Courier Delivered Delayed Item After Cancellation and Refund Now Demands Payment

kippermoose

I purchesd an item on Ebay and arranged for a courier to pick it up. Four days running the pickup did not occur and each day the tracking system reported "pickup failed, rescheduled". Consignee confirmed no attempt to pick up had been made. He lives on a farm up a longish track and confirmed that this particular company habitually misses deliveries as they are too time consuming. (Drivers paid pence per drop/pickup)
Day 5 this report occurred again. I then immeditely spoke to customer services (after the mandatory half hour holding) who told me fibs about "difficulty with the postcode" (there are only 2 addresses on it) and I asked to cancel the order and get a refund which was done with remarkable alacrity. Shortly thereafter I called the consignee to apologise that I would have to re-book a courier. He told me that the item had just been picked up monents ago and the van was driving away!  (How had the pickup been attempted and recorded as failed an hour before the courier actually arrived?)
I waited to see what would happen - not going to waste another half hour listening to hold music! The parcel seemed stuck in their depot for days, then appeared at my door!

Later I got requests to pay for it!

I explained that I had cancelled and they had accepted the cancellation by refunding. That surely ended our contract?  Should they choose to re-instate  the delivery after this point  instead of returning it to it's point of origin as was surely mandated in this case  contracted  it is presumably an act of goodwill as no contract to deliver to me  existed  between us any longer so I am not liable to pay.

They are now threatening legal action.

If they are so incompetent/dishonest that they report "unable to pickup" four days running having made no appearance at the address, and on the final occasion reported this onto their tracking system an hour or so before someone did actually turn up to collect it (How can that possibly be???) I am well within my rights to cancel. If they are so disorganised that - possibly while  or just after  cancellation was being agreed and actioned on the phone someone does in fact collect it - how can I then be expected to pay? They seem able to notify failure to collect instantly via internet  from the driver - how is it the driver isn't told equally quickly that the pickup is cancelled, or that Customer service don't see that it's just been collected as I try to cancel?

Where do I stand?

Keep_pedalling

You have the item, you can’t just keep it. How would you feel if it was the other way round?

kippermoose

That isn't the issue. The item is mine, as explained. This is about an unasked-for delivery service.

MattMattMattUK

kippermoose said:

That isn't the issue. The item is mine, as explained. This is about an unasked-for delivery service.

It was not "unasked-for", although I doubt anyone would disagree that it was far from timely. If you fancy a lot of hassle trying to get them to not charge you and potentially them taking court action then go ahead and ignore them, if you want it resolved quickly and easily then pay them, if you want somewhere in the middle then try and negotiate a discount based on the delays to the service, but keep in mind that you did actually receive the service in the end. 

mattyprice4004

Lets cut to the chase. Do you want to keep the item and not pay for it? 
If not, what exactly do you want to happen? 

You're not going to get the item for free, nor is it fair to expect that. 

pinkshoes

kippermoose said:

The parcel seemed stuck in their depot for days, then appeared at my door!

Later I got requests to pay for it!


Where do I stand?

If you now have the item, then you need to pay for it or return it.

Did the courier just dump it on your doorstep, or did they ring the bell and you acknowledged the delivery? If the former, then contact the company and ask them to collect it. If the latter, then why didn't you just reject it and tell them it was cancelled and to take it back?

born_again

mattyprice4004 said:

Lets cut to the chase. Do you want to keep the item and not pay for it? 
If not, what exactly do you want to happen? 

You're not going to get the item for free, nor is it fair to expect that. 

OP is not talking about the item.... It's the courier that is the problem....

kippermoose

Dear me - only one person so far has troubled to read what I wrote...

Sandtree

Its unusual for the buyer to be the one to be the one to arrange the courier which has probably thrown people.

Irrespective of if we are talking about the item itself or the courier service the guy turned up on your door step and you knew you hadn't paid him to do so... if you didn't want to pay for the delivery you should have refused delivery of the item. Having accepted them delivering it to you then at least morally you've accepted the service knowing it needs paying for.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

OP has paid the seller for the item, they've also paid a courier to pick it and re having the problem with the cancelling the courier who then performed the service. 

It's a bit difficult to refuse a service that's been performed, I'm not sure where you stand exactly but how much was the courier's fee?  

When you say they are now threatening legal action, in what respect? Have they sent you a letter advising you to pay within x days or they will issue small claims proceedings? 

MalMonroe

When you are an eBay buyer, as others have said, it's normally up to the seller to arrange despatch, not you. In fact, the seller should have received an automated email from eBay with an address label with your details on for them to print out, stick on to the parcel and await collection by courier. It's so easy, eBay even arranges the pick up and everything. I've just done this with a vacuum I sold on eBay. 

What I would do now is contact eBay and complain to them. Ask them to deal with it since the whole process has been bungled from start to finish. I'd complain to them and keep on complaining until they made it go away. But I wouldn't have contacted the courier in the first place because it's the seller's responsibility to arrange delivery, and pay for it.

What a headache! It's enough to put you off eBay altogether. Refer back to them.