Currys lost one of my daughters’ Black Friday tablets: no email contact, no solution, me chasing

PK81

Hi all,

New to the forum, hope this gives enough information for some advice and perspective on what to do next with Currys.

During Black Friday week I ordered two identical Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ 11" 256 GB tablets from Currys, one for each of my daughters as their main Christmas present. The price was a Black Friday deal, which was the only way we could afford two of the same type of tablet.

Only one tablet turned up. The other was marked by the DPD courier as “lost in transit”.

I contacted Currys straight away via webchat and later tried to escalate. Their website doesn’t give a normal customer service email address anywhere that I could find, so the only way I managed to get an email conversation going was by leaving a Trustpilot review and replying to the “Currys Trustpilot Team” who picked it up. I also tried X (Twitter) but got nowhere other than standard “DM us your order number” replies and no progress. Webchat just kept repeating that an investigation was in progress and I had to wait 7–14 working days.

Throughout all of this I explained that these were the main Christmas presents for both girls, that they still believe in Santa, and that having one tablet and one empty space under the tree would be awful. I asked them either to send a replacement immediately or allow me to collect one from a local store, honouring the Black Friday price.

Each time I was told the same thing: an investigation had been raised with the courier and I had to wait. I was told even a manager could not do anything different and that this was “standard process”. For quite some time I did not even receive the usual “declaration of non receipt” form that they now say is required – that only came much later, after repeated chasing.

A member of the Trustpilot team (Rich) has at least replied politely, but he says he cannot override the process and has to wait for the internal Lost in Transit team. By the time the declaration form was finally sent and returned, we were already too close to Christmas for it to make any difference.

On Christmas morning I had to watch one daughter open her tablet and the other realise that hers was not there. I wrote a letter “from Santa” saying that so many children had asked for tablets this year that hers would arrive a little late, but she was still visibly upset. It was very sad and, in my view, completely avoidable if Currys had acted with any urgency.

To make matters worse, the exact same model is currently showing on the Currys website as available to order, with delivery / collection available from late December. So stock clearly exists for new customers, but my “lost in transit” order is stuck in limbo.

Currys are now saying:

● When the tablet “comes back into stock” for my order, they will honour the Black Friday price and send it then.

● Once that is done, they will be happy to discuss some sort of recompense for the delay and experience.

There is still no clear timescale, just “when it is back in stock”, and nothing that really acknowledges the impact of all of this on our family.

My questions for the forum are:

1. Given that this was an essential Christmas present, ordered in good time, and that only one of the two tablets was delivered, what are my rights now under consumer law?

2. Can Currys really insist on waiting for their internal process when the courier has lost the item and Christmas has already been missed, or should I now be pushing for a firm deadline and then going via my card provider if they fail?

3. Is it reasonable to expect them to allocate stock that is clearly available online to fulfil my missing tablet at the Black Friday price, rather than leaving me waiting indefinitely on a “when it is back in stock” promise?

4. Given they effectively hide a standard email address and force customers through chat/Trustpilot, is there a better way to escalate within Currys that I’ve missed?

I’m not trying to make a profit out of this and the money itself is not really the issue. I just wanted both children to have the same main present on Christmas morning at the price I committed to in good faith. Instead I’ve spent weeks chasing Currys, filling in forms late in the day, and watching one child go without because their delivery chain failed.

Any advice on what I can reasonably insist on now, and how best to pursue it, would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

elsien

How did you pay? 

The fact it was a Christmas present is academic to the consumer rights. Options are either to wait or to get a refund and buy elsewhere. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Your rights are to get a refund for the whole order, get a refund for the missing tablet or wait for the second tablet to arrive.  The first option is probably ruled out because your daughter has used the tablet today?  In which case, you need to choose whether you want to wait for the second one to arrive or ask for a refund.

Vitor

At this stage the sensible next step is:

Write a formal complaint stating failure to deliver under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Curry's working with the courier is not your problem.

Set a clear deadline (e.g. 7 days) for dispatch of a replacement at the original price or a refund.

State that if this is not resolved by that date, the buyer will pursue a chargeback / Section 75

powerful_Rogue

PK81 said:

Hi all,

New to the forum, hope this gives enough information for some advice and perspective on what to do next with Currys.

During Black Friday week I ordered two identical Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ 11" 256 GB tablets from Currys, one for each of my daughters as their main Christmas present. The price was a Black Friday deal, which was the only way we could afford two of the same type of tablet.

Only one tablet turned up. The other was marked by the DPD courier as “lost in transit”.

I contacted Currys straight away via webchat and later tried to escalate. Their website doesn’t give a normal customer service email address anywhere that I could find, so the only way I managed to get an email conversation going was by leaving a Trustpilot review and replying to the “Currys Trustpilot Team” who picked it up. I also tried X (Twitter) but got nowhere other than standard “DM us your order number” replies and no progress. Webchat just kept repeating that an investigation was in progress and I had to wait 7–14 working days.

Throughout all of this I explained that these were the main Christmas presents for both girls, that they still believe in Santa, and that having one tablet and one empty space under the tree would be awful. I asked them either to send a replacement immediately or allow me to collect one from a local store, honouring the Black Friday price.

Each time I was told the same thing: an investigation had been raised with the courier and I had to wait. I was told even a manager could not do anything different and that this was “standard process”. For quite some time I did not even receive the usual “declaration of non receipt” form that they now say is required – that only came much later, after repeated chasing.

