Know your rights when parcels go missing

With strikes, IT issues, and customs complications, sending and receiving parcels can be a tricky business there days. As such it pays to know your rights when things go wrong. 

The rise of online shopping means we’re sending and receiving more parcels and packages than ever before. Unfortunately, it also means there’s more likelihood of your parcel going missing, or otherwise failing to be delivered.

In this article we take at look at your rights when sending and receiving parcels.

Ordering from Amazon? Don’t miss our guide on what to do if Amazon sends the item

Sending or receiving a package used to be a simple affair, as everything would usually be handled by Royal Mail. And whilst it might not have been the easiest company to deal with, when things went wrong there was at least a full and detailed claims procedure to follow.

The growth of sites like Amazon, eBay, Boohoo etc… has led to an increase in the number of private parcel delivery companies vying for business, all of which are unregulated. In the UK Royal Mail is the designated ‘universal service provider.’ That means it must follow strict conditions laid down by Parliament and enforced by the regulator OFCOM.

These conditions help provide a universal service that includes deliveries six days a week and fair and uniform prices across the country. Not being subject to such rules allows private firms to routinely undercut Royal Mail on price, whilst in some cases providing a poorer service.

What to do when your package is missing (Receiving a parcel)

Often when you order something online you’re stuck with whichever courier the seller decides to choose. If you’re lucky it might be DPD and enjoy a 1 hour delivery window. If not you could be stuck with Yodel.

Of course things can go wrong with any courier, and when they do it’s the quality of the customer service that matters. How many times have you waited for a delivery online to find the driver hasn’t turned up, left a card without knocking, or dumped your parcel in the recycling bin in full view of the passing public?

The good news is that when buying online you’re protected by the Consumer Contracts Regulations. This makes clear that ‘the retailer is responsible for the condition of the goods until the goods are received by you, or by someone else you have nominated to receive them on your behalf such as a neighbour.’

It also means that the retailer is liable for services provided by the courier is employs. So if you do ever have a problem with a delivery your first port of call is the retailer you bought the goods from. You are of course free to contact the courier yourself, but since you don’t have a contract with them, may not provide the help you need.

By law, goods should be delivered in a ‘reasonable’ amount of time. How long that is depends on the type of goods bought and original delivery estimate, but by law the seller has 30 days to get the package to you. If you have paid for a specific delivery e.g. next day, Saturday etc… and your parcel is late, you are entitled to request a refund on the cost of that timed delivery. You will have to contact the seller to ask for this as it’s unlikely to be applied automatically.

Most of the good couriers these days have help services available on Twitter. At Money Saving Answers, we find we get a much better response from the courier when we contact them via twitter. With everything in the public domain, it’s in their best interest to help you as quickly as possible.

Section 75 protection

If you bought items via a credit card and they cost between £100 and £30,000, then even if only part of that payment was on the card, your credit card company is jointly liable for the goods. This gives you a bit of extra protection, as if the retailer goes bust, or is flat out unhelpful your card issue should step in to help.

It’s worth noting here that if the retailer uses PayPal to process transactions so long as you are not signed into your PayPal account, and the cost of the items is taken directly from the credit card, then you are still covered.

For many credit card companies, claim forms can be found online, though some such as Halifax, require you to first call customer services who will then email you a form, or post one out to your address.

Your rights in a nutshell

• The retailer is responsible for the parcel and your first port of call
• The package must arrive in a reasonable amount of time
• Packages or missing from your doorstep are the responsibility of the retailer (unless you designated a ‘safe place’)
• If a parcel is damaged either refuse delivery or take lots of photos and inform the retailer
• If purchased on a credit card you may have extra protection.

Sending Parcels

When sending a parcel, you’ve three main choices. Royal Mail, a private courier firm such as Parcelforce/DHL/UPS etc.., or a broker. The later is often much cheaper but there are a few things you need to be aware of before booking via a third party.

Insuring your delivery

Firstly, brokers like Parcel2go and Parcel Monkey do not provide insurance by default. For example, if you book direct with UPS depending on your parcel size and delivery method, the package will automatically be insured up to £50. The same package booked via Parcel2go using UPS as the courier will typically not come with any insurance at all. What’s more, adding insurance is often expensive at rate of £1 per £20 of value. On a package worth £500 suddenly that £10 delivery now costs £35.

