> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Open Claims, Interlink Express > Open Claims for Interlink Express stores. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Key Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Shipping & Courier](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) ## At a glance > Live count of Interlink Express service-failure and damage claims that the merchant has filed and Interlink has not yet resolved. Each open claim is real-time money: carriage refund (typically £8 to £18 per Pre10:30 / Pre12 / Next-Day consignment) plus contents-value compensation up to standard cover or higher with Enhanced Compensation Cover. The card surfaces filing-and-resolution velocity. | | | | ------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | `COUNT(claims WHERE status IN ('OPEN','UNDER_REVIEW','PENDING_DOCUMENTATION','AWAITING_INTERLINK_RESPONSE'))` at the moment of read. Real-time, not period-windowed. | | **Claim categories** | Service-failure (carrier-fault late delivery on Pre10:30 / Pre12 / Next-Day), damage in transit, lost in transit, Enhanced Compensation Cover claims for high-value contents. Customer-fault and address-fault claims are not eligible. | | **Filing window** | Interlink's published filing window is **14 days from failed POD** for service-failure claims; **14 days from delivery (or expected delivery)** for damage / loss claims. Tighter than Parcelforce (30 days), match APC. | | **Resolution SLA** | Interlink typically settles service-failure claims within 7 working days and damage claims within 14 to 21 working days. Anything sitting open past 21 working days is unusual and should be chased. | | **Currency** | GBP. UK-domestic only; Interlink does not run a meaningful international tier. | | **Money-back-on-late mechanic** | Service-failure refund returns the carriage charge only (not the goods value). Damage / loss claim returns goods value (subject to Enhanced Compensation Cover limit if applicable). A late-and-damaged consignment can yield both refunds. | | **Standard compensation cap** | Interlink standard liability is typically £100 per consignment; Enhanced Compensation Cover lifts to £2,500 (£5,000 on some account-level negotiated terms) for an additional fee. Buy ECC on consignments above £100 contents value where the cover fee is under 5% of contents. | | **B2B vs B2C** | Pooled. B2B claim values usually higher (corporate contents are higher-value); B2B filing rate typically higher (ops team is procurement-disciplined). | | **Time window** | `RT` (real-time) | | **Alert trigger** | `>0 unresolved >7d`. Any claim sitting open more than 7 days trips the gauge. | | **Roles** | owner, operations, finance | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your Interlink Express data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example A UK B2B-leaning industrial-supplies merchant: corporate workshops, factories, contractors. Pre10:30 contracted on healthcare supply lines; Next-Day for general industrial. Reading taken at 14:00 GMT on 22 Mar 26. | Claim category | Count open | Avg open age | Total claim value | | ---------------------------------------- | ---------- | ------------ | ---------------------- | | Service-failure (Pre10:30 late) | 14 | 3 days | £252 (carriage refund) | | Service-failure (Next-Day late) | 22 | 5 days | £198 (carriage refund) | | Damage in transit (industrial parts) | 6 | 11 days | £980 (contents) | | Lost in transit | 1 | 9 days | £340 (contents) | | Enhanced Comp Cover (high-value tooling) | 2 | 16 days | £1,420 (contents) | | **Total open** | **45** | | **£3,190** | The card reads **45** with 9 of them sitting >7 days, tripping the alert. Five things to notice: 1. **The 7-day threshold has 9 hits, all damage / lost / ECC.** Service-failure claims (the 36 newer claims) typically clear in 7 working days under Interlink's tight SLA; damage / lost / ECC stretch to 14 to 21. The 9 older claims are Interlink-side awaiting and should be chased via the account team. 2. **£3,190 of working capital is parked.** For a B2B-mid-market merchant on £15K monthly Interlink spend, this is meaningful cash. Interlink's tight 14-day filing window forces faster filing; the trade-off is faster resolution. Net working-capital exposure is lower than equivalent Parcelforce footprint. 3. **The 14 Pre10:30 claims correlate with healthcare-account medication misses.** Pre10:30 misses on healthcare carry contractual penalties (£25 to £100 per missed delivery). Carriage-refund recovery at £252 is the visible recovery; B2B contract penalty exposure is not surfaced here and runs \~£700 in addition. Track on a finance-team spreadsheet. 4. **Damage-in-transit at 6 claims for industrial parts is unusual.** Industrial parts are typically robust; cluster of 6 in a period suggests packaging review (heavier-grade carton, additional foam wrapping) or potentially a single-depot handling issue. Pair with `int_route_otd` to see if any depot stands out. 5. **Filing rate vs eligible-rate matters more than the open count.** If `int_late_shipments_count` showed 60 carrier-fault eligible misses this period, only 36 are filed (60% filing rate, industry-benchmark). Healthy discipline; some accounts run 80%+ on Interlink because of the tight 14-day window forcing the cadence. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together Open claims is the real-time financial-recovery KPI. Pair with these: | Card | Why pair it with Open Claims | What the combination tells you | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [Late Shipments](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/interlink-express/late-shipments) | Eligibility-source for service-failure claims. Filing rate calculation. | Filing rate gap = unrecovered carriage. Industry benchmark 60 to 80% on Interlink (14-day window forces discipline). | | [Exception Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/interlink-express/exception-rate) | Damage / loss exceptions feed claim filings. | Predictive of next week's filing volume. | | [Claim Value](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/interlink-express/claim-value) | The financial twin. | Count vs value diverges with high-value ECC claims. | | [Pre-10:30 Service Promise](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/interlink-express/pre-10-30-service-promise) | The most-claimed cohort (B2B contract). | Pre10:30 SLA dip = predictable