Delivery *requested* without signature - where do we stand legally?

[scm5436]

Our e-commerce site states that a signature is required for all orders, but in the delivery comment field customers often put things like "leave safe in porch/recycling bin/garage/shed".

Where do we stand legally if our courier claims they left it safe as requested but the customer claims they haven't received it?

Does a request to "leave safe" legally count as a signature (even if the consumer may not realise the implications) or are we basically leaving it at our risk?

 

[finleydesign]

You legally stand no where!!! you will always be wrong regardless even if you had a photo of the postman shaking hands with the customer and handing over the goods, if a customer says they didn't get it, they can simply chargeback and you have nothing to full back on

Its the wonders of the governments distant selling regs, which is to protect morons and not businesses

 

[deniser]

Our e-commerce site states that a signature is required for all orders, but in the delivery comment field customers often put things like "leave safe in porch/recycling bin/garage/shed".

We ignore these sort of requests and write next to them "sorry - signature required".

It makes no sense to make the customer's life easier at the expense of your own!

If they say things like "deliver to no. 34 if I am out" then we do write little notes on the parcel for the postman on the basis that no. 34 can sign for it but I'm not going to risk things being left in random places.

 

[Crow]

We do exactly the same as Deniser, unless they have been a regular customer for a long time and the item is under a certain amount.

 

[DontAsk]

If no signature is required you will run foul of local courier agents that just chuck parcels over the gate, etc...

 

[antropy]

Instead of a signature, which never looks anything like it should on that silly plastic computer screen, I reckon couriers should switch to taking a selfie with the customer instead!

 

[Ian J]

Amazon are quite happy to leave things in the porch and I often wonder how often they are ripped off by customers pretending that they hadn't received the goods

 

[antropy]

There are a couple of reasons that the benefit to them of keeping customers happy is bigger than the cost of this sort of fraud:

1. They are so big that to get banned from amazon would be pretty inconvenient and they keep everyone's credit card details so it would be difficult for people to create fake accounts to do this sort of thing.

2. Often it's not amazon who have to bear the cost anyway, it's one of their partners.

 

[enjoylife]

My average order cost is above 100 pounds so I always use signature service from either Royal Mail or DHL. DHL is good as they come to pick up the parcel and always delivered on the next day. For these not urgent orders I use Royal Mail 1st class tracking & sign service. But the problem is I need go to local post office to get every parcels scanned. This is a very time costly job. Anybody know a delivery supplier can do the following service:
1, Come to my company to pick up the parcel on request.
2, Don't need to be delivered on the next day, I can accept couple of working days as delivery time, but I do need customer's signature.
3, General delivery price is lower than these next days express delivery couriers, like DHL, TNT,Fedex. At this moment Royal Mail service is about 4.4 pounds, while DHL is 8.2 pounds, I am looking for a company's price between them. I pay Royal Mail about 400 to 500 pounds per month.

 

[Raw Rob]

I pay Royal Mail about 400 to 500 pounds per month.

I think you can get Royal Mail to collect at that volume. Plus you would do it through a PPI account and get it cheaper than going to the Post Office.

 

[TurricanII]

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act
---
Delivery rights
The retailer is responsible for goods until they are in your physical possession or in the possession of someone appointed by you to accept them.

This means that retailers are liable for the service provided by the couriers they employ - the delivery firm is not liable.

The retailer is responsible for the goods until they are delivered to you and in your possession.
---

 

[enjoylife]

Thanks for your reply. After checking Royal mail website, I noticed they requested '' Free Weekday Collection if you spend over £15,000 a year with us.'' . So I don't think I can reach that amount, Any other idea?

I think you can get Royal Mail to collect at that volume. Plus you would do it through a PPI account and get it cheaper than going to the Post Office.

 

[bharris]

You can still have an account with Royal Mail, print prepare your mail and put it into a sack then you just have to take it to the Post office and leave the sack and paperwork with them. Cheaper rates and no need to wait. You might need a thermal printer so you can use their DMO system. Or you can pay the £900ish peer year for a weekday collection.

 

[deniser]

I think you can get Royal Mail to collect at that volume. Plus you would do it through a PPI account and get it cheaper than going to the Post Office.

Royal Mail charges you about £700 for collection if you spend less than £15K per year. But it must be possible to combine forces with another business to have one collection point. have often wondered if we can share with someone but doesn't seem to be anyone in the vicinity who sends daily parcels.

 

[Raw Rob]

Thanks for your reply. After checking Royal mail website, I noticed they requested '' Free Weekday Collection if you spend over £15,000 a year with us.'' . So I don't think I can reach that amount, Any other idea?

Quick calculation: you send approx 1000 parcels per year with RM. If you pay £700 per year for a daily collection that's 70p extra per parcel and you said you are happy to pay a little more (although of course you end up paying less than this extra as you will get the better PPI rates).

 

[deniser]

Quick calculation: you send approx 1000 parcels per year with RM. If you pay £700 per year for a daily collection that's 70p extra per parcel and you said you are happy to pay a little more (although of course you end up paying less than this extra as you will get the better PPI rates).

Yes we pay it and consider it money very well spent, not least because there is no post office within a 5 mile radius that you can actually park close enough to to drop sacks off at. So calculating petrol plus the 10 mile round trip and time (which can take an hour if you time it wrongly) it seems good value to pay £3 or thereabouts per collection day. We have a timed collection that we don't pay extra for and the collection is 100% reliable within a 10 minute window.

 

[japancool]

We're generally happy to add a note to the parcel to leave in a safe place or with a neighbour for smaller parcels. So far, that's never been an issue. The issue is when the courier leaves it in a non-safe place without the customer requesting it (Hermes, I'm looking at you).

However, we don't sell the sort of thing that generally gets fraudulent transactions.

 

[HFE Signs]

If you have no signature you have no proof of delivery, we always say can we leave it anywhere else, maybe even a local shop. Always get a signature