Duplicate order, subscription, what are my rights?

stenat

Short version- I needed to update the payment details for my pet food subscription as card became invalid and most recent order failed. I did so, checked my orders over and none were being processed any time soon so I manually updated the next order's delivery date. It turns out their system did the same thing and so my order was duplicated and delivered twice, day after the other. The company takes no responsibility and refuses to refund

Detailed version - I've raw pet food subscription, the card on the account was invalid so my latest order didn't go through. A few days later, on 17/01, I updated the card details, checked my past and upcoming orders, nothing was showing that my latest cancelled order was now being processed and the next upcoming order was showing date several weeks away. I updated the upcoming order date to the closest available and as it was still early morning the order was accepted on that day with next day delivery on 18/01. The following upcoming orders were updated accordingly and automatically. The order was received yesterday, as expected. 

This morning I received a text message from courier saying they'll be delivering order from them again. I checked the account and it appears the same order was placed again on the 18/01 for delivery on 19/01 and the upcoming orders were updated accordingly again. I have nothing to do with this order. I called them and they insist that it was because me and the system placed the order at the same time, and the order placed on the 18th was actually mine, just delayed by the system by 1 day. That may well be true, but that's an inadequately working system. There is no info on their website that tells you what to do or expect in the situation I was in, and at the time of me updating the order there was no other order showing as being automatically updated or processed, no email confirmation or info that the order I manually updated would be delayed by a day etc. It's only one 7-weekly subscription and I feel like the error should have been spotted by them. The food is raw so cannot be returned, I've no space in the freezer so it's going to waste. They're not taking responsibility. 

Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulation says practice is unfair if it fails to meet the standard of "professional diligence", also if it fails to provide accurate information. I don't think the goods count as unsolicited, but the order was certainly not placed twice by me, and I feel the payment they took was unauthorised. I wonder if anyone could guide me/ advise where I stand with this when the company is refusing to refund?

P.S. Reading trustpilot reviews of the company they are notorious for seriously bad customer service, they never refund, they'd rather keep your money for that one order than to keep your subscription going, potentially for years.

born_again

Sounds like they got the new card details via Visa/Mastercard systems as they are entitled too.

Sadly many retailers send out emails stating order declined & to update card details, then request them via the systems in place..

pinkshoes

Which site is it?

Is it possible that the T&Cs state that updating the card details will allow the product to then be sent out ASAP? So the updating of card details triggered the previous order,  and you also then ordered.

Grumpy_chap

stenat said:

Short version- I needed to update the payment details for my pet food subscription as card became invalid and most recent order failed. I did so, checked my orders over and none were being processed any time soon so I manually updated the next order's delivery date. It turns out their system did the same thing and so my order was duplicated and delivered twice, day after the other. The company takes no responsibility and refuses to refund

Detailed version - I've raw pet food subscription, the card on the account was invalid so my latest order didn't go through. A few days later, on 17/01, I updated the card details, checked my past and upcoming orders, nothing was showing that my latest cancelled order was now being processed and the next upcoming order was showing date several weeks away. I updated the upcoming order date to the closest available and as it was still early morning the order was accepted on that day with next day delivery on 18/01. The following upcoming orders were updated accordingly and automatically. The order was received yesterday, as expected. 

This morning I received a text message from courier saying they'll be delivering order from them again. I checked the account and it appears the same order was placed again on the 18/01 for delivery on 19/01 and the upcoming orders were updated accordingly again. I have nothing to do with this order. I called them and they insist that it was because me and the system placed the order at the same time, and the order placed on the 18th was actually mine, just delayed by the system by 1 day. That may well be true, but that's an inadequately working system. There is no info on their website that tells you what to do or expect in the situation I was in, and at the time of me updating the order there was no other order showing as being automatically updated or processed, no email confirmation or info that the order I manually updated would be delayed by a day etc. It's only one 7-weekly subscription and I feel like the error should have been spotted by them. The food is raw so cannot be returned, I've no space in the freezer so it's going to waste. They're not taking responsibility. 

Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulation says practice is unfair if it fails to meet the standard of "professional diligence", also if it fails to provide accurate information. I don't think the goods count as unsolicited, but the order was certainly not placed twice by me, and I feel the payment they took was unauthorised. I wonder if anyone could guide me/ advise where I stand with this when the company is refusing to refund?

P.S. Reading trustpilot reviews of the company they are notorious for seriously bad customer service, they never refund, they'd rather keep your money for that one order than to keep your subscription going, potentially for years.

Situations like this are annoying, but is there a practical work around?

What is the shelf life of the pet food?
Can the shelf life be extended, e.g. by cooking in advance?
Do you meet the entire diet for your pet from the subscription pet food, or do you supplement that with pet food from other sources?
If the latter, can the pet have a little more of the subscription pet food and a little less of the other until the "excess" of subscription pet food is reduced to whatever your normal stock level would be?

