(House of) FRASERS - Item not in parcel, but they insist it was!

Laurenelise17

I recently did an order with Frasers (previously House of Fraser) of 4 items. One was missing - a £26 top. 
I complained immediately to say it was missing, however they said it was scanned into the parcel and as no damage to the parcel in courier, insist it was there.
I know that it wasn't. I looked everywhere, floor etc. Not there.
We've been back and forth for a few weeks now, and they just insist it was put in and that I cannot appeal or have a refund.

I'm really angry and not sure what I can do next. Why is it just my word against theirs, and they win?!

MikeJXE

This is happening all the time now, it seems the only way to get around this is have an independent whiteness when you open it or better still ask the currier to open your parcel. 

Exodi

Laurenelise17 said:

I recently did an order with Frasers (previously House of Fraser) of 4 items. One was missing - a £26 top. 
I complained immediately to say it was missing, however they said it was scanned into the parcel and as no damage to the parcel in courier, insist it was there.
I know that it wasn't. I looked everywhere, floor etc. Not there.
We've been back and forth for a few weeks now, and they just insist it was put in and that I cannot appeal or have a refund.

I'm really angry and not sure what I can do next. Why is it just my word against theirs, and they win?!

They win if you accept their decision and do nothing else.

The next stage would be court action.

MikeJXE said:

This is happening all the time now, it seems the only way to get around this is have an independent whiteness when you open it or better still ask the currier to open your parcel. 

As you say, discussed a lot, though I haven't seen anything to suggest an independent witness would change the retailers decision (and potentially it makes the customer look more suspicious).

Having the courier open it could work I guess (assuming you reject the delivery should any items be missing), though I'm not sure whether the delivery person would be agreeable to such an arrangement (insisting they open the package without you accepting delivery - if the item was missing they've effectively made themselves the prime suspect as they now have an open box with a missing item which the customer refuses, and they need to take this back to the retailer and try to convince them that they didn't take the item). It's also not very practical as a significant amount of deliveries (rightly or wrongly) happen without the recipient present.

elsien

Given that most couriers dump parcels on the doorstep and run, the chances of any of them agreeing to stick around while you open and check your parcel is extremely remote. 

They are too pressed for time. 

And if you arrange for someone to be there when you’re open the parcel, it’s going to be a family member or friend  so not entirely independent. 

Exodi

elsien said:

Given that most couriers dump parcels on the doorstep and run, the chances of any of them agreeing to stick around while you open and check your parcel is extremely remote. 

They are too pressed for time. 

And if you arrange for someone to be there when you’re open the parcel, it’s going to be a family member or friend  so not entirely independent. 

We had similar views. Unfortunately I've yet to see a method suggested on this forum that has been reported to work.

To expand on what you said, I watched an interview with a Amazon delivery driver yesterday, who said he deliver around 170 parcels per day (working there one month). Including journey time to and from the hub, it worked out to about one parcel every 2-3 minutes, which collaborates with figures online.

Given that most of that time will be spent driving between houses, as you say, I'm sure many couriers would be reluctant to do an unboxing session with the recipient (our Amazon driver leaves it on the doorstep and rings the doorbell as he walks off, even when we're in).

Regarding the independent witness, as you say, they would likely not be independent and even if you did invite over Joe Public from the street I'm not sure on what it proves. I could order an item, carefully open the box from the bottom, empty it, seal it back up, then invite in Joe Public and ask him to watch as I open a box in front of him to discover the contents missing. Personally, if I was the retailer, I would find it incredibly suspicious that a customer had done that before reporting an item as missing.

As much as it sucks, I don't think there is a simple answer to this, and if there was it would be mercilessly exploited. Retailers unfortunately adopt a stance of saying no and likely expecting the genuine cases to be resolved via court escalation.

Murphybear

Exodi said:

Laurenelise17 said:

I recently did an order with Frasers (previously House of Fraser) of 4 items. One was missing - a £26 top. 
I complained immediately to say it was missing, however they said it was scanned into the parcel and as no damage to the parcel in courier, insist it was there.
I know that it wasn't. I looked everywhere, floor etc. Not there.
We've been back and forth for a few weeks now, and they just insist it was put in and that I cannot appeal or have a refund.

I'm really angry and not sure what I can do next. Why is it just my word against theirs, and they win?!

They win if you accept their decision and do nothing else.

The next stage would be court action.

MikeJXE said:

This is happening all the time now, it seems the only way to get around this is have an independent whiteness when you open it or better still ask the currier to open your parcel. 

As you say, discussed a lot, though I haven't seen anything to suggest an independent witness would change the retailers decision (and potentially it makes the customer look more suspicious).

Having the courier open it could work I guess (assuming you reject the delivery should any items be missing), though I'm not sure whether the delivery person would be agreeable to such an arrangement (insisting they open the package without you accepting delivery - if the item was missing they've effectively made themselves the prime suspect as they now have an open box with a missing item which the customer refuses, and they need to take this back to the retailer and try to convince them that they didn't take the item). It's also not very practical as a significant amount of deliveries (rightly or wrongly) happen without the recipient present.

I suspect that most couriers wouldn’t have the time to witness the recipient opening the parcel.