One of the effects of the various national and regional lockdowns imposed this year due to Covid has been a spike in online shopping.
Many of us still can’t go to the shops in person, but we can all shop online, after all.
And that has meant a jump in the number of times deliver drivers turn up at the door, with a parcel.
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Where have you left it?
The trouble is that a significant number of us have had a nightmare with at least one parcel delivery since the initial lockdown back in March.
A new study from Citizens Advice found that almost half of UK adults have had problems with a parcel delivery, with the most common issue being that the delivery took place later than expected.
Almost a third of people (30%) had suffered a delay with their parcel delivery, the charity found.
Now, at times this late delivery will just be a pain.
For example, if I’m doing a bit of decorating and have to wait an extra day or so for a new roller, well that’s annoying but not the end of the world.
But there will be times when that late delivery is more significant.
An awful lot of people have had to build somewhere to work within their home from scratch, and so having to wait an extra day or so for some important part of that could prevent them doing their jobs entirely.
Little wonder then that for one in five people who have had a parcel issue there has been some sort of financial loss involved.
And the money is not exactly trivial either, with around 40% reporting a loss of more than £20.
What are my rights?
One interesting aspect of the Citizens Advice study is that an awful lot of us have no idea what we should do when there is a problem with a parcel, whether that’s because it has turned up damaged, late or not arrived at all.
The charity found that just one in three people were confident about what their rights were in this situation.
So here are some of the classic issues that can arise with parcels, and what you can do about it, according to the complaints experts at Resolver.
Damaged deliveries
Thanks to the Consumer Rights Act, retailers are compelled to ensure that items you receive are fit for purpose and as you expect them.
So if your order turns up dented or damaged in some other way, even if it was likely the delivery company that caused that damage, you need to raise it with the retailer.
The retailer should provide a full refund or replace the item.
If you’ve arranged for the item to be delivered by courier though, then that’s where your complaint should be aimed, and you should be able to get some money back from them.
Late deliveries
The Consumer Rights Act means that you can claim a full refund if you cancel an order, even after the item has arrived (up to 14 days from that date) but it doesn’t really set out much protection for generic late deliveries.
The team at Resolver point out that it’s not common to get additional compensation simply because of the inconvenience of a late delivery.
However, it is possible ‒ you’ll generally have to prove that the fact that the delivery was late has caused you some form of financial loss.
You should go to the retailer with your claim, unless you organised delivery yourself through a courier service, in which case they should be your target.
Orders that don’t turn up
If you’ve paid to nominate a specific day for a delivery, then the delivery firm has not met the expected service if your parcel doesn’t turn up.
Resolver suggests checking the terms and conditions of the firm to see if they will refund the costs, but it’s worth complaining anyway.
What’s more, these firms should always try to rearrange delivery at a time and date that works for you.
If you’ve had to take multiple days off to wait for a delivery, and have lost income as a result of it being rearranged, then you may be able to claim compensation.
This isn’t what I ordered
Opening that package only to discover that you’ve been sent the wrong thing is absolutely infuriating and will require you to spend some time to put it right.
But it shouldn’t cost you anything ‒ contact the retailer and they can run through the next steps for you, and what’s more, they should cover the costs of retrieving the item and getting the correct product sent to you.
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My order doesn’t exist
Of course, for some people the reason their delivery doesn’t arrive is that the item doesn’t actually exist, as they have been duped into handing over cash to a fraudulent site, a scammer posing as a legitimate retailer.
Sadly there’s been no shortage of these scams this year.
Lockdown has presented a great opportunity for crooks to build these fake websites, knowing that people are not only limited to shopping online rather than in person, but also that the shortages of certain items from regular shops and retailers mean shoppers may be more willing to take a costly chance on a less familiar name.
According to the National Trading Standards eCrime team, around 323 domains have been suspended this year for issues related to non-delivery of goods, counterfeit products and fake clone websites that impersonate genuine business sites.
Clearly, it’s more important than ever to do your homework and make sure you’re on a legitimate retailer website before entering your card details, or else you may never actually receive the item you think you’re buying.