Customer disputing signed for delivery

[davidjgoss87]

Hi all

Hoping to draw on any experience you may have here.

Customer has emailed to say package not received. Have gone onto Parcelforce tracking, which states a date and time, a name given which is the customers name and a signature which she says isn't hers but that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

I seem likely to get into a stalemate with courier and customer where both will be adamant they are in the right. Whether the courier has stolen or mislaid the item or whether the customer has it and is trying their luck I may never know.

So, what is my legal standing and what do you think I should do? If I say sorry and give her another wallet at a cost price of £30 it will make the problem go away, and maybe that's the right thing to do, but if I should stand firm and say "you have signed for it, it is your responsibility" then is the courier's data enough to hold up against legal challenge?

 

[Simon-M]

Was it insured?

 

[davidjgoss87]

Yes, it is insured and there is no excess, so I could in theory claim for a loss and get the cost price back, but presumably the record of delivery and signature would prevent such a claim (whether it has been falsified or not)?

 

[Simon-M]

Check with the insurer. It might not.

 

[Delta-SI]

Speak to whomever delivered it and see what they say, ask the customer if she is willing to make a statement under caution to the effect of it not being her signature.

 

[Dwebs-Ltd]

ask the customer if she is willing to make a statement under caution to the effect of it not being her signature.

I'd do that too see if they back down.

 

[Mister B]

Take the hit, make the claim and move on.

How many of these do you get a year? It's very easy to fall into the trap of spending more in time than the actual profit loss Biggest bugbear for me though would be the fact that somebody is playing the system and getting away with it

Mister B

 

[Daniel Slade]

Take the hit, make the claim and move on.

How many of these do you get a year? It's very easy to fall into the trap of spending more in time than the actual profit loss Biggest bugbear for me though would be the fact that somebody is playing the system and getting away with it

Mister B

As much as I hate to see it happen I have to agree with Mister B. Send another one and claim the insurance.

What might help is speak to the post office, I had this issue with some customer prints that went missing even though they were signed for, they agreed to drop a card through the door instead of delivering the package. That way the customer had to fetch it WITH ID.

As for the idea of people playing the system, there are those that do and we can do little about it. I started to make a hotlist of problem customers just as a reminder to myself when processing orders, so far in 15 years I have 4 customers on the list!

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

Phone parcelforce. Sometimes all the tracking data isn't availalbe online, but they may have more offline.

A fiver says it's with a neighbour.

 

[nickjonesuk]

Another possibility is the driver delivered to to the wrong house, maybe even on the wrong street sounding similar to yours.

I would dispute the delivery with Parcelforce, phone the delivery depot directly with the tracking number and any details of the parcel the driver may just recall such as logo or label etc and try and get a response that way! usually I find the depot is best to call in the morning

 

[Billy_Ben]

it's a good thing it's insured. i guess you have to investigate a little bit more. dont just give in without knowing what went wrong.