. Mr. Wu's suitcase was purchased offline and no invoice was kept.

As a result, the staff proposed a third solution, which was to compensate for a new suitcase, but was unwilling to explain the brand and price of the new suitcase, and asked Mr. Wu to go to the airport to choose the suitcase. By this time, Mr. Wu had already left the airport, and "the cost of getting to and from the airport, plus the damaged suitcase, could be much more expensive than the price of a new suitcase."

Mr. Wu told reporters that when the staff communicated with him, he emphasized more than once that they had dealt with a lot of similar things, "others are like this" and "the company's process is like this". After much communication, Mr. Wu had no choice but to accept a compensation of 200 yuan.

"The box was damaged by them when they checked it in, why should they pay so little!" Mr. Wu said angrily.

The reporter interviewed and learned that there is not much difference between different airlines for the treatment of damaged luggage in consignment, and most of them provide the following three solutions: one is to provide passengers with a new suitcase, and at the same time need passengers to leave their old suitcases; second, to compensate a certain amount, but often much lower than the price of damaged luggage; third, to use tape for passengers to simply deal with damaged luggage, and then by the passengers themselves mail the box to the airline's maintenance point, and then send it back to the passenger after repair, and the postage is borne by the airline.

The reporter found at the counter of an airline at the airport that the suitcases provided by the airline for compensation were of different sizes, and the staff would choose boxes with similar capacity for passengers to choose according to the size of the damaged luggage. These suitcases are zippered and have a softer body. On social platforms, many people complained that the quality of the suitcases compensated by airlines was very poor, "the lever broke within a day of use" and "it only costs more than 100 yuan to search for the same model online".

In addition to the fact that the actual loss is not compensated for the damage to the luggage, there are also passengers who report that their baggage items are damaged after check-in and the airline is denied.

On August 1, 2023, Ms. Dai from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, was traveling on an airline flight and returned home to find that her checked valuables were damaged, but she was told that the liquid could not be claimed. Ms. Dai told reporters that when she claimed her luggage at the airport, she found that although there were some traces of friction on the surface of the suitcase, there was no obvious damage, so she did not open the box and check it on the spot. When I got home, I found that the bottle of the skin care product worth 1,780 yuan I bought was broken, and the liquid overflowed a lot, and I couldn't use it anymore.

Ms. Dai immediately contacted the airline to make a claim, and received a reply that the liquid could not be claimed. Ms. Dai feels that this is the airline's "overlord clause": "According to the relevant regulations, many things and oversized suitcases cannot be carried on the plane, so they can only choose to check it in." Passengers must have checked their luggage out of trust in the airline, but in the end, the baggage was damaged, and the airline shirked its responsibility, can the passenger only suffer this dumb loss?"

If the courier is damaged, only the freight will be compensated

Moving property damage claims are more difficult

Compensation disputes caused by damage to items during transportation are also common in express delivery, transportation and other industries.

In March this year, Mr. Wang from Zhejiang purchased 7 bottles of 53 degrees 1L Feitian Moutai, and the merchant mailed them through a courier. After receiving the delivery, Mr. Wang found that one bottle of wine was shattered and all the wine had overflowed. During the inspection, he noticed that the outer packaging of the express was labeled with "reported damage", which indicated that the staff had found that the express box was soaked with wine during transportation, but did not immediately inform either party of the receipt or sender.

Mr. Wang said that when he found a problem when signing for the delivery, he took a photo as soon as possible, and reported the situation to the customer service of the express company, and also provided relevant photos of the damaged wine bottle. However, the courier company offered to compensate Mr. Wang for 7 times the freight of 294 yuan on the grounds that the price of the wine was not insured.

After Mr. Wang refused, the claims adjuster said that he would report it to his superiors again. A few days later, under Mr. Wang's repeated urgings, the other party said that he could apply for compensation of up to 1,000 yuan, and the market price of a single bottle of Moutai lost by Mr. Wang was more than 5,900 yuan. As of now, Mr. Wang is still in negotiation with the courier company.

Ms. Zhou, from Inner Mongolia, also encountered cases where valuables were damaged during transportation. In early April, Ms. Zhou sent a box of tea worth thousands of yuan through SF Express. The tea itself was packaged in a tin can, and it was properly packed when I sent it myself, but a few days later, the logistics information showed that the recipient refused to accept the courier.

It was understood that it was the courier who stored Ms. Zhou's tea with other consumers' seafood during transportation, and the liquid oozing from the seafood package wet the tea package, resulting in damage to the tea leaves. Ms. Zhou said that the express company was unwilling to compensate according to the price, and the customer service said that "the maximum compensation is 500 yuan".

"If you don't buy the insured service, you can throw the express items around? The items you express are not fragile, it is completely the problem of the courier that causes the damage to the goods, but they are not willing to compensate in full, what is the reason?" Ms. Zhou said angrily, she thought the express company's solution was unreasonable and unacceptable. Now, Ms. Zhou is still waiting for a reply from the courier company.

In the above circumstances, the courier company refused to compensate according to the price on the grounds that the sender did not purchase the insured service. The reporter interviewed and found that sometimes even if the insured service was purchased for the express delivery, the consumer failed to obtain satisfactory compensation in the case of damage to the item.

In November last year, Ms. Yan from Shenzhen, Guangdong Province bought a computer for her sister online, and found that the express package was obviously damaged, and the corner of the carton had been punctured.

