Late delivery, what should I do?

Pandilex

I needed some skirting board which was scheduled to be fitted yesterday/first thing today as part of a flooring installation.

The one I wanted was in stock with Wickes, but if you order for collection they only hold it for 24 hours, so I had to wait a few days so I had access to a car.

When that day came around, they were out of stock. So I ordered for delivery. I was given a delivery date of 2nd January before 1pm.

Then on the 1st January I got a call saying they weren't going to be able to make the delivery because some supplier issue or whatever. I said this is a problem because I have a guy here who is gonna install it as soon as the flooring is done.

The manager promised me that it would be delivered next day, and he would ENSURE that it was the very first thing they delivered, so it should be here around 9-9:30am.

As you can guess, the item did not arrive and as of 11:15am still hasn't arrived. The installer finished the last bits of the flooring installation, and it waiting around. Multiple phone calls, the guy that deals with it is not in until the afternoon, but they said they contacted the driver and he'd be here around midday.

Delivery cost me £30 which is quite extortionate IMO, but I really needed it delivered on time and was having trouble organising a car to go to a further store so I paid it (last week I had a 2mx2m carpet shipped from Germany which only cost £17 delivery!!!).

They claimed that their T&C says don't arrange an installer before the goods have arrived and been inspected therefore they won't reimburse me for time, and they said they will refund half the delivery cost.

But I don't think this is acceptable as I was both lied to and had the delivery delayed. Reading up on what MSE has to say, it's certainly a breach of contract and I believe based on the manager's promises that it should fall under the 'time is of the essence' clause due to the specific assurances it would be delivered first thing the next day after it was already late.

There isn't much more info on the MSE article, so I am wondering what other people think. I am BEYOND fuming mad that he is sitting around downstairs and I am likely paying him for an extra 2 hours while we wait for the stupid van to arrive.

Any advice is welcome on what I should do.

visidigi

Pandilex wrote: »

I needed some skirting board which was scheduled to be fitted yesterday/first thing today as part of a flooring installation.

The one I wanted was in stock with Wickes, but if you order for collection they only hold it for 24 hours, so I had to wait a few days so I had access to a car.

When that day came around, they were out of stock. So I ordered for delivery. I was given a delivery date of 2nd January before 1pm.

Then on the 1st January I got a call saying they weren't going to be able to make the delivery because some supplier issue or whatever. I said this is a problem because I have a guy here who is gonna install it as soon as the flooring is done.

The manager promised me that it would be delivered next day, and he would ENSURE that it was the very first thing they delivered, so it should be here around 9-9:30am.

As you can guess, the item did not arrive and as of 11:15am still hasn't arrived. The installer finished the last bits of the flooring installation, and it waiting around. Multiple phone calls, the guy that deals with it is not in until the afternoon, but they said they contacted the driver and he'd be here around midday.

Delivery cost me £30 which is quite extortionate IMO, but I really needed it delivered on time and was having trouble organising a car to go to a further store so I paid it (last week I had a 2mx2m carpet shipped from Germany which only cost £17 delivery!!!).

They claimed that their T&C says don't arrange an installer before the goods have arrived and been inspected therefore they won't reimburse me for time, and they said they will refund half the delivery cost.

But I don't think this is acceptable as I was both lied to and had the delivery delayed. Reading up on what MSE has to say, it's certainly a breach of contract and I believe based on the manager's promises that it should fall under the 'time is of the essence' clause due to the specific assurances it would be delivered first thing the next day after it was already late.

There isn't much more info on the MSE article, so I am wondering what other people think. I am BEYOND fuming mad that he is sitting around downstairs and I am likely paying him for an extra 2 hours while we wait for the stupid van to arrive.

Any advice is welcome on what I should do.

Here are the terms:

http://www.wickes.co.uk/deliverydetails

It clearly states:

All quoted delivery dates and times are estimates and although we will try our best to meet them we will not be responsible if we are unable to do so. We will let you know if we cannot deliver your products within 30 days of when we receive your payment and will give you the option to either wait for the Products or cancel your order and receive a full refund.

We strongly recommend that you do not book fitters or trades persons until your order has been delivered and checked by you. We cannot be held responsible for any third-party costs or charges which you incur due to non-delivery of an order, or orders that have not been checked on delivery.

They've covered themselves pretty well, its not a breach of contract, its not failure of time of the essence.

Not only that its by end of day delivery so if its on the van then they stiill haven't failed to deliver...

Pandilex

Anybody can write a T&C document saying "I'm not responsible for anything" but it doesn't make it legally binding.

The part that ticks me off is that I was promised it would be delivered first thing the next day, after explaining that it was essential. If you make that assurance I don't think you can then quote the T&C when it's not met?

robpw2

Pandilex wrote: »

Anybody can write a T&C document saying "I'm not responsible for anything" but it doesn't make it legally binding.

The part that ticks me off is that I was promised it would be delivered first thing the next day, after explaining that it was essential. If you make that assurance I don't think you can then quote the T&C when it's not met?

Ok so the question would be can you rely on the assurances that were made? did the person who gave you those assurances have the power to make them and would a reasonable person expect to rely on
1. did they make assurances or say we can order them for delivery and they usually arrive first thing .
2. If the terms and conditions state that all quoted dates are estimates then it would be fair to assume that you were not given any assurances but guidance to when it may be in


I think your going to find it very difficult arguing that you were assured the items would be there first thing on the 2nd when there was a bank holiday the day before.

I think you could request a refund of the delivery charge as a gesture of good will.

Do you have any documentation with the delivery date and time specified? were the terms and conditions attached etc

Pandilex

I've calmed down a bit now. But thinking about it if the guy had said on the phone 'we might be able to deliver tomorrow' then I would have told the contractor not to hang around and we'll do the install another day. But because he specifically assured me it would be here first thing, I told the contractor that it'd be delivered first thing so by the time he finished up he'd be good to go. I did explain about my situation.

The T&C is part of the order process, so I did agree to it initially.

I reckon I'll just phone the manager up and have a rant and see what happens. Thanks for the advice.

Shaka_Zulu

OP infuriating I know. But at this time of year I would have built in some slack to my plans.

I am having a pallet of flax delivered and should have ordered last week fortunately the company have said I will get it on Friday which I am mightily relieved about and didn't expect.

Pandilex

I did indeed build slack by thinking I could collect them, but then they went out of stock, couldn't give me any info of when they'd have them, so I was forced to go to plan B and get them delivered, and then plan B failed when they had to reschedule, so plan C was to wait until the next day on a promise...

Gavin83

What do you actually want as an outcome from this?

Has it arrived yet?