It may not be possible to compensate, the insured package was lost, and the 380000 yuan Rolex package was lost without insurance! I never thought of the standard | fee | insurance price

Recently, a news about a man claiming that 380000 Rolex SF Express had been lost went viral. According to media reports, Mr. Shi from Jilin sent a Rolex watch worth 380000 yuan to Guangzhou via SF Express, but the price was not guaranteed. Unexpectedly, when the recipient opened the box, it was empty. Mr. Shi provided a video of the sender and receiver, stating that SF customer service could only compensate 1000 yuan, but he did not agree. Afterwards, SF Express stated that it hopes to give 10 days to search, and if there are no results, full compensation will be paid. If the watch is retrieved in the future, Mr. Shi will return the compensation.

As of the time of publication, there has been no follow-up on this incident, but many netizens have discussed why sending such expensive watches is not guaranteed. If the price is guaranteed, it can effectively reduce losses. However, Ms. Shen, a citizen, found that when delivering valuable items, even if they are insured, they may not necessarily receive compensation for the declared value at the time of insurance. "What is the significance of consumers paying extra insurance fees?"

Regarding this, Shanghai debunking platform reporters consulted the service terms of different express delivery companies and found that consumers have significant differences in their understanding of "price protection" and the terms agreed upon.

"How much protection" does not mean "how much compensation"

"My understanding of insurance is' how much is covered, how much is compensated ', but I didn't expect it to be the same. Ms. Shen recently wanted to express a phone with a market price of over 3000 yuan to a friend. After checking the insurance terms of different courier companies, she found that her ability to obtain insurance services was different from her understanding.".

Firstly, the charging standards for insurance fees are quite complex.

For example, SF Express has three options for item insurance: "basic insurance", "fixed insurance", and "full insurance". Basic insurance and full insurance accept physical insurance such as mobile phones, while fixed insurance covers items such as bills that cannot be measured for fair value. The fee for "basic insurance" is slightly lower than that for "full insurance". The standard is to charge 1 yuan/ticket for items with an insurance amount of less than 500 yuan, 2 yuan/ticket for items with an insurance amount of 501 to 1000 yuan, and 5 ‰ of the declared price for items with an insurance amount of more than 1000 yuan.

The insurance fee standard for Cainiao wrap is 1 yuan per ticket for items declared to be worth 1 to 1000 yuan; For items ranging from 1001 yuan to 2000 yuan, the insurance fee is 1.5 yuan per ticket; From 2001 yuan to 10000 yuan, a fee of 2.5 ‰ will be charged; From 10000 yuan to 30000 yuan, a rate of 4 ‰ will be charged.

The standard for Yuantong is for items priced below 1000 yuan, with an insurance fee of 1 yuan per ticket; From 1001 yuan to 2000 yuan, 2 yuan per ticket; A fee of 3 ‰ is charged from 2001 yuan to 10000 yuan; 10001 to 30000 yuan will be charged at a rate of 5 ‰.

Ms. Shen said that she can understand that different companies determine different charging standards based on their own situations. However, after reading the terms, she found that if the declared value of the insured item is lower than the actual value of the delivered item, and if the item is damaged or lost, she cannot receive compensation equivalent to the declared value.

"The market price of the mobile phone I sent is over 3000 yuan, and I want to pay the insurance fee based on the declared value of 2000 yuan, because the insurance fee above 2000 yuan has significantly increased. In case the phone is lost, I think the courier company should compensate me at least 2000 yuan - this is my declared value, and the product itself is worth more than 2000 yuan, but in reality, I can only claim more than 1300 yuan." Ms. Shen said.

After checking the claims regulations of the express delivery company, the reporter found that Ms. Shen did not miscalculate. The regulations of relevant enterprises are basically consistent, that is, when the declared value of insurance is lower than the actual value of the entrusted goods, the "claim amount=actual loss amount *".

The compensation calculation method for "insufficient insurance value" is basically the same among different express delivery companies

The reporter asked multiple consumers about the above regulations, and most of them were surprised: "If the insured express delivery is lost, it is not fully compensated?" Several consumers even suggested that if consumers inflate the value of the insurance, the express delivery company can refuse to compensate for the inflated value when claiming compensation; But if consumers lower the insured value of the item, why do express delivery companies still offer discounts when compensating?

Comment from China Consumers Association: Unfair

So, are the regulations of express delivery companies reasonable?

