DPD Franchise Witholding Drivers Pay

stuarthellard

HI can anyone shed any light on this please, my son is a delivery driver for a DPD franchise and they are charging delivery drivers for the parcel full cost, when a dispute is in progress regards a delivery. Even if the Scanner has proof of delivery and a photo and yet the recipient is claiming the delivery has not been made.
The DPD contractor franchise has told the driver that they will be charged for the full amount of the parcel, that this amount will be taken out of the drivers pay in full, in this instance £1400....!! 
The driver has been back to the recipients address however could not get an answer, so has left a note explaining that if a claim has been made by mistake then this needs to be addressed.  I find it very hard to understand that why a driver has to take the full brunt of a delivery cost, from his pay where a recipient has claimed that a delivery has not been made. The Franchise owner has told the driver that until its rectified then the drivers pay will be minus the full amount and so  is out of pocket of the value of the delivery which in this case is £1400.
This doesnt seem right at all, i have tried to contact DPD directly which has been difficult managed to get through to x2 departments, the second telling me that this is not right that the driver should not be charged, then was put through to the Franchise department , which of course was a answerphone so i had to leave a message outlining the issue.

Jillanddy

Normally where there is a franchise is nothing to do with the main company - the franchise has their own legal status and employment terms.  

Deducting money from wages depends on many factors including employment status and contractual terms.  Without knowing those details nobody can say with certainty whether this is lawful or not. 

As an aside,  did he get a picture of the delivery with the owners door open? I ask because I have more than once had parcels left in full view of the street on the doorstep and parcels have been photographed in that way - but I have either not been in or have only got to the door after the delivery van had already gone! If that's what he did then he's going to find it hard to prove he delivered it.

stuarthellard

The parcel was actually posted through the letterbox as it was small enough to do so. Regards contract they are reluctant to produce a contract also they didnt send a contract to my son either, also it seems that my son was employed on a self employed basis as well from the DPD franchiser .

Jillanddy

stuarthellard said:

The parcel was actually posted through the letterbox as it was small enough to do so. Regards contract they are reluctant to produce a contract also they didnt send a contract to my son either, also it seems that my son was employed on a self employed basis as well from the DPD franchiser .

Sorry but really that doesn't make any sense.  Your cannot be both self-employed and employed at the same time for the same employer.  He was one or the other. And it does make a huge difference. If self- employed he really should have had insurance in place, as he would be responsible for anything that goes wrong.  You're going to need to be able to provide more details of his employment for any meaningful advice. 

If he's employed it will be hard but not impossible for them to legally reclaim this money.  Self employed is much more difficult. 

I am a bit astonished that a parcel worth that much didn't have any requirement that there be proof of delivery. Posting it through a letter box isn't proof of delivery, and in this case size shouldn't matter - just because it fits through a letterbox doesn't mean it should have been put through the letterbox. He's really left himself wide open on that.  I'm sure he's telling the truth,  but the problem is that people don't - and couriers who take off with the goods are not unheard of. In fact a few years ago Amazon delivered my brand new and very expensive tablet to me and handed it to me personally at the door. Unfortunately for the lying toerag who "delivered" it, he failed to (a) realise that I had cctv and (b) you couldn't actually get to my street anyway due to the six feet of snow on it. 

Thrugelmir

stuarthellard said:

The parcel was actually posted through the letterbox as it was small enough to do so

If the parcel required proof of delivery, i.e. a signature. That's irrelevant.  The world is full of people who will happily defraud. Never been any different.  Anybody that has ever traded on Ebay will have encountered those that claim non receipt if the item is simply posted. Expensive lesson to learn. In an attempt not to have to do a second drop and incur the time and expense. 

oh_really

@stuarthellard, It may be better to ask your son to post information himself on the matter. He will be best placed to provide clarity

stuarthellard

Cheers all i have advised my son he is better suited to work for a firm that pay his tax and stamp and have some decent training in place, regards this. Also he has been paid the full amount of wages now as he went to the customers house and stated that and showed proof of delivery and also asked for the CCTV footage of the date of delivery as the customer had a CCTV system on the front door , and low and behold the customer found the package and dropped the complaint. He is looking for work with a different firm now though as dealing with dishonest customers where the delivery driver bears the brunt/full cost of a parcel just doesnt sit right with me, seems that this is the main story regards franchises be very very careful

Thrugelmir

stuarthellard said:

He is looking for work with a different firm now though as dealing with dishonest customers where the delivery driver bears the brunt/full cost of a parcel just doesnt sit right with me, seems that this is the main story regards franchises be very very careful

I refuse to do business with anyone who uses Hermes. A valuable package that was supposed to be signed for was left on the doorstep, and disappeared. Hermes were a complete pain to deal with. Professionalism of the employee is paramount. 

74jax

stuarthellard said:

Cheers all i have advised my son he is better suited to work for a firm that pay his tax and stamp and have some decent training in place, regards this. Also he has been paid the full amount of wages now as he went to the customers house and stated that and showed proof of delivery and also asked for the CCTV footage of the date of delivery as the customer had a CCTV system on the front door , and low and behold the customer found the package and dropped the complaint. He is looking for work with a different firm now though as dealing with dishonest customers where the delivery driver bears the brunt/full cost of a parcel just doesnt sit right with me, seems that this is the main story regards franchises be very very careful

So in the space of 1 working day, the customer dropped the case, the complaint was closed, DPD did an investigation and decided to pay what was owed, payroll was informed, and he's now been paid? 

Blooming heck, that's pretty good going. 

Jillanddy

74jax said:

stuarthellard said:

Cheers all i have advised my son he is better suited to work for a firm that pay his tax and stamp and have some decent training in place, regards this. Also he has been paid the full amount of wages now as he went to the customers house and stated that and showed proof of delivery and also asked for the CCTV footage of the date of delivery as the customer had a CCTV system on the front door , and low and behold the customer found the package and dropped the complaint. He is looking for work with a different firm now though as dealing with dishonest customers where the delivery driver bears the brunt/full cost of a parcel just doesnt sit right with me, seems that this is the main story regards franchises be very very careful

So in the space of 1 working day, the customer dropped the case, the complaint was closed, DPD did an investigation and decided to pay what was owed, payroll was informed, and he's now been paid? 

Blooming heck, that's pretty good going. 

I've got to admit that that does seem very reasonable and efficient. Whilst I do understand the OP's concerns about these sorts of jobs, there is also some responsibility on people to check these sorts of things - and if self-employed to ensure you are adequately insured for risks / if employed check the company policies on such things. The OP is fair to say that some customers may be dishonest. But so are some of these delivery drivers. And it does underline that since in this case the company policy is that the package is photographed at the open door (whether or not it fits through the letterbox), then you do as your are told, even if it means the inconvenience of having to return the parcel / paperwork for non-delivery. It is not about the honesty of individuals. It is about the policies in place to protect all parties. Being on the street is not the same thing as delivering something, and a photograph of a closed door proves nothing. Last year, early in the pandemic, I "had a delivery" that never arrived. The couriers GPS showed they had been in my street when they claimed to have delivered it to me (I wasn't in and could prove that). Reviewing the CCTV two days later (because I didn't realise it hadn't arrived immediately) it turned out that the item had indeed been delivered - into my recycling bin, which was emptied the day after! And that is Royal Mail, who are supposed to be reliable! Of course, Royal Mail have a policy that you do not put parcels in refuse containers....