refund problem

confused76

hi there
i wonder if anyone can help...
my partner bought something off the internet which has not turned up.
we think they have tried to deliver it as there was a missed call a couple of times on my partners phone, however, they did not put a card through the mailbox advising that they tried to deliver the parcel.
he rang them today to chase them up, and wanted to charge him additional postage to re-deliver. he asked for a refund, they will only give him a refund on the goods and not the initial postage.
where do we stand on getting the full amount back? we didn't receive anything. i don't really know what our legal position is, any ideas?
thanks so much

Ivory_Tinkler

Maybe they rang to book a delivery with you hence you didn't get a card through your letterbox? Can you or your partner collect the item from your local postal/courier depot? Otherwise you can cancel the order under distance selling regs but as delivery failed, I don't know what the legalities are as to getting your original postage charge back.

The_Pedant

What do their terms & conditions state?

As they may have actually attempted to deliver the item, I would count this as a return of an item.

If their terms & conditions state that the buyer will pay for return postage then I would accept the refund for just the goods. If there is no such clause, then you may request a refund for the full amount, as allowed under the Distance Selling Regulations.

I view it like that to give a little leeway. Technically, you have not taken delivery of the item, but that may be a little of a grey area to me, as it may be argued that the were barred from a legitimate attempt to deliver. It could equally be argued though that you have been given little opportunity to collect undelivered goods from a local depot etc; so it goes both ways.

KeithP

Why didn't you return the missed calls?
Maybe you would have had the goods the next day, at no extra cost, if you had.

Sounds like you didn't return the calls so the courier held the goods for a few days and then returned to sender saying unable to deliver.

If they need to be delivered again, someone has to pay the courier again.

confused76

we don't think they actually attempted delivery, as my partner is in in the day, so i think (as Ivory Tinkler said) they were ringing to arrange delivery.
thank you all for your replies...bit of a gray area i think we should just give up on this one!
cheers