phone missing after signed for by person not recipient

richcrafts

I upgraded my sons phone contract to an IPhone 5 and entered into 2 year contract. He has started first job 350 miles away.

On checking why the phone had not arrived it seems it WAS delivered to his place of work but was signed for by reception, not him. It is now 'lost'.

Searches have been made at his place of work to no avail. Orange say it is not their problem as it was delivered. But the delivery was not made to the name on the parcel (my son).

No one wants to take responsibility and I now have a 2 year contract and no phone. I did not have insurance as I was going to take that out as soon as it was active.

What are my rights please?

MamaMoo_2

The courier has failed to do their job. End of. It's up to Orange to replace and claim from the courier

richcrafts

Thank you - I have spoken to 2 different people at Orange so far and neither will accept that. They say I will have to involve the police and that my son's new employer will have to replace (awkward as he has only been there a month). I will try Orange again.

shaun_from_Africa

The courier has failed to do their job. End of.

Why?
Most couriers (and Royal mail), are normally contracted to deliver to a specific address and not to a specific person, and if this was the case with the delivery in question then they have done nothing wrong by allowing the receptionist to sign for the package.

Some companies will allow delivery to a name individual, but this usually has to be specified at the time of ordering and it may well cost more.

neilmcl

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Why?
Most couriers (and Royal mail), are normally contracted to deliver to a specific address and not to a specific person, and if this was the case with the delivery in question then they have done nothing wrong by allowing the receptionist to sign for the package.

Some companies will allow delivery to a name individual, but this usually has to be specified at the time of ordering and it may well cost more.

Agreed. It's obvious that if you send a parcel to a place of work that it's more than likely to be received by a receptionist rather than the person themself, I think most reasonable people would expect this. The responsibility lies with your son's workplace for losing it, and they'll probably argue that you shouldn't be sending "personal" items to them anyway, in which it can be argued that it's your own fault.

richcrafts

My son lives on site and so his workplace is also his home address. The package was addressed to him....staff apartmentxx...then the firms name.

custardy

richcrafts wrote: »

My son lives on site and so his workplace is also his home address. The package was addressed to him....staff apartmentxx...then the firms name.

Does the staff apartment have its own delivery point?
Or does all mail come via the business delivery point?

richcrafts

No the staff apartments don't have their own delivery point.

custardy

richcrafts wrote: »

No the staff apartments don't have their own delivery point.

well he needs to chase it with his employers
Orange and the courier have done as required/requested

neilmcl

richcrafts wrote: »

No the staff apartments don't have their own delivery point.

In that case I'm not sure what more you'd expect the courier or retailer to do.

paulineb_2

Actually, having had an issue where a sound system ended up at a neighbours, I got it in the end, I expressly asked that the item wasnt delivered to anyone else but me, while they were trying to sort it out, the people I purchased it from said that they would have sent me a replacement. Its not good enough really that a courier just gets any signature and so many courier companies are doing this, or leaving in a safe place.

The courier company can be asked to go back to the place that it was signed for and try and pick it up. They should be making some effort to resolve this, not just saying too bad.

Having said that, I would always go for the option of getting a phone picked up from the nearest shop to me.

Surely they have a signature and that signature can be traced? Can you get a lock put on the phone so they cant make calls against the account.

Its between the company and the courier to sort this, not the employer. Youve paid for an item and you dont have it. Unfortunately you get people who will sign for something that isnt theres and to go back to your original point, I would think about calling in the police, its theft.