To think an £80 fine for missing a Daals delivery is unnacceptable

[Teapotdictator1]

Made a mistake of buying a table and chairs from Daals advertised as including free delivery. Couldn't book a slot for delivery at the time. The day before got an email to say I didn't need to be at home for the delivery just contactable. At 4 am on the delivery day, was notified of a delivery that morning with no number to call to rearrange delivery at short notice and had to go to work. Noone from the delivery firm called. Later same day got an invoice for £80 for a missed delivery. Emailed customer service to complain and arrange another delivery date. They refused to arrange delivery on any date of my choosing, and refused to remove the fee as it is mentioned in the long list of T&C they know that noone reads. Has anyone had a similar experience and been able to challenge the fine?

I would have thought the email you received stating no one needed to be at home will help you here. How have they taken the £80? Is it from your credit card? If so I’d contact your credit card company to claim it back, as the company in question have refused.

That’s completely unreasonable and even had you not had the email saying you didn’t have to be in, I very much doubt those T&Cs would be be considered fair and therefore they are likely to be unenforceable. You can’t charge someone for a missed delivery if you gave them zero notice as to when the delivery would happen and no option to change the date/time to a date/time they were available.

in the first instance though I would be complaining and referring them to their own email which says you didn’t have to be in.

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/there-s-an-unfair-term-in-my-contract-how-can-i-complain-and-get-my-money-back-aeHsV7t85zl5

I once had a situation where I ordered something then wasn’t in and they wanted £25 to re deliver (twenty plus years ago) i would have fine with this but they were really rude on the phone so I cancelled the order. I have never experienced it since.

icant believe they are authorised to take additional money out your account especially after saying you didn’t need to be there.

You would need to be home for delivery?!&9’idea why you wouldn’t need to be there

It’s an invoice for £80 so not been paid

Assume they’d phone and she would return home for the delivery time, rather than wait at home all day.

Well, I always read the T&Cs when buying furniture, especially the bits about delivery and failed delivery as most shops impose a charge for failed delivery and returns for furniture. As you have an email though stating no one needs to be in even though in the T&Cs it says that you do then I would use that to see if you can get the fee waived

How would you not have to be home for a table.and chair delivery?
They can't exactly post it through the letter box!

Surely they needed you these so needed to tell you when they were coming, with enough notice and the chance to rearrange if you need to.

I've had beds left by the front door if I'm out. Depends on the house and if they can leave the stuff somewhere.

I think the terms mean you need to return home when given adequate warning of a delivery. It's not very satisfactory at all. Did you pay by credit card?

long list of T&C they know that noone reads

I always do when making a substantial purchase

you didn’t. So suck it up 🤷

You don't have to suck it up. They have an unreasonable contract, contracts have to be reasonable to be legal so they can't enforce it.

Can you Cancel the order. The whole thing sounds badly organized

This will have gone through multiple legal reviews before being published. This is a very substantial and established company. This fine will have been tested multiple times.

It will not be deemed unfair because the company will be able to demonstrate the cost their end of delivery and it will be far more than £80 accounting for petrol, transport and employee cost

The £80 invoice isn't a fine.

It is a charge for misdelivery, to cover their time, staffing and transport costs.

You could argue that you were contactable as requested by them and if they had contacted you, your neighbour would have facilitated the delivery but they didn’t contact you, so it’s on them.

Ha ha just because it is a big company does not mean it has gone through multiple legal reviews! You would be very surprised.

it is a completely unreasonable term. If that was tested in court I doubt it would get very far. You can’t just text someone at 4am and say it’s coming today without any prior notice, without any contact details of the delivery company and then on the day itself not contact you and somehow that is acceptable.

For all they know a neighbour was waiting to let them in so the OP was waiting for their call so she could let the neighbour know. Where is the proof they actually did turn up? The whole thing makes no sense. I’ve had big deliveries of furniture where I’ve booked a time slot and the delivery company has also called in the morning to give me an ETA so I will be in.

We shall see 🤷

£80 will be less than the cost to the company. Fact.

Then they need processes in place that minimise their costs.

Seriously? How? Employee cost in terms of time alone will be more than £80

Some companies baffle me with their unreasonableness.
Dd paid extra to have a delivery in the morning when the builders would be available to lift the heavy goods into the house.
The delivery turned up late afternoon and dsil refused to sign unless the driver helped him to lift it into place.
The driver grumbled that it was kerbside delivery only and dsil countered that is why they paid for am delivery when they knew manpower would be available.

If they sent a notification saying you don’t need to be home challenge based on that.

I have recently had purchases from Daal and find their approach to deliveries woeful. I made sure to note that in my Trustpilot review of them (which they got arsey about.)

They are one of the rare companies that is completely inflexible. However it is clear in the T&Cs there will be a missed delivery charge and also clear that if you cannot do the date they tell you (the day before) you keep calling to let them know. But the fact they cannot commit to a day is so primitive. They assume everybody has a stay at home partner.

So the terms were that if an am delivery it was not a kerbside delivery?

I’ve ordered from daals. It clear on the email/text what number to phone if you can’t do the delivery date.