Refused Delivery - Royal Mail Claimed It was delivered

Chippyshell

Hi,

I ordered 2x iPhone 14s way back in January and have been going back and forth with the retailer ever since I REFUSED the delivery. The retailer is claiming they never received the item and the tracking didn't update from "refused - return to sender" for over 4months, recently the tracking did update and showed delivered but they are still claiming that they did not receive the item and that the latest scans as per below are "mis-types" according to Royal Mail. I did purchase with my credit card but they unable to help (Section 75)  as I did not follow the returned process within the retailers terms and conditions (however I'm not too convinced this is true, I think I'm able to refuse any delivery) 

This was the response was Royal Mail from the last escalation from the retailer: 

"We are confident that the scans obtained post-delivery on 17/01/23 and of late were as a result of a barcode issue associated with a specific bag and actually had no bearing on the physical item itself;

"To provide more detail, sometimes if we experience an issue with scanning a barcode, our operational colleagues sometimes have to enter a tracking number manually which in this case was mis-typed causing incorrect tracking information to be attributed to this reference" - Hence it was scanned as 'refused - returned to sender' and now has a subsequent delivery scan."

To summarise: 

Tracking showed Delivered 17/01/2023
Tracking showed Refused and returned to sender 17/01/2023
Tracking showed as Item received 24/05/2023
Tracking showed as item due to be delivered today 30/05/2023
Tracking showed as item delivered and signed 30/05/2023 

What can I do next and what rights do I have?

Alderbank

You ordered 2 iPhones and REFUSED delivery.
You did not follow the returned process within the retailers terms and conditions.
This has led to problems.

Can you tell us a little more about context of all this?

Devongardener

Why did you order the phones and them refuse them?  There must be more to this.

Chippyshell

Devongardener said:

Why did you order the phones and them refuse them?  There must be more to this.

Alderbank said:

You ordered 2 iPhones and REFUSED delivery.
You did not follow the returned process within the retailers terms and conditions.
This has led to problems.

Can you tell us a little more about context of all this?

The phones had just came out soo already got a cheaper deal somewhere else via a scheme at work.  I refused the delivery because I thought stupidly that you could refuse a delivery for any reason. The retailer never had an issue with me refusing it and just told me wait, the issues only started happening when the tracking didn’t move.  

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Pass of risk occurs when the consumer (or someone named by them) takes physical possession.

Refusing delivery means risk remains with the trader. 

A refund is due under delivery of goods from the CRA. 

If S75 applies to the payment the card provider can't insist you follow the retailer's return process as the CRA supersedes this. 

tightauldgit

If you never took possession of the items and RM confirm this then it's not your issue what happened to them after that - that's an issue for the seller and their courier. As post above says passing of risk occurs when you have them in your hands and if you refused delivery that never happened. 

You're due a refund. The fact you didn't use the returns method of the supplier is irrelevant. 

The only way I could see this not being an open and shut case is if RM are disputing that you refused them and saying they delivered them to you - which it doesn't appear they are.

Chippyshell

tightauldgit said:

If you never took possession of the items and RM confirm this then it's not your issue what happened to them after that - that's an issue for the seller and their courier. As post above says passing of risk occurs when you have them in your hands and if you refused delivery that never happened. 

You're due a refund. The fact you didn't use the returns method of the supplier is irrelevant. 

The only way I could see this not being an open and shut case is if RM are disputing that you refused them and saying they delivered them to you - which it doesn't appear they are.

I tried explaining this during the S75 - I live in a block of flats soo often the postman will mark as delivered as ring him in the buzzer, Royal Mail are claiming that all the updates on the tracking after Delivered are "miss-type" by the operation team

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Banks are regulated, if they haven't handled your S75 claim appropriately you need to follow their complaints procedure OP.  

tightauldgit

Chippyshell said:

tightauldgit said:

If you never took possession of the items and RM confirm this then it's not your issue what happened to them after that - that's an issue for the seller and their courier. As post above says passing of risk occurs when you have them in your hands and if you refused delivery that never happened. 

You're due a refund. The fact you didn't use the returns method of the supplier is irrelevant. 

The only way I could see this not being an open and shut case is if RM are disputing that you refused them and saying they delivered them to you - which it doesn't appear they are.

I tried explaining this during the S75 - I live in a block of flats soo often the postman will mark as delivered as ring him in the buzzer, Royal Mail are claiming that all the updates on the tracking after Delivered are "miss-type" by the operation team

Maybe I mis-understood, are RM saying you DID receive the item? Even though you didn't. 

Chippyshell

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Banks are regulated, if they haven't handled your S75 claim appropriately you need to follow their complaints procedure OP.  

Wil do, did start this last week, 8 week lead time but we shall see outcome

Chippyshell

tightauldgit said:

Chippyshell said:

tightauldgit said:

If you never took possession of the items and RM confirm this then it's not your issue what happened to them after that - that's an issue for the seller and their courier. As post above says passing of risk occurs when you have them in your hands and if you refused delivery that never happened. 

You're due a refund. The fact you didn't use the returns method of the supplier is irrelevant. 

The only way I could see this not being an open and shut case is if RM are disputing that you refused them and saying they delivered them to you - which it doesn't appear they are.

I tried explaining this during the S75 - I live in a block of flats soo often the postman will mark as delivered as ring him in the buzzer, Royal Mail are claiming that all the updates on the tracking after Delivered are "miss-type" by the operation team

Maybe I mis-understood, are RM saying you DID receive the item? Even though you didn't. 

Tracking showed Delivered 17/01/2023
Tracking showed Refused and returned to sender 17/01/2023 - Royal Mail are claiming this is a miss-type and that they were delivered.