Delivered to neighbor, caused a lot troubles and take sweet time for refund

KinderScout2019

Happy new year! Hope all fellow members have a good start in 2024, doing good in the freezing lately.

I placed an order for an oil filled radiator heater on Delonghi's website on 3rd Jan. It was an expensive heater, >£120. However, I never received the order, no delivery note, nothing at all. I checked DPD courier tracking and only found that it was left with the next-door neighbor. I asked around and checked with all my neighbors, none of my neighbors had received it.

The simplest way to contact Delonghi was by webchat, but I had to queue for a long time (20min) before I could chat with Delonghi customer service to escalate this issue and they promised an investigation (up to 1 week). It was freezing weather, I could not wait any further, and I requested to cancel the order. I would buy one from the local shop instead. Then I received an email on 10th Jan that the heater was delivered to another neighbor who had not moved in, and I have to collect it. This explained why I spoke to all my neighbors and could not find the heater. I replied to the email, but the email address was not accepting email replies.

So, I had to queue a long time (20min) again just to talk to Delonghi customer service. The customer service advised me to find the heater from the neighbor and then return it for refund. I really hate the hassles. I never requested the order to be delivered to my neighbor, and now it was my responsibility to find out where the heater was and only to return the heater to get back my money. The customer service advised that this resolution was found by their management team, he could not do anything to help. I didn't want the heater anymore and I would immediately return the heater even if it was delivered. But I thought my new neighbor was kind enough to help taking the delivery for me, I didn't want to put my neighbor in trouble and ruin the relationship before they move me.

So, I had to rush here and there to reach out for the new neighbor but I could not contact the new neighbor because they had not moved in. I regretted my decision also because what if the package was damage, I cannot reject delivery from my kind neighbor. Looking at the customer service reply above, how Delonghi operate was their management can make whatever decision they wanted, ignoring the customer. So if I return with the broken packaging, I would be at the mercy of their management to get full refund.

Then Delonghi called me, I told him I had enough hassles and I didn't want the heater and he promised to arrange collection from the new neighbor and refund me. After more than 1 week, today 23rd Jan, I didn't receive an update nor refund. I had to queue a long time again (30min) just to talk to Delonghi customer service. The customer service said the heater had arrived at Delonghi on 16th Jan, but I need to allow 7-10 working days from this date for the refund to be issued.

TL;DR:
I am fed up. I paid a premium price for Delonghi heater but all I get were hassles. I didn't ask to deliver it to my neighbor either. It caused so much trouble, hassles, wasted time to queue (20min-30min each time) for web chat to reach their customer service 3 times and tremendous stress to find the heater with my new neighbor so that I could get my money back. The last straw made me so fed up: While I struggled so much to find where the heater was delivered, Delonghi happily takes all sweet time just to process the refund (the heater had arrived at Delonghi on 16th Jan, but I need to allow 7-10 working days from this date for the refund to be issued.), Delonghi didn't take this seriously at all. I requested the customer service to escalate to the manager and to call me, but they refused. I insisted twice then she said this could only be done in 24-48 hours.

Delonghi obviously didn't care and just wanted to brush me off. I am not sure what is my consumer right in this case. Is there anything I can request for the troubles and hassles Delonghi caused me please?

eskbanker

Your consumer rights are for a refund within 14 days - you can have a moan at them to see if they agree that it's been poor customer service and would be prepared to make a token gesture over and above the refund, but to be honest it doesn't sound particularly harrowing....

Okell

Your new neighbour must be rather daft if they accepted a delivery on your behalf knowing that they wouldn't be present for a while for you to collect it.   Your neighbour should have refused to accept it in those circumstances.

RefluentBeans

The simple answer is no. Your rights weren’t violated and so the claim of poor customer service, I’m afraid, isn’t something a court is willing to weigh in on. If it was, budget retailers would be out of business. 

They may give you a voucher for the time wasted, but the hopes any additional cash is very unlikely as it’ll be a gesture of goodwill. 

The longer and more complex answer is you can claim for damages. For example, if you had to get counselling or medication to help with the situation that put you out of pocket. But the ‘stress’ of a situation isn’t enough to claim for.