Is chargeback my best option here?

dgerrard

Hi all, apologies, know this likely isn't quite the forum for this, but couldn't see a better fit and want some advice:

I booked a parcel collection for FedEx via a site called parcelcompare.com. Seemed a good price, straightforward setup. £36 for next day pickup at my house between 9am-6pm, fine by me as I work from home.

First day, 6:15pm, no driver had shown up. Went to parcelcompare.com to call them about it, but no number listed. Called FedEx directly, they said the driver had attended but nobody was home. Preposterous, as I was home all day, with no knock at my door, and no call to my phone.

Wrote to parcelcompare, their site says "rebooking is £6 unless the driver didn't attend". As it is urgent, I re-booked for the next day, thinking I would not be charged, or at least would be refunded. They are now telling me "we spoke to FedEx, the driver DID attend but you weren't there, the £6 is valid". Which is a lie, I was there the whole day, and if necessary can get CCTV from the Concierge to prove that they never attended. Additional fun fact: their website states for example that the £6 rebooking fee is charged by the carrier to parcelcompare, and they pass this charge onto the client. I have it in writing from FedEx that this is not true, and they do not charge rebooking fees.

2nd day, exact same thing happened! Furious, I wrote to parcelcompare to cancel. They've written back to say, yep, they can cancel: £6 cancellation fee, refund of £30 of the original £36.

Because the package was becoming so urgent I took it to a depot and mailed it myself. I have three charges to my card: the original £36, the £6 rebooking fee, and a refund of £30.

I am livid about all this, not because of the money as such, but because they're getting away with theft. Would my best option here be, to chargeback all three charges, including the refund? I've never heard of using chargebacks across multiple charges like this.

Also: how can I warn more people about all this? I feel sick that they're trying to rip me off like this, especially around the holidays when everyone is so frantic. It's clear that parcelcompare's business model is to screw people around and nickel-and-dime them with transaction fees, rather than provide a decent service.

Terry_Towelling

So in essence, you are out of pocket to the tune of £12. I don't think your issuer will entertain a Chargeback on this one.

I think if you put this case to your card company they may be inclined to repay you the £12 and write it off themselves. You'd get your money back (maybe) but parcelcompare would not get any 'reprimand'.

On the other hand, they might say the £6 rebooking fee is the only item actually in dispute and agree to repay that. The £6 cancellation fee was willingly incurred by you and is not in dispute.

By the way, have you checked the CCTV to see if you are actually in the right here?

Whether parcelcompare can justify their charging structure and whether they have told you the truth about why they charge a rebooking fee is another issue. However, if they have a published tariff then that is that.

eco_warrior

It’s a lot of they said v you said

However your bank can process 2 chargebacks for service not provided

They can dispute £6 of the original £36 and then the other rebooking charge of £6. I’d expect this to be successful as it’s the merchant who must prove that they did provide the service or you prevented it. I don’t see how they can, or why they would bother, for £12.

Their t&cs might cover off some liability but I think you’d win.

So call your card provider and see what they say.

Terry_Towelling

It will probably boil down to cost here. It will cost your issuer more than £12 to handle your case and that's why I reckon they'd probably just write it/some of it off.

Op let us know how you get on.

eco_warrior

Could do Terry. I think the op will get sorted one way or the other.

In my place we removed our “write off” threshold of £15 a few years ago. We are mostly MasterCard so get €15 for every successful chargeback, so even 1p transactions get disputed these days for income purposes

MEM62

dgerrard wrote: »

Hi all, apologies, know this likely isn't quite the forum for this, but couldn't see a better fit and want some advice:

I booked a parcel collection for FedEx via a site called parcelcompare.com. Seemed a good price, straightforward setup. £36 for next day pickup at my house between 9am-6pm, fine by me as I work from home.

First day, 6:15pm, no driver had shown up. Went to parcelcompare.com to call them about it, but no number listed. Called FedEx directly, they said the driver had attended but nobody was home. Preposterous, as I was home all day, with no knock at my door, and no call to my phone.
When this collection failed you should have checked with FedEx and asked what time the driver attended. You could have then disputed this with CCTV evidence.

Wrote to parcelcompare, their site says "rebooking is £6 unless the driver didn't attend". As it is urgent, I re-booked for the next day, thinking I would not be charged, or at least would be refunded. They are now telling me "we spoke to FedEx, the driver DID attend but you weren't there, the £6 is valid". Which is a lie, I was there the whole day, and if necessary can get CCTV from the Concierge to prove that they never attended. Additional fun fact: their website states for example that the £6 rebooking fee is charged by the carrier to parcelcompare, and they pass this charge onto the client. I have it in writing from FedEx that this is not true, and they do not charge rebooking fees.
I am sure that FedEx would not issue such a statement in respect of their relationship with Parcelcompare. They will have a specific contract with this intermediary and there is no way they would disclose the details of that to the general public.

2nd day, exact same thing happened! Furious, I wrote to parcelcompare to cancel. They've written back to say, yep, they can cancel: £6 cancellation fee, refund of £30 of the original £36.
Again, the could be disputed using your CCTV. FedEx are among the most reliable of the parcel operators and two failed collections are unlikely.

Because the package was becoming so urgent I took it to a depot and mailed it myself. I have three charges to my card: the original £36, the £6 rebooking fee, and a refund of £30.

I am livid about all this, not because of the money as such, but because they're getting away with theft. Would my best option here be, to chargeback all three charges, including the refund? I've never heard of using chargebacks across multiple charges like this.
You need to acquaint yourself with the definition of theft - this is not it. In the first instance raise the case with Parcelcompare and see what response you get. It may not be positive but that is a consequence of dealing with an intermediary rather than the carrier direct.

Also: how can I warn more people about all this? I feel sick that they're trying to rip me off like this, especially around the holidays when everyone is so frantic. It's clear that parcelcompare's business model is to screw people around and nickel-and-dime them with transaction fees, rather than provide a decent service.
It is more likely that they are just inept rather than they are trying to rip you off. They are selling someone else's service at a minimum mark up. You need to align your expectations of the service you receive with this in mind.

........................

Terry_Towelling

eco_warrior wrote: »

Could do Terry. I think the op will get sorted one way or the other.

In my place we removed our “write off” threshold of £15 a few years ago. We are mostly MasterCard so get €15 for every successful chargeback, so even 1p transactions get disputed these days for income purposes

That's an interesting piece of new knowledge for me. There was no 'reward' for a successful Chargeback in my days. Do you have to pay out 15 Euros for a failed Chargeback?

The problem with OP's case is that he did rebook the delivery and he did cancel the delivery second time around - so both of those charges are technically valid and authorised. They also got a refund of the £30 cost - I guess OP could argue the rebooked delivery never took place.

If a Chargeback were made, I'm not sure how the retailer would prove that FedEx did attend the address. With some of the deliveries I have received recently, delivery agents often take a photograph of the premises and (where relevant) a photo of the goods in the property. Whether FedEx gathers photo evidence of failed collections I have no idea but I would imagine they'd do something to protect themselves. I also imagine they'd need to evidence a failed collection if they do indeed pass on an admin charge to parcelcompare.

Quite why OP has not checked the CCTV I do not know. OP has also not said whether visitors to the property have to be granted access by the concierge in order to get anywhere near the collection address.