A member of the Trustpilot team (Rich) has at least replied politely, but he says he cannot override the process and has to wait for the internal Lost in Transit team. By the time the declaration form was finally sent and returned, we were already too close to Christmas for it to make any difference.

On Christmas morning I had to watch one daughter open her tablet and the other realise that hers was not there. I wrote a letter “from Santa” saying that so many children had asked for tablets this year that hers would arrive a little late, but she was still visibly upset. It was very sad and, in my view, completely avoidable if Currys had acted with any urgency.

To make matters worse, the exact same model is currently showing on the Currys website as available to order, with delivery / collection available from late December. So stock clearly exists for new customers, but my “lost in transit” order is stuck in limbo.

Currys are now saying:

● When the tablet “comes back into stock” for my order, they will honour the Black Friday price and send it then.

● Once that is done, they will be happy to discuss some sort of recompense for the delay and experience.

There is still no clear timescale, just “when it is back in stock”, and nothing that really acknowledges the impact of all of this on our family.

My questions for the forum are:

1. Given that this was an essential Christmas present, ordered in good time, and that only one of the two tablets was delivered, what are my rights now under consumer law?

2. Can Currys really insist on waiting for their internal process when the courier has lost the item and Christmas has already been missed, or should I now be pushing for a firm deadline and then going via my card provider if they fail?

3. Is it reasonable to expect them to allocate stock that is clearly available online to fulfil my missing tablet at the Black Friday price, rather than leaving me waiting indefinitely on a “when it is back in stock” promise?

4. Given they effectively hide a standard email address and force customers through chat/Trustpilot, is there a better way to escalate within Currys that I’ve missed?

I’m not trying to make a profit out of this and the money itself is not really the issue. I just wanted both children to have the same main present on Christmas morning at the price I committed to in good faith. Instead I’ve spent weeks chasing Currys, filling in forms late in the day, and watching one child go without because their delivery chain failed.

Any advice on what I can reasonably insist on now, and how best to pursue it, would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

I would cut out all of the emotional blurb from any correspondance. It sounds rather cringy and won't help your issue. Just stick to the facts.

sheramber

Vitor said:

At this stage the sensible next step is:

Write a formal complaint stating failure to deliver under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Curry's working with the courier is not your problem.

Set a clear deadline (e.g. 7 days) for dispatch of a replacement at the original price or a refund.

State that if this is not resolved by that date, the buyer will pursue a chargeback / Section 75

Do we know the OP payed by debit/ credit card?

pinkshoes

What else do you want them to do?

They would have had a LOT of orders, delivery has been mayhem, so some items are still lost in the system.

As you've chosen to gift one then all you can do now is wait for the other to be found or officially lost. As a parent of twins then there is no way I would have gifted just one with an IOU to another - certainly not at the santa believing age! You were brave!

Fwiw we had something turn up 3 weeks late!

Aylesbury_Duck

pinkshoes said:

What else do you want them to do?

They would have had a LOT of orders, delivery has been mayhem, so some items are still lost in the system.

As you've chosen to gift one then all you can do now is wait for the other to be found or officially lost. As a parent of twins then there is no way I would have gifted just one with an IOU to another - certainly not at the santa believing age! You were brave!

Fwiw we had something turn up 3 weeks late!

I thought the same.  How do you choose which child to disappoint?  Surely better to hold the one tablet back and give both children the IOU.

Ergates

pinkshoes said:

What else do you want them to do?

Abide by consumer rights legislation would be a good start.

Ergates

PK81 said:

1. Given that this was an essential Christmas present, ordered in good time, and that only one of the two tablets was delivered, what are my rights now under consumer law?

2. Can Currys really insist on waiting for their internal process when the courier has lost the item and Christmas has already been missed, or should I now be pushing for a firm deadline and then going via my card provider if they fail?

3. Is it reasonable to expect them to allocate stock that is clearly available online to fulfil my missing tablet at the Black Friday price, rather than leaving me waiting indefinitely on a “when it is back in stock” promise?

4. Given they effectively hide a standard email address and force customers through chat/Trustpilot, is there a better way to escalate within Currys that I’ve missed?

I’m not trying to make a profit out of this and the money itself is not really the issue. I just wanted both children to have the same main present on Christmas morning at the price I committed to in good faith. Instead I’ve spent weeks chasing Currys, filling in forms late in the day, and watching one child go without because their delivery chain failed.

Any advice on what I can reasonably insist on now, and how best to pursue it, would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

1.  Your rights are to either get the goods you paid for delivered in a reasonable time frame, or get a refund.

2. No.  Currys' internal investigation into lost parcels are entirely their own problem and their insistence that they *cannot* do anything until it is completed is a bald-faced lie.   They, very obviously, *could* do something before then.  They could easily have just sent you another tablet as soon as the delivery was reported as missing, absolutely nothing was preventing them from doing this.  They just didn't want to.

Give them a reasonable time frame in which to delivery the goods you've paid for.  e.g. Whatever is their standard delivery time, OR if you paid for some kind of "express" delivery - whatever the timeframe for that was).  Also,  tell them that if the goods are not in your possession in that time frame then you will consider the contract to be at and end and they are to refund you for the missing item AND any delivery you paid for.

3.  Yes, that seems entirely reasonable.

savergrant

Were the two tablets ordered on the same order? It seems odd that one has been lost in transit and that the courier recognises this. Perhaps if they were ordered separately they were addressed to the recipient? Otherwise I have no idea how you would decide which child to disappoint. Maybe if one had asked for a pink one and one asked for a blue one....