Parcels thrown over the fence, left in the garden in rain or found in a neighbour's pond were just some of the real-life delivery disasters experienced by shoppers waiting for Christmas presents to be delivered.
A survey by consumer champion Which? also heard stories of delivery mishaps such as:
- A pair of slippers ending up in a neighbour’s pond after being thrown over their fence.
- A delivery being left in a recycling bin without notification, and the bin then being emptied.
- A package being delivered to the ‘outhouse’, when the homeowner didn’t have one.
- A parcel being delivered to the wrong neighbour, with whom the recipient was engaged in a feud.
Read more: Your rights if your Christmas parcels have not arrived in time
Home deliveries descended into chaos last month, as six days of Royal Mail postal worker walkouts coincided with the busiest time of year as families and businesses sent out Christmas cards and presents. Royal Mail was forced to issue an apology on its website, admitting there were 'delays' to deliveries and the situation was made worse by retailers such as Currys switching from Royal Mail to alternative couriers, causing backlogs with delivery companies such as DPD and Evri, formally Hermes.
Hundreds of furious customers took to social media to complain about missing parcels, with couriers such as DPD suspending deliveries to some postcodes and Evri admitting that reports on social media that parcels were being left outside in the rain at the company's Stanley, Co Durham, depot, were correct.
Retailers say Christmas sales took a hit, as customers held off ordering in case their gifts don't arrive on time.
A survey by Which? found that some companies fared much better than others when it came to customer satisfaction, meaning the likelihood of a hassle-free delivery could depend on which carrier your retailer uses. Shoppers don’t get to choose which company a retailer uses, but a quarter of respondents said they’d avoided using a retailer because of its choice of courier.
By now, most Christmas presents should have come through the system and been delivered, but if you are still waiting more than 30 calendar days after you expected to receive the item, you can legally cancel the contract and get a refund, regardless of whether the item was bought online or in store. Your contract is with the retailer you bought the goods from, so even if you think the problems is down to a poor service from the courier, the retailer is who your compliant is with.
If you think your parcel may be lost, complain to the retailer, which should be able to refund you the full amount. If that doesn't work, and you've paid for even a proportion of the cost by credit card, then you could try to claim under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act as long as the item is worth at least £100 and under £30,000.
Where Section 75 doesn't apply, there's another rule that you may be able to fall back on, if you've used a debit card or paid for an item worth less than £100 on a credit card. It's called chargeback, and it allows the card provider to reverse a payment you've made to a retailer if they agree you've a legitimate complaint.
You can read more about your rights when a parcel delivery goes wrong here.
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