terms and conditions regarding late delivery

[gdluk]

I work for an online company and we sell parts. Due to the royal mail strikes, we have numerous customers complaining about late delivery. Even our courier service have backlogs due to the increase in customers. We have notices on our website asking to understand that parcels may be delayed due to backlogs etc... However we have had customers threaten legal action. If we add into our terms and conditions that the advised delivery times are not guaranteed and we will not be liable for parcels delivered a few days out of the expected date, if customers select 'I agree.' do we still have to give them a full refund for their delivery, or refund the difference between premium delivery and normal.

 

[LPB 123]

Would it not be easier to just extend your delivery times that you're stating to your customers? This is more transparent than having a T&C's tick box.

Personally I think if people are paying for an express service and you're still advising a next day service then I think they're right to expect a refund. Even with the notices, if it's saying it will arrive by X date then people are going to expect it to arrive on that date.

Under promise and over deliver where possible. So make your express service a 2 day service for the time being and add a few days for your RM service to cover yourself maybe even 5 extra days with RM at the moment.

I would not be concerned about the legal action personally as I think this is just something that people say in e-commerce. But i would be refunding express orders that didn't arrive within the stated time frame.

 

[AllSpiritual]

Agreed as above;
Just extend your processing and delivery times.
We have a note in our t&c's that all endeavours are made to get your parcel on time but there are sometimes circumstances out of your control etc.

As long as you have that, and they accept the website use policy (tick box) then they are accepting your terms, and don't really have a leg to stand on, so long as you can prove its the delivery company's problem.

In addition, you could put a banner on the top of your site explaining delivery delays. (only going to get worse anyway)

Late Express deliveries should be refunded and claimed back from the delivery comp. (Good luck with that !) Normal deliveries get there when they do, unless the customer cancels, which is always a pain.

 

[Andrew0409]

I disagree with the above. You can lose out on a lot of business this way compared to competitors.

My understanding is that As long as you do not guarantee a delivery time, you do not need to refund. We have it in our policy that no delivery times are guaranteed and they are paying for DPD next day service for example which is not a guarantee of next day delivery.

I also think the statement above that you can claim back delivery charges to be false from the courier. No courier we spoken to guarantees anything anymore so they don’t have to do that. And as business people we should know everything has a cost. If couriers did refund, they would just charge more. Nothing is free in business.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

If a lot of your deliveries are arriving on time, it might be best not to change delivery leadtimes.

You could:

• stop using RM for the moment
• Add another more reliable delivery option
• Keep with RM, but on confirmation emails, make sure you highlight RM delays and the knock on effect to other services.
• Make sure you tell customers when the goods are dispatched and remind them that there are issues...

 

[14Steve14]

We have the following in out T&Cs which was put there to cover delivery delays. We hardly ever mention it to customers as we think it right to sort it out as soon as possible but if a customer starts getting threatening and abusive we let them know about this clause in the conditions that they agreed to.

"Every effort will be made to deliver the Goods as soon as possible after your order has been accepted, and in any event within 30 days of your order. However, the Seller will not be liable for any loss or damage suffered by you through any reasonable or unavoidable delay in delivery."

 

[LPB 123]

I also think the statement above that you can claim back delivery charges to be false from the courier. No courier we spoken to guarantees anything anymore so they don’t have to do that. And as business people we should know everything has a cost. If couriers did refund, they would just charge more. Nothing is free in business.

ParcelForce give you a 50% credit of the cost of Carriage for their 24 service if its late. They credit full amounts for their AM services.

Although they have suspended this guarantee on and around strike days.