Are sellers allowed to request a parcel be returned before delivery?

phdwho

Ok, well, the seller themselves do not claim this has happened (asking for a replacement). They could be lying. I don't know. It seems very odd to me that, prior to delivery, a return can be asked for. I understand why, in the case of an incorrect product for example, but surely this too can be exploited for ill leaving the customer with no product and an intransigent seller. Seems very strange to me.

phdwho

DullGreyGuy said:

phdwho said:

Entirely possible and I have contacted them. But I thought it wasn't allowed to do this? Once something gets posted, isn't that too late?

Depends on the capabilities of the company you posted it with and probably the size of customer you represent to them.  Clearly if you put a letter in a postbox to your boss and the next morning you remember you signed it with love and kisses then you have a snowballs chance of asking royal mail to search through the millions of bits of post it handles to find your one letter. 

In principle an item that is end to end tracked could be redirected mid route, it just needs to be flagged the next time it's scanned. Its a pain for the couriers so if you are Joe Public sending five parcels a year they'll say it cannot be done but if you are sending hundreds of thousands of parcels its in their interest to keep you happy. 


Personally, have known "seller recalled" to actually mean the courier company broke it but rather than admit they are to blame to you they say the seller told them to return it. There could be other reasons though, like mentioned above if they've realised they sent you a set of frilly knickers rather than the boardgame you ordered. 

As i look at the recorded timeline from the courier this is what I think has happened. It was marked out for delivery on the correct morning at 7am. The next entry says the same thing a few hours later ag 11am. The next entry says 'problem returned to sender' recorded at 7pm. Had the driver done his job without issue (whatever that may be, perhaps it fell out the van and he backed on and over it, who knows!) then it would have arrived, I suspect, in time. Seems peculiar that a return was requested that late in the day. Sadly, given that noone is saying otherwise I may never know. Fortunately Amazon Pay should cover me as, so far, the seller has done very little. They did, yesterday, promise to ship out a replacement. But then didn't bother and never responded for the rest of the day despiteme asking them to confirm shipping (i would have received a new tracking email anyway). 

I shan't be shopping with them again, and I won't use any retailer that chooses Yodel if I can help it

phdwho

MorningcoffeeIV said:

phdwho said:

Entirely possible and I have contacted them. But I thought it wasn't allowed to do this? Once something gets posted, isn't that too late?

To correct a mistake?

No.

If you've ordered a tablecloth and they've sent you a hamster, they won't just ignore it 

Unless the package is obvious (hamster trying to chew its way free) then how would the courier know? 

powerful_Rogue

My guess is that you purchased at a super cheap price.

phdwho

powerful_Rogue said:

My guess is that you purchased at a super cheap price.

It was reduced in price, according to the listing. I should check to see if that listing is still available. If that's the case, it surely bolsters the argument agianst sellers calling back orders. That's super unethical. Be that as it may, they offered to ship a replacement, as I said. Perhaps that's why they never followed through. It's possible I guess, but then all the more reason to just refund me which was what I asked when I rang them up to tell them the delivery had gone awry.

ElefantEd

Which company was it? And more importantly, which boardgame?

MattMattMattUK

phdwho said:

MorningcoffeeIV said:

phdwho said:

Entirely possible and I have contacted them. But I thought it wasn't allowed to do this? Once something gets posted, isn't that too late?

To correct a mistake?

No.

If you've ordered a tablecloth and they've sent you a hamster, they won't just ignore it 

Unless the package is obvious (hamster trying to chew its way free) then how would the courier know? 

The courier will often be able to cancel a delivery before delivery. Couriers will also sometimes return packages which are particularly damaged and/or leaking (of course other times they will deliver an empty, torn open box). It does not make sense that you appear to be so confused by the possibility of a delivery being cancelled.

phdwho said:

powerful_Rogue said:

My guess is that you purchased at a super cheap price.

It was reduced in price, according to the listing. I should check to see if that listing is still available. If that's the case, it surely bolsters the argument agianst sellers calling back orders. That's super unethical. Be that as it may, they offered to ship a replacement, as I said. Perhaps that's why they never followed through. It's possible I guess, but then all the more reason to just refund me which was what I asked when I rang them up to tell them the delivery had gone awry.

No, it does not. You seem to be trying to synthesise some kind of conspiracy when there is unlikely to be one. 

EnPointe

cannugec5 said:

I’ve had a couple of occasions when parcels have been recalled before delivery. In each situation the item has been damaged in transit, so the courier contacted the sender and returned to them. Replacements were sent in due course. 

My tracking showed it as dispatched , then returned to sender. When dispatched a second time had new tracking (obviously) 

alternatively it;s discovered that your  parcel has been mislabelled  and the parcel  with your label on contains something else  

 with higher value items  it can be becasue of a problem with payment or fraud checks get failed on  finanace / service contract checks etc 

RefluentBeans

phdwho said:

powerful_Rogue said:

My guess is that you purchased at a super cheap price.

It was reduced in price, according to the listing. I should check to see if that listing is still available. If that's the case, it surely bolsters the argument agianst sellers calling back orders. That's super unethical. Be that as it may, they offered to ship a replacement, as I said. Perhaps that's why they never followed through. It's possible I guess, but then all the more reason to just refund me which was what I asked when I rang them up to tell them the delivery had gone awry.

But you said the retailer claims they are unaware of this happening? Does this not make you think maybe, just maybe, the retailer is unaware and that it’s the courier that have unilaterally decided to return the item either because it’s damaged (either by them or entered the network damaged); or for some other reason (like the postage label becoming unreadable). 

I don’t think we should always take that companies will do the right thing always, but I doubt there’s a conspiracy to deprive you of a board game, even if it was reduced. If the price was stupidly cheap, and it was missed, I genuinely don’t think a company would go to the effort of recalling the board game. Maybe for something else like a £5000 computer being sold for £1 or something, but for a board game, even if it was basically given away for free, it wouldn’t be worth the hassle. 

Of course if you paid for next day delivery you should get a refund, and if they have the game still in stock you should ask for them to send a copy of the game out to you again (assuming you want it). But I genuinely doubt there’s a conspiracy against you. 

EnPointe

phdwho said:

MorningcoffeeIV said:

phdwho said:

Entirely possible and I have contacted them. But I thought it wasn't allowed to do this? Once something gets posted, isn't that too late?

To correct a mistake?

No.

If you've ordered a tablecloth and they've sent you a hamster, they won't just ignore it 

Unless the package is obvious (hamster trying to chew its way free) then how would the courier know? 

because the Seller recalls it  having discovered the issue   as part of their  daily  audit etc