Should they refund me for this even though it hasn't been returned?

[ScarilyClose]

Two weeks ago I bought a heavy and fairly urgently needed item. I paid for next day delivery with same working day dispatch if ordered before 4pm - I ordered at 9am so was expecting it to arrive the next day. When it didn't arrive I checked out the tracking and the seller hadn't actually dispatched it until the next day anyway.

It then went in and out for delivery 4 times - the courier kept marking it as a failed delivery because I wasn't available. I work from home. I was in all day every day, able to see the lane outside the house in both directions. Our house is hard to find but not impossible. I added delivery instructions with directions and the company had my mobile number (which they kept texting with failed delivery updates but didn't think to call if they were struggling to find the house!). The seller just kept telling me to send a what3words location pin to the courier which I did, 3 times, but it made no difference. The drivers didn't appear to even look at the instructions I was providing.

It was finally left in a neighbours garden 7 days after I ordered - luckily the neighbour kindly brought it to my house for me, because the courier marked it as "handed to resident" so I'd never have known where it was otherwise. However I'd given up and bought a replacement one locally that morning because I couldn't be without it any longer!

So I told the seller I wanted to return it, and they've now booked it for collection with the same useless courier, who so far has marked the collection as "failed" 3 times. Same story. The seller won't refund me until I return it, but I literally can't return it. I can barely even pick it up!

Should they refund me anyway? This is completely outside my control and when I initially asked to return it I specifically told them to book with a different courier for this exact reason, but the seller told me they'd never had a failed collection before and that this was who they always use. I bought it on eBay so there's no obvious way past the auto "refund will be issued when item is returned" status of the return I started.

Until it’s returned, no refund.

So how do I return it?

I would try to arrange your own collection for return with a courier of your choice if you don’t want to continue with the seller’s choice- discuss with then. But the bottom line is that until they receive the item back they are not going to process a refund because that would then mean you get the item, plus the money.

Contact the seller and advise them of the situation, they might decide to go with a different courier, but I wouldn’t do it without their consent. I presume the item is on the more expensive side if they’re going to the bother of getting it returned, so it’s only fair to return before you get a refund.

How infuriating! I’d be steaming at all this nonsense.

Write to the company and tell them they have two further attempts to collect it. After this, you will not be staying home waiting for any further failed collections and will seek legal advice with a view to starting small claims court proceedings. That should focus minds.

Hilariously it's only £52, but it's £52 I want back because the item is superfluous due to taking so long to be delivered.

@Jellybunny56 I am not arranging my own courier, that's ridiculous and will cost ££ because its such a heavy item. The seller knows their chosen courier is incompetent because I spent a week messaging them to try and get it delivered in the first place. I don't dare who collects it, I'm more than happy for this company to come and get it but apparently they aren't happy to actually do so.

Well if you’re not prepared to do anything then the short answer is- you’re not getting your refund.

Don't be absurd.

Anyone with half an ounce of sense would chuckle, rip the letter up and simply wait...safe in the knowledge that they could robustly defend the claim if it came, with the evidence of attempted collections from the courier.

Not everyone instantly shits their pants at the mere mention of SCC you know 😂

Can you just stop bothering to comment if all you're here to do is blame me? Have you got any useful advice or do you know anything about consumer law? Or are you just one of the MN Misery Ploppers, stalking the site for people to snark at?

It’s really simple, if you want a refund then you return the item.

Sorry the quote didn't work but that was for @Jellybunny56

I'm not going down the small claims route, that would be ridiculous and cost more than I'd get back!

It isn’t Yodel by any chance, is it?

Morally they should. Legally and with Ebay you have to return the item before they refund.

The company have failed miserably. Raise a credit card dispute - you have evidence you have tried and you didn't get the service you paid for.

'Consumer law' says the seller must refund you after the item is returned op. That's it.

There's are no magic words you can say that will force the seller to give you your money back. Keeping the item and getting your money back, which you seem to be after, isn't going to be the outcome here.

It's annoying but that's life. Either think outside the box to get the pick up done - alternate courier, waiting at the end of the lane at pick up time, whatever - or write the money off.

Absolutely this, but not the answer OP wants I don’t think!

The op bought a product, not a service. And that product was delivered. It would be the quickest Section 75 refund decline ever EVEN IF the purchase qualified - which at less than £100, it doesn't anyway.

Do you always behave like a spoilt child?

They don't send a pick up time. It's an all day time slot, apparently. The first I know is when I get a text telling me the delivery/collection failed - I've asked for a more exact time and been ignored. I've sent a what3words. I've sent directions to the house. I've sent a Google pin drop. I've sent a photo of the front of my house. I've asked for the driver to call me before marking it as a failed collection so I can explain how to get here. All ignored. If the courier company would actually communicate with me I could arrange for someone else to lift it into my car (I'm not able to lift it myself due to how heavy it is) and meet the driver somewhere, but they ignore every attempt I make to try and arrange such a thing. Its like I'm sending messages and delivery/collection instructions into a void. Believe me I've tried pretty much daily for the last 12 days to sort this out.

Multiple other deliveries have made it to the house this week so it's not like it's impossible to find anyway. There's something going wrong with the actual company but I don't know what.

I absolutely don't want to "keep it and get my money back". I really really want it to be taken away. I've got no use for it, literally cannot use it, because I've bought another one and it's not something you can use two of (it's a specific car part which was bought and a mobile mechanic booked to fit it on arrival, which had to be cancelled and I got it done for considerably more money at a local garage in the end as I had to use the car 😬). It is now completely useless to me and it's in my way in the porch, still in it's original packaging and with a big label on the top saying "[COURIER NAME] collection for [COMPANY NAME]".

No, it's some company I'd never heard of until this saga started. Apparently a "specialist" delivery company who can only be contacted via "live chat" which is an AI bot, or by ringing their "customer service line" between certain hours which then only has automated options and has absolutely no way to speak to a human being. The live chat AI bot will eventually put you through to a person if you go round in circles enough times, but it takes ages and then if you don't reply within a certain time they close the chat and you have to start again from scratch. And to think I was initially glad it wasn't Yodel when I got the tracking😂 - this company are actually worse.

There are some insane comments on this thread!! OP paid for an item and service that was not delivered. I've got refunds without returns in the past, you just need to be robust. You have fulfilled your end of the bargain, you have made the item available for the return, it is their contract with the courier that is at fault, not you. I would be emailing them daily, multiple times if necessary, insisting on the refund.

Where did you buy from? I managed to get a refund without returning an exercise bike from Amazon. It broke after a week, and they wanted me to completely dismantle it (which woudl ot have been easy), source a new box to package it in, and wait in for them to collect.

I argued my case about how difficult/inconvenient it would be for me to do all of that, and pointed out I'd made thousands of orders with them over many years, with only a couple of returns, and they relented. I still had to pay someone to take it to the tip for me, but it was much less hassle in the end.

I had something similar when trying to return a faulty kitchen stool. They wouldn’t send the new one until I sent the old one back but they kept arranging a collection but not turning up. The company had live chat and after the fourth no show I said that this was unacceptable so was advised to bin it and the new one was dispatched. The next day a courier then arrived to collect the parcel!

eBay. The item never even got taken out of the box as by the time it finally turned up it was no longer any use!

I hear you @ScarilyClose , that sounds beyond frustrating.
I'm not really an eBay user so I don't know if this is any help, but can you tell the seller if they don't arrange an alternative, competent courier, you'll raise a dispute with eBay? Just the threat of the hassle might prompt them to either sort it out or refund you and write it off.
Good luck.