ParcelMonkey.co.uk advertised service guarantees vs. T&C fine print

peter_333

custardy said:

you know this  (like the rest of us)and as such chose to buy on price

Yes, but just because I used a comparison site to find the best service offering across multiple carriers at the best price, doesn't mean I should automatically expect a lesser product or service.

Or, are you saying that a consumer should expect to get a lesser service marketed as because they purchased through a comparison site rather than direct?

custardy

peter_333 said:

custardy said:

you know this  (like the rest of us)and as such chose to buy on price

Yes, but just because I used a comparison site to find the best service offering across multiple carriers at the best price, doesn't mean I should automatically expect a lesser product or service.

Or, are you saying that a consumer should expect to get a lesser service marketed as because they purchased through a comparison site rather than direct?

Yup and chose from there.
Yet you had no issue finding and contacting PF directly after the fact.
The service was exactly the same whether you bought direct or not. PF make no discrimination.
Which means your issue is the compensation terms given you got the same service as buying direct

visidigi

peter_333 said:

custardy said:

you know this  (like the rest of us)and as such chose to buy on price

Yes, but just because I used a comparison site to find the best service offering across multiple carriers at the best price, doesn't mean I should automatically expect a lesser product or service.

Or, are you saying that a consumer should expect to get a lesser service marketed as because they purchased through a comparison site rather than direct?

Yes you should. You didn't actually get less of service, you got less of a experience when they service failed to be achieved.

Its a bit like buying a TV from Currys and a TV from Richer Sounds. The TV does the same, sold at the same price, but at Curry's you might get a 1 year warranty, but at Richer its 6.

peter_333

visidigi said:

Its a bit like buying a TV from Currys and a TV from Richer Sounds. The TV does the same, sold at the same price, but at Curry's you might get a 1 year warranty, but at Richer its 6.

I guess you're right.

Bottom line, don't trust comparison sites to provide what you assume they'll provide.  (Which unfortunately puts a bit of a damper on a whole heap of what underpins MSE). 

Lesson learnt.  Time for a grumpy trustpilot review and to move on with life.  Thanks all!

peter_333

Update...

1. I pointed PM customer service to the webpage where they say their next day services are "guaranteed".  It was at least the 3rd person I'd pointed to that page, but she seemed to take note and escalated the support ticket.
2. Supervisor has offered a 50% refund.
3. I've reloaded the offending webpage and the "Guaranteed next day delivery services" phrasing has been removed.

Jumblebumble

peter_333 said:

Yes, I understand why these resellers exist.  As you say, I am "held to the service [I] bought".  And what I'm saying is that I have not been provided the service as advertised.

My question was, if the reseller advertises "next day delivery" and uses terms such as "your package WILL be delivered next day" and "Guaranteed next day delivery services", can they reasonably add a clause in their Terms & Conditions that negates that advertising?

Is it fair, reasonable or legal to use fine print to directly contradict the advertising for the service?

I guess my reference to the discussion with PF and their 50% refund guarantee was largely to illustrate that they certainly believe the service received was not up to scratch.

Yes
You buy a hard drive from Western Digital and their website will say  a Drive XXX has a warranty of 3 years 
You take out an identical Drive from a Dell PC and WD will not want to know about the warranty 
Who did you have the contract with ?

deannagone

I am afraid this is one of those 'learning experiences' we all get.  Actually getting Parcel Monkey to deliver the 50% refund is going to be hardly worth the effort, given you probably aren't talking £100's.  Its just one of those 'lower your expectations' regardless of what the website says situations.  Next time you want a parcel delivered, you will use this experience to decide whether to use Parcel Monkey again.  I know when I needed to send a parcel, I didn't use them, having looked at reviews.  Something just told me it wasn't worth the saving.  

peter_333

Jumblebumble said:

Yes
You buy a hard drive from Western Digital and their website will say  a Drive XXX has a warranty of 3 years 
You take out an identical Drive from a Dell PC and WD will not want to know about the warranty 
Who did you have the contract with ?

Feels like you're rehashing things that have already been dealt with.  And your analogy isn't really relevant either.  If I buy a Dell computer, I have no idea who supplied Dell with the internal components, and obviously any warranty claim would be with the manufacturer of the PC, not the OEM supplier.  But if I buy a specific model of Western Digital hard drive from Curry's instead of buying that same specific model from WD's online store, it's absolutely reasonable for me to expect WD to make good on any warranty that they advertise (assuming such a warranty wasn't advertised as an extension available  exclusively to customers who buy direct).

But all that completely misses the entire point here.  I don't want Parcelforce to refund me! I've never asked them to.  My issue is with ParcelMonkey and their false advertising.  Maybe I didn't phrase it clearly enough, so let's put it a different way...

If Curry's advertise a Western Digital hard drive as having a "guaranteed" 200 MB/s read-write speed, then in the middle of their terms and conditions they state, "Read-write speed is not guaranteed", is that fair and reasonable?

peter_333

deannagone said:

I am afraid this is one of those 'learning experiences' we all get.  Actually getting Parcel Monkey to deliver the 50% refund is going to be hardly worth the effort, given you probably aren't talking £100's.  Its just one of those 'lower your expectations' regardless of what the website says situations.  Next time you want a parcel delivered, you will use this experience to decide whether to use Parcel Monkey again.  I know when I needed to send a parcel, I didn't use them, having looked at reviews.  Something just told me it wasn't worth the saving.  

Yes, I've well and truly learnt my lesson.  I'm sure I'll be avoiding shipping comparison sites for quite a while.  

But in good news, as per my earlier post, not only did I get the 50% refund, PM have effectively admitted that their advertising was false and have removed from their website any mention of their next day services being "guaranteed".

They've also clarified the service offering, changing "Your item will be delivered the next working day" to"Parcelforce will aim to deliver your parcel the next working day".

Probably wasn't worth the effort when looking purely at the amount refunded, but if I helped others avoid being led astray, I feel like I've earned an extra mince pie tonight.