Q. I ordered a personalised print from an online seller for a friend’s wedding present and asked for it to be delivered to my home address. I was away for a couple of days when the delivery company messaged to say that the parcel had been delivered. I live in a small building of three flats so I assumed one of my neighbours had taken it in.
But when I got home the parcel was nowhere to be found. I contacted the seller, who showed me a delivery confirmation with a photo of the parcel left outside the front door. I live in central London and never ask for deliveries to be left outside the building or in a safe space because there are none — more often than not parcels that are left outside are stolen. I assume that is what happened.
I asked the seller if they could raise a case for a refund with the delivery company and in the meantime send out a replacement. This time I gave my friend’s address to avoid a repeat. But the seller said because the delivery company had marked the parcel as delivered, there was no option for her to raise a complaint. She said that I would need to make a compensation claim with the delivery company and order a new print and pay again if I wanted a replacement. This has left a bad taste in my mouth — the seller chose the delivery company and I don’t feel it should be up to me to chase them when the delivery has gone wrong.
I will not be ordering a replacement because the seller will have been paid twice and I risk being out of pocket if my compensation claim against the delivery company is unsuccessful. Am I in the right?
Katherine, London
Martyn James replies
Delivery complaints are endemic. The charity Citizens Advice provides an annual league table on the performance of these companies and last year not one courier scored higher than 2.75 out of 5 — an abysmal result. Almost half their customers reported problems with trying to sort out a dispute too.
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Businesses sending goods by post need to keep a tight rein on their couriers to avoid problems like this. The good news is that the law is on your side when you buy from a business, but things get a little more complicated when you buy from a private seller.
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 the retailer is responsible for getting the goods to you intact and in your hands. That means they are responsible for refunding you if there’s a delivery failure or arranging a replacement delivery. This isn’t up for debate.
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The only exception to this is if you have specified that the parcel should be left somewhere, like outside your front door or with a neighbour, and it then goes missing. So you are entitled to a full refund if your parcel is left somewhere you haven’t authorised — in a communal or unsecured area, with an unauthorised neighbour, outside a front door — or if it is broken or damaged.
A photograph of a parcel outside a door does not qualify as proof of delivery. It just means a parcel has been left there. I have lost many parcels to light-fingered people passing through the foyer of my building when couriers just dump them all inside the front door. So you should definitely push back against the business you bought the print from and demand a refund.
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Things are a bit more complicated when buying from independent sellers on online marketplaces such as Etsy or Vinted. These sites have dispute resolution schemes which should handle a complaint fairly and impartially, free of charge. These schemes are something of a mixed bag, but in cases like yours they invariably tell the seller to pay out.
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The legislation, however, is not as clearly defined. The law says that goods bought from a private seller must be “as they were described”. In theory this includes getting the goods to you as promised, because this is the contract you have entered into with the seller. But in the event of a dispute you would have to threaten to take the seller to the small claims court.
I think in your case the seller is being somewhat duplicitous. They certainly can take the matter up with the courier given that they are the ones who have contracted it to deliver the item to you. Unless you asked for the parcel to be left outside your door, then the courier has not honoured its part of the contract. And the seller hasn’t honoured their contract with you either and should refund you as soon as possible.
If you still aren’t getting anywhere, you can ask your card company to “charge back” the money, given that you haven’t received the goods. You’ll need to fill out a form explaining what has happened and provide proof that you have raised a dispute with the seller. Don’t delay though, there’s usually a deadline of 120 days from the point of purchase to do this.
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Package delivery companies are regulated by Ofcom, but there is no free ombudsman for people to go to in the event of a dispute. The industry is riddled with poor service and this oversight is unacceptable. It’s time this discrepancy was rectified.
Martyn James is a consumer rights champion covering everything from energy bills to cancelled flights and pothole claims
