Help! Dispute with courier and customer

[davidjgoss87]

So, we've sent an item to a customer via a courier, as we do all day every day. The customer has called to say they haven't received it. The courier has provided a delivery date and time stamp, plus a signature and printed name which matches that of the customer.

Now we are in an impossible position, because the courier won't budge on their position - "we have a signature, so it was delivered" - and the customer won't budge on their position - "that's not my signature, i wasn't in and didn't receive it".

As I see it, there are two main possibilities (although the exact details may vary a bit):


The delivery driver has stolen the parcel and signed it himself
The customer has received it and is falsely claiming they haven't


Other people must have had this experience before. What did you do? Where do we stand legally? It's tempting just to say "you two deal with it between you" and leave them to it, but I don't know if we can, and it could turn very nasty. The easy option would be to say to the customer "here is your refund, we will not supply you again", but that's no basis for a policy - this time it's £50, but what happens when it's £500 or £5000?

Any advice would be really appreciated.

[TFGtv]

Not my area of expertise...

But hasn't a theft taken place here? And a possible Fraud?

Either the driver, the customer or a third party has the parcel. And one of those three signed for it... If the rightful owner is falsly claiming non-receipt that's fraud... If anyone else signed for it that's theft compounded by fraud...

My next move would be to advise both the courier company and your client that you''ll be passing a written report/complaint to the police for investigation. And place the matter in abeyance until that investigation has been completed...

BTW; put your compliant/report in writing addressed to the Chief Constable at the force HQ... It'll be passed down the line from there; but there's less chance of some DC 'NFI'-ing it because they can't be bothered...

[AndyP]

OK....firstly regardless of all else you are still responsible. The customer contracted with you, not your courier, so the bottom line is that you need to deal with this....if ultimately the customer does a chargeback they will win and you will lose.

Assuming that you use a reputable courier they should be willing to send the driver back to the address of delivery and speak to the recipient. It is perfectly possible that the driver has delivered to an incorrect address, the lane instead of the avenue, the close instead of road. This has happened to us before but has always been resolved.

Speak to your courier company, you are their customer, they cannot just say, we have a signature, it doesn't work like that.

Finally, you are (or should be) insured. So if all else fails, make a claim from your courier company for a lost parcel. Stand your ground and don't be fobbed off.

Finally, remember that your customer has spent money with you and rightly wants their purchase.... give the courier driver the opportunity to sort it, but if it isn't sorted within 24 hours (tell you courier company this) you need to re-ship the order and then either have the courier return the original parcel or compensate for the loss.

[AndyP]

Not my area of expertise...

<snip>...

BTW; put your compliant/report in writing addressed to the Chief Constable at the force HQ... It'll be passed down the line from there; but there's less chance of some DC 'NFI'-ing it because they can't be bothered...


To be honest, don't you think this is a bit of overkill? Its a courier misroute or something along those lines...it happens, it can be sorted...irritating yes, but not exactly the crime of the century! :)

[TFGtv]

To be honest, don't you think this is a bit of overkill? Its a courier misroute or something along those lines...it happens, it can be sorted...irritating yes, but not exactly the crime of the century! :)

It happens... And if the courier company take it seriously and try to sort the problem out that's fair enough. But if they want to play rock/hard place, well....

I got caught out on the other end of this one once. Around £15K's worth of broadcast camcorder got delivered to the wrong address. And the courier took this very tack.... At the time though I was serving as a special; and asked my Seargent's advice. He had a word in CID's ear and eventually this 'uncoiled' into a handful of drivers who were routinely pulling this very stunt...

Most of what went missing was small stuff; electrical goods etc... Apparently my box had only gone missing because the 'sony' logo could be seen through the wrapping...

[davidjgoss87]

To be honest, don't you think this is a bit of overkill? Its a courier misroute or something along those lines...it happens, it can be sorted...irritating yes, but not exactly the crime of the century! :)

Fair point, but I feel we are definitely dealing with either a theft or a crime here. You have to remember that it was signed for with the name of the customer, so if it wasn't her then it was someone pretending to be her and that is fraud either way. If a courier asked you a accept a parcel for a neighbour of yours who was out, there's no way you'd assume your neighbour's name rather than use your own.

[KidsBeeHappy]

If it's a customer trying on (unfortunately there are more and more of these, and you tend to get a feeling for this), you could tell the customer that your insurance company requires that you need to report the loss to the police as a theft, and the police will need to take a statement from them. Meantime, whilst you're starting this process you'd appreciate it greatly if they could talk to other family members etc who may have perhaps taken receipt of the parcel and not informed them.

The secret is to give them a get out where they don't loose face.