That is not a consumer rights response, but a pragmatic response given that the company are not being as co-operative as you would wish.

screech_78

Grumpy_chap said:

stenat said:

Short version- I needed to update the payment details for my pet food subscription as card became invalid and most recent order failed. I did so, checked my orders over and none were being processed any time soon so I manually updated the next order's delivery date. It turns out their system did the same thing and so my order was duplicated and delivered twice, day after the other. The company takes no responsibility and refuses to refund

Detailed version - I've raw pet food subscription, the card on the account was invalid so my latest order didn't go through. A few days later, on 17/01, I updated the card details, checked my past and upcoming orders, nothing was showing that my latest cancelled order was now being processed and the next upcoming order was showing date several weeks away. I updated the upcoming order date to the closest available and as it was still early morning the order was accepted on that day with next day delivery on 18/01. The following upcoming orders were updated accordingly and automatically. The order was received yesterday, as expected. 

This morning I received a text message from courier saying they'll be delivering order from them again. I checked the account and it appears the same order was placed again on the 18/01 for delivery on 19/01 and the upcoming orders were updated accordingly again. I have nothing to do with this order. I called them and they insist that it was because me and the system placed the order at the same time, and the order placed on the 18th was actually mine, just delayed by the system by 1 day. That may well be true, but that's an inadequately working system. There is no info on their website that tells you what to do or expect in the situation I was in, and at the time of me updating the order there was no other order showing as being automatically updated or processed, no email confirmation or info that the order I manually updated would be delayed by a day etc. It's only one 7-weekly subscription and I feel like the error should have been spotted by them. The food is raw so cannot be returned, I've no space in the freezer so it's going to waste. They're not taking responsibility. 

Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulation says practice is unfair if it fails to meet the standard of "professional diligence", also if it fails to provide accurate information. I don't think the goods count as unsolicited, but the order was certainly not placed twice by me, and I feel the payment they took was unauthorised. I wonder if anyone could guide me/ advise where I stand with this when the company is refusing to refund?

P.S. Reading trustpilot reviews of the company they are notorious for seriously bad customer service, they never refund, they'd rather keep your money for that one order than to keep your subscription going, potentially for years.

Situations like this are annoying, but is there a practical work around?

What is the shelf life of the pet food?
Can the shelf life be extended, e.g. by cooking in advance?
Do you meet the entire diet for your pet from the subscription pet food, or do you supplement that with pet food from other sources?
If the latter, can the pet have a little more of the subscription pet food and a little less of the other until the "excess" of subscription pet food is reduced to whatever your normal stock level would be?

That is not a consumer rights response, but a pragmatic response given that the company are not being as co-operative as you would wish.

Raw food is usually frozen and should be put in the freezer when it arrives and defrosted as required. So providing the OP has the freezer space, they could just skip the next box and all will be fine. If they don’t (I wouldn’t) then it would be wasted. 

I’m not best placed to advise on your rights though, as I’m honestly not sure if they done anything wrong or not. 

RefluentBeans

I understand that food is excluded from the consumer contracts regs - meaning that you haven’t got 14 days to return your chicken bhuna, lamb bhuna, prawn bhuna, mushroom rice, bag of chips, keema naan and 9 poppadoms, but does the regs differentiate between human food and pet food? 

ArbitraryRandom

RefluentBeans said:

I understand that food is excluded from the consumer contracts regs? 

The wording is "goods which are liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly" 28(1)(c)

Arguably that wouldn't include frozen food... but the issue would possibly be if they have been stored at the appropriate temps for the whole time shipping there and back. 

RefluentBeans

ArbitraryRandom said:

RefluentBeans said:

I understand that food is excluded from the consumer contracts regs? 

The wording is "goods which are liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly" 28(1)(c)

Arguably that wouldn't include frozen food... but the issue would possibly be if they have been stored at the appropriate temps for the whole time shipping there and back. 

Ah that makes sense. It’s a tricky situation - hopefully a remedial solution can be reached! 

stenat

pinkshoes said:

Which site is it?

Is it possible that the T&Cs state that updating the card details will allow the product to then be sent out ASAP? So the updating of card details triggered the previous order,  and you also then ordered.

Umm, I don't know if it's appropriate to name the company, but no, there is no information given for that scenario

stenat

Grumpy_chap said:

Situations like this are annoying, but is there a practical work around?

What is the shelf life of the pet food?
Can the shelf life be extended, e.g. by cooking in advance?
Do you meet the entire diet for your pet from the subscription pet food, or do you supplement that with pet food from other sources?
If the latter, can the pet have a little more of the subscription pet food and a little less of the other until the "excess" of subscription pet food is reduced to whatever your normal stock level would be?

That is not a consumer rights response, but a pragmatic response given that the company are not being as co-operative as you would wish.

Thanks for the ideas It's a complete food and all that my cats eat, I've no freezer space left because it's already full after previous day's delivery, and it can't be cooked either as it has bone in it etc, etc, and it's not cheap, certainly not the amount I want to throw in the bin! But even if all that wasn't an issue, they have charged me twice forcing me to accept a product I did not want to buy and it doesn't sit right with me. 

ArbitraryRandom

Assuming no joy with the company and looking for other options - If you are suggesting the second order was unauthorised or a site glitch then you could try contacting your card issuer.

Not confident it would work (the company would get to defend the case) and if it did it might mean you need to find a new suppler.