WARNING and help?: Debenhams and daylight robbery /misselling protection

Hannimal

I was shopping at Debenhams online and upon checkout a delivery protection fee of £15.99 was added to my order. I did not realise this until I had checked out and paid, despite carefully reviewing my order before placing it. It must have been a ticked box somewhere, Debenhams describes this charge as optional, but I never opted for this and I did not see the box ticked before placing my order. I've shopped at Debenhams before and this must be a new thing. The rate is extorionate and not something I'd ever opt in.

Under UK consumer rights act, the seller is already responsible for ensuring the goods are delivered safely. This means I am/you are protected against for delivery by my statutory rights, without needing to pay an extra charge, so what exactly did they just force-sell to me? Is this extra charge a lawful thing to charge? Especially given that it is not clear to the customer that they are buying it. I am fairly savvy shopper and I got caught out!

I feel aboslutlye mugged. This has been missold, as it was not sufficiently clear at checkout that this was being added to my basket. Although this is certainly my last shop at Debenhams and has really soured the experience, I wonder if I have any recourse? I e-mailed them immediately after making the order but have not received a refund for the charge. I will complain to my credit card issuer next as I paid with AMEX and they're generally quite good with this kind of thing. I am so miffed by this. 

Emmia

The charge seems to be automatically checked below the various delivery options - as shown in the screenshot above 

I agree it's sharp practice.

MyRealNameToo

Hannimal said:

I was shopping at Debenhams online and upon checkout a delivery protection fee of £15.99 was added to my order. I did not realise this until I had checked out and paid, despite carefully reviewing my order before placing it. It must have been a ticked box somewhere, Debenhams describes this charge as optional, but I never opted for this and I did not see the box ticked before placing my order. I've shopped at Debenhams before and this must be a new thing. The rate is extorionate and not something I'd ever opt in.

Under UK consumer rights act, the seller is already responsible for ensuring the goods are delivered safely. This means I am/you are protected against for delivery by my statutory rights, without needing to pay an extra charge, so what exactly did they just force-sell to me? Is this extra charge a lawful thing to charge? Especially given that it is not clear to the customer that they are buying it. I am fairly savvy shopper and I got caught out!

I feel aboslutlye mugged. This has been missold, as it was not sufficiently clear at checkout that this was being added to my basket. Although this is certainly my last shop at Debenhams and has really soured the experience, I wonder if I have any recourse? I e-mailed them immediately after making the order but have not received a refund for the charge. I will complain to my credit card issuer next as I paid with AMEX and they're generally quite good with this kind of thing. I am so miffed by this. 

There have been a couple of threads on it, it does generally replicate your CRA rights but does add some small benefits like the statement of a 24/7 assistance service and accelerated resolution to problems. 

Its an option under the delivery options but is defaulted to be included, it appears to be linked to order value as adding a cheaper item the fees are lower. You do have to scroll past it to get to the payment options so it's not exactly hiding below the screen fold. 

I'd argue its poor value and it being defaulted as being on isnt great but its not the worst setup as at least it does have to come on screen for you to pay -v- some others where they have hidden opt in to subscriptions etc below the payment button where you dont have to have seen it to opt in. 

Hannimal

Emmia said:

The charge seems to be automatically checked below the various delivery options - as shown in the screenshot above 

I agree it's sharp practice.

Thank you! I think what happened was that I had initially checked the free standard delivery but then used a code for a free express delivery, which then added the £15.99 protection. Yours on the screenshot comes to £3.99 which would still annoy me but £15.99 is a lot of money. It's like you're penalised for making a larger order. It's frustrating as I am making errors like these due to brain fog and cognitive problems from cancer treatment. Same treatment is causing me a lot of financial loss. Just feels like a kick in the teeth. 

I'd still like to know, do I have a leg to stand on in getting a refund on this product? I don't think I've actually even been sold a product as the items are already protected by law. 

Emmia

Hannimal said:

Emmia said:

The charge seems to be automatically checked below the various delivery options - as shown in the screenshot above 

I agree it's sharp practice.

Thank you! I think what happened was that I had initially checked the free standard delivery but then used a code for a free express delivery, which then added the £15.99 protection. Yours on the screenshot comes to £3.99 which would still annoy me but £15.99 is a lot of money. It's like you're penalised for making a larger order. It's frustrating as I am making errors like these due to brain fog and cognitive problems from cancer treatment. Same treatment is causing me a lot of financial loss. Just feels like a kick in the teeth. 

I'd still like to know, do I have a leg to stand on in getting a refund on this product? I don't think I've actually even been sold a product as the items are already protected by law. 

I'm not sure if it would relate to the value of the goods ordered? I just did a dummy basket with a coat costing £70, what was the value of your order?

elsien

I am surprised that you didn’t notice an extra 16 quid had been added to your order at the point of checkout? 

Hannimal

Emmia said:

Hannimal said:

Emmia said:

The charge seems to be automatically checked below the various delivery options - as shown in the screenshot above 

I agree it's sharp practice.

Thank you! I think what happened was that I had initially checked the free standard delivery but then used a code for a free express delivery, which then added the £15.99 protection. Yours on the screenshot comes to £3.99 which would still annoy me but £15.99 is a lot of money. It's like you're penalised for making a larger order. It's frustrating as I am making errors like these due to brain fog and cognitive problems from cancer treatment. Same treatment is causing me a lot of financial loss. Just feels like a kick in the teeth. 

I'd still like to know, do I have a leg to stand on in getting a refund on this product? I don't think I've actually even been sold a product as the items are already protected by law. 

I'm not sure if it would relate to the value of the goods ordered? I just did a dummy basket with a coat costing £70, what was the value of your order?

It was around £350

Hannimal

elsien said:

I am surprised that you didn’t notice an extra 16 quid had been added to your order at the point of checkout? 

Thanks for the helpful response, great that you felt this was necessary.
This is one of two reasons - first, there were discount codes applied and so the total changed at checkout. Second, I am having major brain fog and cognitive issues from my cancer treatment, so this could have contributed as well. 

Emmia

Hannimal said:

Emmia said:

Hannimal said:

Emmia said:

The charge seems to be automatically checked below the various delivery options - as shown in the screenshot above 

I agree it's sharp practice.

Thank you! I think what happened was that I had initially checked the free standard delivery but then used a code for a free express delivery, which then added the £15.99 protection. Yours on the screenshot comes to £3.99 which would still annoy me but £15.99 is a lot of money. It's like you're penalised for making a larger order. It's frustrating as I am making errors like these due to brain fog and cognitive problems from cancer treatment. Same treatment is causing me a lot of financial loss. Just feels like a kick in the teeth. 

I'd still like to know, do I have a leg to stand on in getting a refund on this product? I don't think I've actually even been sold a product as the items are already protected by law. 

I'm not sure if it would relate to the value of the goods ordered? I just did a dummy basket with a coat costing £70, what was the value of your order?

It was around £350

So it seems likely the protection cost is a percentage, based on of the value of the basket - perhaps with some form of tiered pricing.

diveunderthebonnet

Maybe with a package costing £350 the added insurance might be a good thing ,i know they are responsible for getting your goods delivered BUT there are plenty of posts on this forum about customers having great problems with suppliers/ couriers when things go wrong. 

Albermarle

I would have no problem with them promoting it ( like sites do with warranty insurance), but defaulting to agree to it is definitely sharp practice.