20yo DD was home alone- 2 Proovia delivery came into house and stood over her until she transferred £60 into their own bank account- raging at response

[fanothetan]

Delivery came significantly earlier than agreed, and these men were angry that I had not answered the phone. I work in CAMHS and never take my phone into clinics- . beside the point anyway, I had no reason to think I needed to.
DD knew nothing about the delivery so totally blindsided by how they were behaving. From their demeanour she assumed I had messed up. They brought the item upstairs (I’m third floor) came into the hall and demanded £60 because they had been paid to deliver to the first floor. True, but would not have been an issue if the delivery has arrived at the agreed time. They stood over her while she transferred it on her phone. Understandably she felt scared and did not argue with them, which was the right thing to do.
The response feels like a parody. I phoned and repeatedly ‘corrected’ with variations on ‘your adult daughter’ ‘yes, but she is an adult’. The initial reply to an email was a bald ‘the transaction was cancelled by you’. This was untrue and anyway are either of these responses the point?
After providing evidence and much to-ing and fro-ing there’s no dispute this happened and they say the driver no longe works for them. Having said they would refund the money, they are now saying they won’t, and asking why it’s taken so long to request a refund. Now it’s only £60 and hones, I honestly could not care less, but it speaks volumes and makes me extremely skeptical that any action was taken by them to address this.
The question is can I do anything? I have one of their full names from the bank transfer and their phone number from the repeated phone calls. Taking it to the police seems trivial if it’s about £60 but it’s not, it’s about grown men intimidating a 20 year old girl in her own home. It’s about an employer who clearly give no fucks at all about this and is happy to prevaricate and hand out platitudes rather than respond appropriately.

AIBU to not just suck it up and accept this is how things are? Or should I post the entire email thread which would be hilarious were it not so totally enraging? If there is a constructive way to get this addressed I might be spared an ulcer.

I love that this has been demonstrated on the very first page 🤣

That is awful behaviour from the delivery people and I think you should keep complaining. You could write to one of the consumer rights people in the newspapers?

She doesn't live on the third floor, there are (at least) three floors within the house. The delivery men carried the items upstairs inside the house.

She's not a child, she's a 20 year old women.

Your daughter could have made an excuse to go to the bathroom and call the police if she is not of the mind to dismiss delivery drivers.

Taking it to the police seems trivial if it’s about £60 but it’s not, it’s about grown men intimidating a 20 year old girl in her own home.

Police and trading standards. They sound utterly appalling!!

She’s a 20 year old woman not a 20 year old women.

have you checked companies house then under people for the directors/chief officers name and contact details?

I don't understand why she didn't just tell them to leave it on the first floor if that's where you'd paid to have it delivered to

I would report to trading standards too.

That’s not what OP says. She says “I’m third floor” and describes the men carrying the item up and then entering the hall.

Presumably OP was planning to be at home to lift the item up to the third floor themselves. As implied in OP.

Well unfortunately delivery times are not guaranteed and OP did not brief the daughter to insist item be delivered only to first floor so it’s all done now. Better comms next time.

I agree

Oh OP that’s awful. Your poor DD. I remember how I was at 20, and I would’ve done exactly the same. TBF, if there were two men standing over me demanding 60 quid right now, I’d still probably do what she did.

I’ve bought things from companies who will deliver to ground floor, but then will charge extra for taking items further upstairs… But I’m aware of the costs beforehand and I’m always here to accept the delivery. Your daughter was blindsided, as you say.

I’ve no idea of the legalities of what happened. Would you be able to speak to trading standards, or the police on 101? I’ve spoken to ourselves local council trading standards department before and they were very helpful. Hope you manage to get somewhere with this, as I’m sure your daughter isn’t the only one to have experienced this. Anyone vulnerable – young women, old people - are easy targets for two men.

Daughter didn’t know about the delivery. All it takes is for them to say, do you want upstairs? She says, yes please… And then they intimidate her into paying extra. I bet they didn’t tell her beforehand that they would be demanding £60.

Of course demanding £60 in an intimidating way was appalling and it should be refunded. Personally, I’d tip someone who carried an item upstairs to the third floor, but it’s absolutely my choice how much.

To clarify your OP as it’s not entirely clear. You live in a third floor flat and deliveries are typically left on the first floor? How did the delivery people get in and why did they come up to the third floor if deliveries are normally left downstairs?

If your DD told them to come upstairs, please impress on her never to do this again, it’s a huge safety risk.

@ItsmeMargo Good idea to speak to Trading Standards.

So you didn’t book the delivery to 3rd floor? Which is where it needed to go? They arrived earlier than expected and you weren’t there to pay them? Correct? I’ve used Provia without issue, they usually ask you to pay balance the day before by transfer, so most of these issues seem created by you. You sound like a chancer to me.

Right.

How long ago did this happen op?

@malmi Oops, I stand corrected.

So you knew a delivery was coming for a large item, but made yourself unavailable to take a call from the company on the day, when everyone on the planet knows that any large item delivery will include a call beforehand?

That would be fine if you had told your daughter that this item is coming, that there’s a bill to be paid and to pay it for you if they show up. But you didn’t do that either.

I’m not sure how they behaved in the house, or whether they were being dicks to her, but this whole carry on didn’t need to happen.

Gosh the hard of thinking are out in force tonight!

I peak at the front door if someone knocks to see who's there. Unless it's the postman or delivery driver I ain't opening the door.

@DierdreDaphne ? Not sure why you think that’s a daft question.

The delivery men should have done that rather than bullying £60 from a young woman. They should have said we can't go no further. People will try it.