[Cartoon Logos]

So, we've sent an item to a customer via a courier, as we do all day every day. The customer has called to say they haven't received it. The courier has provided a delivery date and time stamp, plus a signature and printed name which matches that of the customer.

Now we are in an impossible position, because the courier won't budge on their position - "we have a signature, so it was delivered" - and the customer won't budge on their position - "that's not my signature, i wasn't in and didn't receive it".

As I see it, there are two main possibilities (although the exact details may vary a bit):


The delivery driver has stolen the parcel and signed it himself
The customer has received it and is falsely claiming they haven't


Other people must have had this experience before. What did you do? Where do we stand legally? It's tempting just to say "you two deal with it between you" and leave them to it, but I don't know if we can, and it could turn very nasty. The easy option would be to say to the customer "here is your refund, we will not supply you again", but that's no basis for a policy - this time it's £50, but what happens when it's £500 or £5000?

Any advice would be really appreciated.


Advise both you will have to involve the police and they will verify the signature. Not difficult.
Of course if the customer was dishonest they could have deliberately provided a false signature but the beauty of graphology is that a graphologist will still be able to tell if it's their handwriting regardless of how they tried to change things. The same applies to the delivery driver forging signature himself.

Call their bluff and see what happens.

[Simon12]

If it is the customer trying it on then most likely they do it all the time so if you let the police know at least they will have it on record if they do it again and they may already have them down as some one who does this. Also I would google the persons name and or address to see if there are any more forum posts about them

[sysops]

As I see it, there are two main possibilities (although the exact details may vary a bit):


The delivery driver has stolen the parcel and signed it himself
The customer has received it and is falsely claiming they haven't



There is a third, far more common explanation - there was no one in. so the delivery driver signed for the parcel as the customer, and left the parcel [in the porch/shed/hedge/etc]. This obviously isn't supposed to happen, but it does, and more so with some couriers than others.

Get them to ask the delivery driver directly, find out what happened.

If the parcel is lost, what happens next really depends on your relationship with your account manager. The only reason they have for compensating you for the loss is to avoid annoying you.

In any case, the customer will either get his parcel or a refund, you will not win this one, even if you are 100% certain the customer is lying.

[Mpg]

If it's a customer trying on (unfortunately there are more and more of these, and you tend to get a feeling for this), you could tell the customer that your insurance company requires that you need to report the loss to the police as a theft, and the police will need to take a statement from them. Meantime, whilst you're starting this process you'd appreciate it greatly if they could talk to other family members etc who may have perhaps taken receipt of the parcel and not informed them.

The secret is to give them a get out where they don't loose face.

This is prob the best advice.

I Have 14 Couriers working for me and Non of mine would sign a POD and leave it elsewhere.

But I'm not the yellow and green brigade, But hear that they may

[sysops]

I Have 14 Couriers working for me and Non of mine would sign a POD and leave it elsewhere.

I've seen this happen with DPD, CityLink, DHL, and most recently Parcelforce.

[debbidoo]

There are two regular postmen who serve my house, both nice blokes. One will always leave a card if I don't answer the door, and I have to arrange for redelivery or go and pick up the parcel myself. The other doesn't even knock - he knows I leave the utility room window open for the cat, so he signs the slip himself and pops the parcels through the window. Sometimes when there's a relief postman covering the round, I find Amazon packets tucked behind a drainpipe or somewhere else silly, and don't spot them for days, by which time the cardboard wrapper is all soggy (annoying if the parcel contains a book - this happened to me a few weeks ago and the book was very slightly damaged).

I think the point I'm making is that sometimes couriers and postmen try to do you a little favour by signing for you, but if that parcel is left outside or somewhere insecure, it can go missing, so perhaps that's what happened to the OP's customer?

[KidsBeeHappy]

There are customers that get upset that the postie/courier didn't just leave it somewhere safe while they were out and now they've got to go to the depot to get it.

There are customers that get upset that the postie/courier left it somewhere safe and didn't take it back to the depot.

What's the old saying dammed if you and dammed if you don't?
It really is a no-win situation.

[debbidoo]

There are customers that get upset that the postie/courier didn't just leave it somewhere safe while they were out and now they've got to go to the depot to get it.

There are customers that get upset that the postie/courier left it somewhere safe and didn't take it back to the depot.

What's the old saying dammed if you and dammed if you don't?
It really is a no-win situation.


Ain't that the truth :)

[wholesale toys]

When we address a parcel we only ever put half the name on ie Smith instead of j.Smith or John Smith. If the custonmer then says they have not signed for it and the carrier must have done so we ask them how he would have known to have signed it with John or J. We then as Boxby says give them a chance to recheck.