A reporter's investigation found that as early as November last year, the China Consumers Association commented on the unfair format terms and phenomena in the express delivery industry, which consumers strongly expressed, and "not fully compensating insured items" was prominently listed.

The China Consumers Association believes that there are differences between the interpretation of "price protection" by express delivery companies and the understanding of consumers. Among them, the "insurance" rule of express delivery companies belongs to the maximum compensation limit, and the actual compensation should be determined based on the damage of the package, with a maximum not exceeding the insurance amount. The understanding of "insured" by ordinary consumers is that if a package is damaged, the courier company should compensate according to the insured amount.

According to the Civil Code, Provisional Regulations on Express Delivery, and Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law, express delivery companies have the obligation to proactively clarify specific insurance compensation rules to consumers before accepting consignment. If the information is not clear and there is a dispute over the understanding of standard terms, they should make an interpretation that is unfavorable to the party providing the standard terms.

The China Consumers Association also pointed out that express delivery service personnel have the obligation to remind consumers to ensure the value of valuable items. If they fail to fulfill their reminder obligations or cause the loss, damage, or shortage of packages due to intentional or gross negligence, express delivery companies should increase their liability.

Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that the China Consumers Association also believes that the provision of "only paying several times the freight without insurance" implemented by most express delivery companies is unreasonable and unfair: "The compensation for losses of express delivery services should be subject to relevant civil laws such as the Civil Code. Currently, each express delivery company has agreed on their own rules for uninsured compensation within a certain limit in the express delivery service contract, and there is no room for consumers to negotiate and modify these rules. Moreover, when the compensation liability agreed upon by the express delivery company is lower than the actual value of the package, consumers' actual losses cannot be compensated, which reduces the compensation liability of the express delivery company and is obviously unfair to consumers."

The China Consumers Association stated that if a courier company engages in intentional or gross negligence such as violent sorting, resulting in damage or loss of parcels, the courier company has no right to reduce or exempt itself from liability on the grounds of standard terms.

Who gives priority to thousands of words of insurance clauses?

Since the Consumer Association's review in mid November last year, more than 8 months have passed. Have express delivery companies adjusted their services? From this journalist survey, it can be seen that the interviewed consumers still do not fully understand the insurance and compensation terms of express delivery companies, and differences still exist. Where is the problem?

"From the perspective of legal procedures, express delivery companies have indeed fulfilled their disclosure obligations and require consumers to check and confirm. However, the current disclosure method has certain shortcomings." Contract law expert Chen Hao pointed out that "express delivery companies have very long insurance clauses and claims rules, and consumers can only access the relevant pages by specifically checking them. The language expression of the relevant clauses is also quite professional, which can easily lead to misunderstandings."

The reporter found that when various express delivery companies provide the "insured" option, they simply check it and do not provide a simple and clear service introduction; Consumers can only view specific insurance and claims rules by clicking on the question mark, "detailed rules" and other graphic and textual prompts next to the options. Moreover, the relevant rules are often thousands of words, and it takes a lot of time to carefully read them.

The pricing details of different express delivery companies require consumers to specifically click to view them

In terms of writing style, it is also not down-to-earth. For example, the introduction of SF Express's insurance services is quite complex, with a total of three services: "basic insurance", "fixed amount insurance", and "full amount insurance", each introduced in nearly 10000 words. Moreover, the above introduction page does not display the claims standards, but prompts consumers to view them through "SF Express Mini Program - My - Claims Center". In fact, in the introduction of claims, SF Express analyzed the differences in claim results of different insurance services using specific cases, but only consumers who specifically checked will notice the above content.

SF Express offers three types of insurance services. Although specific examples are used to explain the differences between different services, the entrance is very deep, and consumers need to search carefully to see them

"Ultimately, express delivery companies are still using contracts to exclude their own responsibilities, without putting consumer rights first." Chen Hao believes that express delivery companies have a deeper entry point for insurance and claims information, and consumers can only see the detailed rules after searching; The introduction is also quite professional and difficult, which may lead to misunderstandings. "Enterprises may feel that this is fulfilling the obligation of 'clear disclosure', but in the eyes of consumers, these terms and texts are far from 'simple, clear, and easy to understand'."

He believes that for a period of time, the topic of claiming compensation for damaged or lost parcels has been constant. The involved express delivery companies are often criticized by consumers, consumer protection organizations, and others for inadequate service and unfair terms, which has proven the necessity of improving their services. "Instead of passively responding to crises, it is better to make up for the loss, improve service terms, and improve notification methods, fundamentally reducing disputes between consumers and enterprises."