claim volume rise. | | [On-Time Delivery Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/interlink-express/on-time-delivery-rate) | Customer-experience root cause. | OTD drop + claims flat = ops filing-disciplined; issue is upstream. | | Cross-connector: [`shopify.refund_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/refund-rate) | Downstream impact. Damage = refund + claim recovery (separate streams). | Combined view = net financial exposure. | | Cross-connector: [`apc.apc_open_claims`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/apc/open-claims) | Peer UK premium. Same 14-day filing window. | Compare resolution velocity. | | Cross-connector: [`parcelforce.par_open_claims`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/parcelforce/open-claims) | Peer, 30-day window. | Different filing cadence; longer working-capital cycle. | | Cross-connector: [`dpd.dpd_open_claims`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/dpd/open-claims) | Sister-brand. | Same parent group claims process. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in Interlink Express's own dashboard:** [Interlink Express MyDPD Business](https://www.interlinkexpress.com/) → **Claims → Open Claims**. Lists each open claim by reference, filing date, status, and amount. **Why our number may legitimately differ from Interlink's portal:** | Reason | Direction | Why | | ---------------------------------- | ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Status mapping** | Either | Interlink's status labels (`OPEN`, `UNDER_REVIEW`, `PENDING_DOCUMENTATION`, `SETTLED`, `REJECTED`, `WITHDRAWN`); the card pools all non-final statuses. | | **Sync lag** | Ours \<2 min behind | Card polls Interlink claims API every 30 to 90 seconds. | | **Account-level vs invoice-level** | Either | Multiple Interlink accounts can be filtered in the portal; the card pools by connected credentials. | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** | Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`shopify.refund_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/refund-rate) | Refunds and claims are two sides of the same damage event. | Refund rate moves with delivery experience generally; claims move only when filed. | | [`apc.apc_open_claims`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/apc/open-claims) | Peer UK premium. | Different consignments. | | [`parcelforce.par_open_claims`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/parcelforce/open-claims) | Peer, different network. | Different consignments, different filing windows. | ## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **Why is Interlink's filing window 14 days?** DPD-group ops cadence. Interlink trades a tighter merchant-side filing window for faster claim resolution (7 working days for service-failure, 14 to 21 for damage). Most merchants transitioning from Parcelforce (30 days) under-file because the muscle memory is wrong. Set up a weekly review tied to `int_late_shipments_count` and file within 7 days of the event. **What documentation does Interlink require for a damage claim?** Photos of damage and packaging (showing Interlink label and damage to outer box), consignment number, original purchase receipt or stock-transfer note, and customer declaration confirming damage on receipt. For Enhanced Compensation Cover claims add cover-purchase confirmation. Missing any and Interlink holds at `PENDING_DOCUMENTATION`. **Can we file claims at scale via API?** MyDPD Business has bulk-CSV upload for accounts above \~£3K monthly Interlink spend (account-team feature). API-based claim filing is in pilot for select large merchants. Most mid-size merchants file via portal manually; the 14-day window forces a weekly cadence that fits a 30-min review slot. **Service-failure refund vs damage claim: how do we decide?** File both if both apply. A late-and-damaged consignment yields service-failure refund (carriage charge back) plus damage claim (contents compensation). Interlink treats them as separate claims under one consignment number. **Why does a claim sit at "PENDING\_DOCUMENTATION" for weeks?** Almost always because Interlink has requested additional information and the merchant has not responded. Check MyDPD Business *Claims → Action Required*. Common asks: clearer damage photos, customer signature on damage declaration, original purchase receipt for high-value contents. Resolution clock pauses while waiting. **B2B contract-penalty claims: are these surfaced here?** No. The card surfaces Interlink-side claims only. B2B contract penalties (merchant owes the B2B customer for missed Pre10:30 on a corporate account) sit in CRM / accounting. Pair this card with `interlink_xc_otd_by_channel` to see B2B-channel OTD as the leading indicator of contract-penalty exposure. **Can we appeal a rejected claim?** Yes. MyDPD Business has an *Appeal* button on rejected claims. Most appeals succeed when rejection was for missing documentation that has since been provided. Appeals against fault-attribution are slower; provide third-party evidence (driver-camera if recorded, neighbour-witness statement). **Enhanced Compensation Cover: when is it worth buying on Interlink?** Standard cap is £100; ECC lifts to £2,500 for an additional fee of £2 to £8 per consignment depending on cover level. Worth it for any consignment where contents value is above £100 and cover fee is under 5% of contents. For a £500 industrial part, £4 is rational; for a £150 commodity item, £4 may not be. **Compared to Parcelforce, where is Interlink's claim process better or worse?** Better: faster resolution (7 vs 10 working days for service-failure), tighter filing window forces ops discipline. Worse: tighter filing window means lost recovery if a weekly review slips; less generous appeal flexibility on customer-fault edge cases. Net: Interlink rewards disciplined ops teams, penalises lax ones. **During Q4 peak, claim volume triples; will Interlink keep up?** Resolution SLA stretches by 5 to 10 days during Q4. Anything sitting open past 21 days during peak is normal, not an Interlink failure. Pre-negotiate a Q4 claims-cadence with the account manager. The card will look worse than non-peak; reset weekly-review expectations accordingly. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Open Claims* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Interlink Express and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.