Reader’s question
Last month I ordered an air fryer online and it was delivered while I was at work. The delivery company left it with a neighbour, but I have no idea which one and have been unable to locate the air fryer or get my money back from the company.
The delivery driver took a close up photo of the package in an open doorway, but with no way to identify the neighbour or which door it was. I have tried to get more information from the delivery company, but they have given no further details, only repeatedly telling me that it’s “with a neighbour”. I have also asked the company I bought the air fryer from for a replacement or a refund, but have been told I should be asking the delivery company for compensation.
I have obviously asked all my immediate neighbours if they have received the parcel on my behalf, and believe them when they say they haven’t. But there are more than 50 houses on my road. This wasn’t a cheap bit of kit to buy, so I am keen to get my money back, please could you help?
Stuart, Plymouth
Martyn Responds:
If there’s one subject that grinds the nation’s gears, it’s package delivery disasters. You’ll be hard pressed to find a single person in the UK who hasn’t had an issue with a delivery in the last year or two, with problems ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous.
If you are waiting for a parcel from a retailer then there’s only one rule to remember. Your contract is with the shop not the delivery firm or the manufacturer. So the fact that you’ve been told to take it up with courier is totally unacceptable.
Even if you were minded to do so, contacting package delivery companies – or speaking to a human, to be more precise – can feel like a near impossibility. If you are the recipient of a parcel, you can save yourself much time and energy by just bypassing this step and going back to the shop you bought the goods from.
The business that sold you the goods is also responsible for getting the item to you intact. This includes refunding you if the parcel or its contents are damaged. In addition the parcel should only be delivered to you personally or left where you told the retailer to leave it.
Now as I write that last sentence, I can hear the cries of Times readers around the land, who regularly find parcels left outside their doors exposed to the elements, in communal foyers, chucked over fences or left in bins. So just to be 100% clear, you are entitled to a refund if the parcel has been:
- Left somewhere you haven’t authorised.
- Left with a neighbour without your permission.
- Left in a communal or unsecured area.
- Left outside a door (only to go missing).
Despite the law being clear on the obligations of retailers when it comes to missing packages, far to many shops blatantly ignore the rules or try to fob their customers off to the courier service.
A word of warning though. Even if you think you haven’t left delivery instructions, bear in mind that retailers sometimes save previous delivery requests. So if you specified that a parcel could be left with a neighbour when you ordered something in the past, you may find that those instructions have made it on to the new delivery. This is awkward if you have new neighbours and don’t get on.
One final point. A photograph of a parcel outside a house or flat does not equate to a delivery. After all, what’s to stop someone photographing the parcel then walking off with it? So the ubiquitous ‘pic by the door’ means nothing. The shop should refund you immediately, with apologies.
As to the missing item, the retailer can search for the air fryer with the courier firm. If they have the property number, they can pop round and ask for it back. What they should not be doing, is expecting you to turn detective as a consequence of poor package delivery practices.