Royal Mail delivery - left unsafe - stolen

TeaBee72

Hello.
I’m after advice as I feel as I am being fobbed off by the retailer.

I ordered some clothing from Hollister online and it was posted via Royal Mail to my address.

Royal Mail delivered the parcel but as no one was home, it was left on my doorstep in clear view of the pavement with no attempt made to hide it or put it in one many safe places. I did not ask for it to be left at all.

The parcel was stolen a couple of hours later, 5 minutes before I got home!

Hollister have told me as they deem it as delivered, it is not their problem, and they are not liable.

Royal Mail have confirmed this is outside of their policy to leave like they did and accept liability. But claim Hollister is their customer so can only refund them and not me.

Despite escalation, and informing Hollister of the above they appear not to budge. I have sent a template latter from the CAB website which makes my point clear.

Anyone encountered this before? And/or have any recommendations how best to proceed ? 

PS I have also discussed S75 charge back with Amex and they also stated it’s not covered as it was in their eyes… delivered 🤨

Aylesbury_Duck

It happens quite often, although probably to only a tiny percentage of parcels but that will still be a significant number.

You need to persist with Hollister.  Consumer laws say they are responsible for the item until it's in your possession, which is not your doorstep.

Was the letter a letter before action threatening small claims court action if not resolved in 14 days?  If so, await the outcome and start a claim if you get nothing.

Lavendyr

How do you know it was stolen five minutes before you got home? Have you got a Ring doorbell or similar? If so then presumably you have proof that you can send to the retailer. 

km1500

if all else fails then your recourse is the small claims procedure with Hollister - send them a letter before action 

regarding the rights and wrongs of it - it is hollister's responsible to get the package into your hands. this they have not done - leaving it on your doorstep does not count

LightFlare

Lavendyr said:

How do you know it was stolen five minutes before you got home? Have you got a Ring doorbell or similar? If so then presumably you have proof that you can send to the retailer. 

Indeed - let the retailer know you have this footage and are willing to supply it to them if required.

born_again

Also report to police & get a CRN. All adds a bit more weight. 

prowla

The retailer can "deem" what they like, but leaving the item outside in full-view is not delivered.

The RM is the retailer's customer, not yours, so their insecure service is the retailer's issue.

katejo

This happened to me recently. A Royal Mail delivery van left it outside even though my instructions were to try a neighbour's house. A few days later I saw another Royal Mail van doing the same outside another house in my road. The guy made no attempt to knock on houses either side. Fortunately, my retailer didn't dispute it at all and refunded me (Seasalt). for that reason I am still happy to order from them.

Okell

@TeaBee72 -  what did your CAB template letter say?  Was it a Letter Before Claim (LBC) or was it simply pointing out to Hollister what the law is?

If it was a formal LBC all you can really do is wait and see how they respond.  

If it wasn't a formal LBC I'd suggest you write or email them again and point out that s 29 (2) of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (legislation.gov.uk) makes Hollister liable for the goods until they come into your physical possession.  Obviously leaving the package or whatever unattended on your front doorstep is not delivering it into your physical possession, therefore you are entitled to a refund or replacement.

Include any evidence (eg RM's admission of fault, doorcam images etc).

If they still won't cough up you'll have to consider suing them (which will need a LBC before you issue a claim) or some other course of action.

You say Amex are refusing a s75 claim, but are you certain that they are treating it as a s75 claim or are they treating it as a chargeback?

If you paid by a credit card then I'd suggest that Amex are wrong to say that they are treating it as being delivered for the purposes of s75.  That's because it's the legislation I've linked to above that decides whether or not it's been delivered, not what Amex think.  If it wasn't delivered into your physical possession then legally it wasn't delivered to you for the purposes of the Consumer Rights Act and a s75 claim.

However, if you paid by a debit card or Amex chargecard, you aren't covered by s75 and you would have to rely on a chargeback.  Now try not to laugh, but for the purposes of a chargeback, the goods probably were correctly delivered - even if they weren't delivered to you - and a chargeback would fail.

While you are awaiting a response from Hollister, I'd suggest you go back to Amex and ask them to confirm if they treated your claim as a chargeback or as a s75 claim.  If you paid by credit card tell them you want it processed as a s75 claim and point out to them that under s29(2) of the CRA the goods were not delivered into your physical possession, therefore they weren't delivered to you, therefore you have a s75 claim.

TeaBee72

Thank you all for your help. After using the CAB’s advice letter and quoting the above legislation they have agreed to refund.

very frustrating that without the advice above and from CAB they would have continued to fob off customers. A brand for me to avoid in the future.