You might be thinking, ‘well do I even need insurance?’ After all it’s the couriers job to get the package from A to B without damage or loss. Unfortunately, since there is no regulation amongst private couriers, in event of a loss or failed delivery they need only refund the cost of the service. They will argue that these keeps price lower for less valuable items.

We’d like to see some regulation in this area with a base level of insurance e.g. £20 for any package, and additional insurance a set fee, similar to Royal Mail.

Dealing with complaints

If you’ve booked direct with a courier, then should anything go wrong you know exactly who to call to get it sorted out. You’re a direct customer, and provided you’ve chosen wisely, no doubt they’ll pull out all the stops to sort the issue out.

If you’ve used a broker, then your contract is with them, and you must rely on your broker to call the courier and track down your parcel or sort out the issue on your behalf. This is easier said than done. Neither Parcel Monkey nor Parcel2go provide a telephone number (to keep costs down), so you need to enter a web chat via their websites. Good luck.

Tracking

Once you parcel is in the system there should be no difference between a broker versus going direct after all your package is booked onto the same service. Unfortunately, that is seldom the case. Parcel2go’s tracking is particularly poor. Login into my account, I can see parcels that I sent weeks ago still showing as undelivered. Yet taking the tracking number from the label and putting into the courier own website shows that my packages were delivered on time. Yet another problem of a third party service.

The best way to track your parcels

If you’re waiting on multiple parcels from multiple different couriers we recommend the excellent Universal Parcel Tracking site ParcelsApp. It connects to most of the major couriers worldwide and offer tracking in more detail than some couriers’ own sites. It’s especially useful for tracking items being sent or received abroad and when the tracking number of a packages changes as it’s passed between couriers.

Delivery

Just as with receiving a parcel, if you’ve booked a collection and delivery and the courier fails to fulfil that then you are entitled to a refund. Where things differ however is when using timed services. For example, if you book a 24-hour delivery but the parcel is takes longer to be delivered then you often have little comeback. This is because most timed services are a guideline at best. Couriers expect you to pay extra for a ‘guaranteed’ service, where you would then have the right to an automatic refund if they miss the deadline.

Claim compensation for missing parcels you’ve sent

Usually only the sender can claim compensation as they are the ones who hold the contract with the courier.

To claim any compensation you’ll need proof of posting, this could be a receipt in the case of Royal Mail, or items posted from a parcel shop, or a confirmation email for deliveries booked online. For damaged items, usually the packaging with the labels and/or postmark is enough.

In addition you’ll need:

• The name and address of the sender and receiver
• The amount paid
• Date of posting and location (if using a parcel shop or post office
• Reference number or barcode number
• Description of the contents of the parcel and condition (photos are good to have here)
• For high value items, you might also need to prove the value.

Our picks of the best delivery companies

DPD – top notch service with 1-hour delivery windows

TNT/UK Mail – both use the same tracking service as DPD and offer a 1 hour delivery/collection window as standard. TNT has now been bought by FedEx.

Interestingly a forum member on a popular technology website we frequent carried out a test, sending four identical parcels from the UK to Switzerland. TNT actually missed their pickup and collected the parcel more than a day later than DPD, and UPS. Yet the TNT package actually arrived first. UPS was a close second.

Parcelfore – Being owned by Royal Mail usually means the drivers have excellent knowledge of tricky addresses. Missed deliveries can be taken to your local Post Office for collection that day.

Services to avoid

Hermes – Another service that using a ‘self employed’ drivers. Meaning if you miss a delivery you’ve got to call a mobile number on the back of the card. To be fair to them though, many of the drivers are very friendly and will go out of their way to get the parcel to you. It’s just more of a hassle than dealing with a major firm.

Interestingly, Hermes has now rebranded as Evri in the UK. So far the service, price, and delivery times has been good in our use of them, but there are still issues when dealing with tricky addresses and homes that don’t have numbers.

Yodell – Claim items will be delivered between 7am-7pm. Yes they expect you to wait in for 12 hours. 58% of voters in a moneysavingexpert.com survey claimed they had experienced difficulties with Yodel.