Ms. Yan told reporters that considering that computers are valuables, she deliberately purchased a full insured service. When the courier arrived, it was not signed by my sister in person, but it was placed at the school station.

However, when she contacted the courier company to settle the claim, the other party was unwilling to compensate in full according to the insured price, and offered to let Ms. Yan send the computer for repair and compensation for the maintenance fee. Ms. Yan was not satisfied with the solution, believing that she had purchased the insured service in order to avoid compensation disputes, but she could not get the corresponding compensation. The two sides communicated for nearly 3 weeks, and finally ended with 2,000 yuan in compensation from the express company.

The reporter found that there are also difficulties in protecting rights when the goods are damaged during the move. In July last year, Ms. Yuan, from Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, planned to move to a neighborhood closer to her place of work. Considering that she has a lot of large pieces of furniture, Ms. Yuan found a local moving company.

From the early communication to the move, it was very smooth, but because of the large number of items, Ms. Yuan did not open all the boxes for inspection, but only opened one of the cartons for inspection. After the porter left, Ms. Yuan found that many items were damaged to varying degrees, and the most seriously damaged was a fish tank worth 10,000 yuan, the glass of the fish tank was shattered and could not be used anymore.

Ms. Yuan immediately contacted the moving company, and the moving company said that the damage to the items must be compensated by the handling master. Ms. Yuan contacted the porter again, and the other party proposed to compensate Ms. Yuan for 300 yuan in maintenance costs, "because you can't make much money by moving a single order, and you can't get out more."

In November last year, Mr. Zheng from Beijing purchased a Japanese-style moving service from a moving company. Mr. Cheng said that the introduction page of the Japanese-style moving service showed that the movers would wrap the furniture tightly so that no scratches were left. It was precisely because of this that he added money to buy this service.

However, when the items arrived, Mr. Cheng found that the TV screen had been knocked into a hole and could no longer be used normally. Mr. Zheng approached the moving company to negotiate compensation, but the other party refused to compensate on the grounds that the TV had been protected around the TV, and it may be that Mr. Zheng's TV was already in trouble. After several negotiations, the other party only agreed to compensate 200 yuan.

The Carrier has failed to exercise due diligence

Assume full liability

Who is responsible for the damage to the goods during transportation, and how to compensate?

Lawyer Luan Yan, a senior partner at Beijing Kangda Law Firm, said that the Civil Code stipulates that if the passenger's belongings are damaged or lost during transportation, the carrier shall be liable for compensation. In the event of damage or loss of checked baggage, the relevant provisions on cargo transportation shall apply. In addition, the Civil Aviation Law also provides that the carrier shall be liable for the destruction, loss or damage of passengers' carry-on items due to an incident that occurs on board a civil aircraft or during the process of embarking or disembarking a passenger. The carrier shall be liable for the destruction, loss or damage of the passenger's checked baggage as a result of an event occurring during air transportation.

"The carrier shall be liable for loss, damage to, or delay of baggage and shall compensate for the actual loss. If passengers can provide sufficient evidence of the actual value of their suitcase, then they are entitled to claim compensation from the airline on the basis of the actual damage, not just the limit based on weight. Luan Yan said that the "compensation of 100 yuan per kilogram" generally adopted by airlines is based on the liability limit of airlines for passengers' carry-on items confirmed in the "Regulations on the Limitation of Liability of Domestic Air Transport Carriers". This regulation was formulated on the basis of the historical situation of the mainland and the economic level at that time, but with the development of the economy and the increase in the price level, this standard is no longer suitable for the current actual situation.

According to Luan Yan, whether the express company should compensate the actual amount of the items damaged during the logistics depends on the specific terms of the express delivery service and whether the consumer chooses the insured service. If the consumer chooses the insured service, the courier company will usually compensate according to the amount of the insured price. For uninsured items, the liability of the courier company is usually determined according to the terms of the contract signed by both parties, and there may be a limit to compensation, such as compensation for several times the shipping cost, etc. At the same time, the express company should strictly implement the insurance clause in actual operation to ensure that the legitimate rights and interests of the sender are properly protected. If the courier company fails to fulfill the insurance clause in the contract, the sender has the right to demand compensation from the courier company according to the actual loss.

"Insured services are a means for consumers to prove the value of their goods, which can better help consumers get compensation, but it is not only consumers who purchase insured services to receive full compensation. Ye Lin, a professor at Renmin University of Chinese, believes that even if there is no insured service, if the employees of the express company do not fulfill the necessary protection obligations, such as causing the express liquid to flow out during transportation, littering the express delivery leading to damage, and not taking good care of the delivery resulting in theft, the express company also needs to compensate for the actual loss, but the actual loss needs to be proved by the consumer.

Ye Lin added that as a unilateral statement by airlines, express delivery companies, moving companies, etc., the limit compensation cannot be considered as an agreement between the two parties, so when consumers can prove that the value of their goods exceeds the compensation limit, they can claim compensation according to the actual value. In this case, the burden of proof is on the consumer.

"In addition to improving consumers' legal awareness and ability to protect their rights, it is also necessary to regulate the difficulty of consumer claims in the transportation industry by strengthening supervision and law enforcement, and promoting industry self-discipline. Luan Yan suggested that the regulatory authorities should strengthen the implementation of regulations and standards, improve regulatory capabilities, and at the same time carry out random inspections and verifications, strengthen social supervision channels, and improve the punishment mechanism. (Reporter Han Dandong Intern Liu Jie)