I sold an antique recording player on eBay. I booked Hermes to courier it. On reading their T&C's I discovered that they would not insure it because it was antique, but wanting to send it asap and noting that it was housed in a stout wooden box which I had packed securely and with plenty of protection, I thought the addition of plenty of labels indicating "Fragile, please handle with care" would be enough to ensure it reached it's destination intact. How wrong was I? The purchaser immediately put a claim in via eBay and sent me photos of the smashed wooden box. I wanted it returned, and as I had advised free post, eBay declared I had to pay return postage. I contacted Hermes advising they had damaged the item, expecting a return label. No! I had to pay Hermes to return the item. Inspection of the item suggested the parcel had been dropped from a considerable height onto something like a concrete floor. I then disputed with Hermes, to at least get the return of delivery costs and their standard £20 insurance which they incorporate. After many rejections and further claims I got an email "Our delivery process includes a varied network of Service Providers, depots and sorting facilities. Throughout this process there are a number of occasions where the parcels will leave the care of our Service Providers and handlers to be processed via sorting machinery and conveyor belts. As such, any instructions on the parcel, e.g. ‘Fragile’ or ‘This Way Up’ stickers, cannot be followed directly. For this reason, there is comprehensive list of both items excluded from compensation and completely prohibited items on our website, www.myhermes.co.uk and I would like to inform you that ************ items are one of them. I am sorry, we are unable to compensate you with the compensation £ 20.00." They could not even be bothered to inform the items which are "one of them". In other words the damage was probably done out of the care of their Service Providers and therefore not their responsibility. I paid for them to be responsible. My advice is DO NOT USE HERMES, they don't care about or for your parcels. Incidentally don't waste time responding to the Hermes email asking for feedback, they don't read them.