Trying to return an item but company failing to collect

mirko

I was delivered a large, heavy item a couple of weeks ago. It came in two heavy boxes. However, on inspection it was totally the wrong item. Not what I had ordered.

I therefore rang and emailed the company to get a refund and to send the item back.

They've arranged a courier on three separate days (any time between 8 and 530).

Three times no one has come.

What are my next best steps? Staying in the house for another day doesn't seem reasonable.

[Deleted User]

Where is the company based? Have they processed the refund?

mirko

They're based in Devon, I'm in Berkshire.

They won't process the refund until they've received the goods, and they've failed to collect it three times.

It's too heavy to post by conventional means. I'd have to book a courier to send it back I think.

DoaM

Check the Consumer Rights Act 2015 ... it used to be that return of item and provision of refund were two separate entities ... i.e. they were not linked, so the supplier could not legally withhold a refund until the goods were returned; I'm not sure if that changed with the CRA.

I'd recommend NOT arranging your own courier service UNLESS the seller advises (in writing - email is fine) that they'll accept liability for loss or damage caused by any courier firm you instruct. If they don't then any such liability would fall on you, and you'd need to (try to) recover your losses from your courier firm. Even if all went OK you'd still need to recover the cost of return shipping from the seller.

[Deleted User]

What reason have they given for the courier not turning up? Did they provide details of who the courier is?

DoaM

Might also be worth checking out the MSE Failed Delivery article (at the top of this thread) ... collection for faulty goods is no different really to failed deliveries.

mirko

I don't really want to arrange a courier for exactly the reasons you've outlined.

I think the Consumer Act says you have to give "reasonable" time for them to collect. And I think arranging three separate days is pretty reasonable!

They offer next day delivery on all their products. Like a lot of companies they're excellent when it comes to taking your money and delivering you the goods, but as soon as you want your money back or you hit a bump in the road, it gets very tough.

mirko

They've not given any t reason for why the courier hasn't turned up and they've never told me who the courier is.

I'll take a look at the Failed Delivery article too.

Thanks guys.

mirko

This got sorted in the end. It was (finally) collected.

A day or so after the third collection failed I was sent a message from an online place to review my purchase. I left a truthful review - nothing too emotional or crazy.

Literally a couple of hours after this was left I had a phone call from the company and was told someone would collect it that day. And sure enough it happened.

Since then they've called me a few times asking me to remove the review from online. They kept blaming their delivery company rather than taking any blame themselves (despite delivering the wrong item in the first place!)

Looks like certain companies do care about poor online reviews.

I've now had a refund so all's well that ends well.

likelyfran

Hope you left your review standing!

I've just been dealing with a company just like this one, same kind of mistakes including failed collection but leave a bad review and it's all systems go, obviously don't care about their customers - cheeky ****s!

mirko

I (of course) left the comment online. I wasn't very impressed with the way they handled it.

I think a lot of the issues happened because they use a bit of a crap delivery firm, a lot of companies try to save money by using the cheapest delivery firm they can. If it works then it's great, but as soon as anything goes slightly wrong they start to get issues.