Are they, kind of, thieves?

[SoniaSwanners]

My husband and I ordered £150 of products from an online shop. We were out when the delivery guy came, and he left the parcel with our neighbour. He posted a note through our letterbox saying he’d left the parcel at number 22. When we enquired with no. 22, they said they’d initially taken the parcel up to their flat, but then they had brought it downstairs again and left it on our doorstep on the street, leaning against our front door. When we got back from work, the parcel wasn’t there, and we could only assume it had been stolen - because it was standing right there on the street for anyone to steal! And the neighbour at 22 admitted that they had left it there. When I suggested to them that they had created conditions in which our parcel got stolen and that they therefore owe us £150, they got very angry, called us unreasonable and are refusing to reimburse us. Am I being unreasonable to think they should pay us back the £150?

I think delivery companies leaving stuff with neighbours is a really bad idea.

If the person isn't in the parcel should be taken to a pickup locker type thing rather than passed on to a neighbour.

The company still owes you the product, unless you specifically told the courier to leave it with neighbours. Until it is delivered to you, or where you specifically tell them to leave it, then you still have not received it and it is the shops issue to figure out not yours.

Get a refund or replacement.

The business will will probably just write it off as a loss whereas OP can't do that. Banks also will reverse payment if you use a credit card in New Zealand but not sure about UK.

Wow, that's brazen of them. Did you report to police?

I find this UK system of leaving deliveries with neighbours mind blowing. Just not a think where I am, and from countess threads on here it sounds like a recipe for disaster.

The moral of this story is make sure you're at home when you have a parcel delivered.

Its been delivered to your address (via # 22) - so the theives are the people who stole it off your door mat.

Same here. We get a note in our mailbox for a redeliver or a place we can pick up.

People posting that the neighbours have no responsibility are wrong. If you accept goods as they did you have a duty of care. Dumping them on a doorstep is negligent - if that's what they actually did! And you would have a claim against them. However if you didn't authorise the delivery to your neighbours then the primary responsibility remains with the seller. So yes contact the seller first and you should get a replacement.

If you want to know if they are thieves, check their bins.

If you want to know what’s happening with parcels on your doorstep, get a camera.

And if you want your money back, look at how the delivery contradicted your delivery instructions and go via the retailer.

No, they're not theives, just idiots.

Regardless, your contract is with the company you paid, you haven't got the goods so they haven't fulfilled their contract. Let them know they need to send you replacements, then it's up to them to go after the delivery company or the neighbours.

This is what I was going to say. They may well have kept the order themselves and told you they left it on the doorstep.

My husband owns a small business, and "write it off as a loss" impacts more than you might think. A small seller, they have to send you the item twice, and pay the postage.

Not sure what company it is but it not just "they wrote it off"

Sadly the lesson here is to get parcels delivered to a locker.

This is the reason why I never accept parcels for neighbours. I don’t want to be responsible for other peoples stuff. That and the fact half the time said neighbours take days to bother collecting it 🙄

I don’t think you’re unreasonable in blaming them if that is what they did with your parcel, but I do think you are in making them pay simply because they won’t!

As many service stations and shops here will accept deliveries / have storage lockers, unless you know your neighbours pretty well its not on to put this responsibility onto them. What if the parcel is still dumped on their doorstep with a note and then stolen? Happens often enough to me when I'm at home. Is it then their responsibility to reimburse? Absolutely. not

Morally you might have a point. However, legally the seller IS responsible for a refund if the OP didn't give permission for delivery to a neighbour. Assuming the item was bought from a business seller and not a private seller of course.

Wow. Thats number one brass neck CFs

Sadly it's often not an option, many retailers don't even do click and collect, forget lockers.