Stolen delivery of new o2 phone

[Bara]

I took new contract with O2 and new iPhoneX and chose home delivery option.

 

The driver left my delivery with my housemate and he has signed for it.

 

I came home and couldn't find it anywhere.

 

Asked my flatmate and he said he left it in corridor inside the house but it has gone.

 

Contacted O2 but they say they did everything correct and not that's my problem and I have to be fully paying for it.

 

Is there any legal regulation that he is responsible for my parcel he has signed for?

 

Or is it O2 for not giving it to me as they claimed I will have to sign for the delivery?

 

I was sure it has to be me only who can sign.

 

Any ideas please

[BankFodder]

Well you better get ready because it's going to be tricky.

 

I think that O2's responsibility to get the telephone into your hands. There delivery driver – whoever that was and whatever company he worked for give it to somebody else to sign for. Therefore it didn't reach your hands and therefore in my view O2 is responsible.

 

Of course O2 will disagree and I imagine there's going to be a lot of trouble about it. I think you should begin by writing an urgent letter to O2 telling them that they have failed to deliver the telephone to you and therefore you are terminating the contract. Tell them the although their delivery driver attempted to make a delivery, he did not deliver such a valuable item directly into your hands. His clear duty should have been to refuse to deliver to anybody else and to take the telephone away. He failed to do that.

 

Your next problem of course is going to be that they are going to want to keep on taking the money from you. You are going to want to stop the direct debits. When you stop the direct debits they will consider that you are trying to avoid the contract and avoid your lawful debts and they will immediately leap into collection mode by defaulting you and then threatening you. With your credit file ruined you will find it difficult to get another phone.

 

Even though the proper line is that the phone has been stolen from O2, they will not tell the police – because they never do that kind of thing. They will simply blame you and they will try to get the money from you. I suggest that you log it with the police so that you get a crime report that make sure that the police understand that it is not your property it is O2's property. The police won't like this either – because they don't understand these kind of fine distinctions – but do it anyway.

 

After that I suppose that you could try making a complaint to the communications regulator – but that's not the kind of thing that the communications regulator really deals with. I can foresee that you will end up having to go to the small claim court. In fact if I were you I would look up the rules on the new pre-action protocol and make it clear in your letter to O2 that this is the first step in that protocol and they have 30 days to respond.

 

As I say, it's not going to be easy and it's going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.

[Bara]

Thank you for the information, you been really helpful. I reported to the police already and I have reference number. I will definitely write the letter to O2.

[dx100uk]

moved to the telecom forum

[mariner51]

Get O2 to disable/block the phone.

[ericsbrother]

Sorry, I disagree with bankfodder on this one,

 

O2 have delivered the phone to the address and someone has signed to accept responsibility for it.

 

other than making sure that it cannot be used by getting O2 to render it useless the responsibility for your loss now rests with the flatmate who signed for it whether they like it or not.

 

The phone and the contract for the srvice they agreed to provide become 2 separate issues at some point soon.

 

You need to decide do you wnat to continue with the service contract and if the phone was part of that package then you need to get them to separate them, at least for billing purposes so it becomes easier for you to either tell them to cancel and pay whatever fee that has or get a new handset and see if your payment method or house insurance covers the actual cost of the handset.

 

Ask O2 for the serial number of the handset as well as the electronic fingerprints so you can go and visit your local Cash Converter or equivalent and see if they have got one like it.

 

If they have give them fair warning that you have had one stolen and they should consider keeping it back until th matter has been investigated.

 

You will then need to go to the police to get them to inspect the CCTV and ID for the seller

[fkofilee]

Get O2 to disable/block the phone.

 

Correct - It can be unbarred by you at a later date if required.

Also do get the IMEI / Serial Number - It will flag up on Checkmend if its taken anywhere

 

Will be easier to trace etc

[BankFodder]

Sorry, I disagree with bankfodder on this one,

 

O2 have delivered the phone to the address and someone has signed to accept responsibility for it.

 

other than making sure that it cannot be used by getting O2 to render it useless the responsibility for your loss now rests with the flatmate who signed for it whether they like it or not.

 

The phone and the contract for the srvice they agreed to provide become 2 separate issues at some point soon.

 

You need to decide do you wnat to continue with the service contract and if the phone was part of that package then you need to get them to separate them, at least for billing purposes so it becomes easier for you to either tell them to cancel and pay whatever fee that has or get a new handset and see if your payment method or house insurance covers the actual cost of the handset.

 

Ask O2 for the serial number of the handset as well as the electronic fingerprints so you can go and visit your local Cash Converter or equivalent and see if they have got one like it.

 

If they have give them fair warning that you have had one stolen and they should consider keeping it back until th matter has been investigated.

 

You will then need to go to the police to get them to inspect the CCTV and ID for the seller

 

well we will simply have to disagree on that one.

 

I think the situation is as I have stated it, that the contract requires that the goods are delivered to the consumer https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?448230-28-Delivery-of-goods

 

If you can find something in the contract which says that simply delivery to your address or to some other person linked to you amounts to delivery then I'll probably put my hands up and say that I'm wrong. However, I can't imagine any reasonable telephone supplier relying on such an open-ended delivery provision for a valuable item such as a mobile phone.

 

However, it won't hurt to check your contract

[BazzaS]

Correct - It can be unbarred by you at a later date if required.

Also do get the IMEI / Serial Number - It will flag up on Checkmend if its taken anywhere

 

Will be easier to trace etc

 

Should be done, but won't help if its a savvy thief / fence as it will end up somewhere where the CEIR block isn't implemented.

[Ethel Street]

I suspect O2 will argue that they are only obliged to deliver to the address and that anyone there who signs for it accepts it your behalf, as your agent.

 

Whether their contract conditions say that, and whether that would stand up in law, I have no idea.

But I predict that if you went to court using that as the legal argument they will wheel out the legal big guns and appeal it as far as they need to.

 

The entire online shopping business only works in practice because delivery is made to the address not the named buyer.

That doesn't mean law and practice are aligned of course, but there would potentially be a big issue if a court (a higher court I mean, not small claims) held that delivery had to be made to the buyer in person.

 

For one thing delivery companies would have to ask for photo ID of whoever was signing for it, and it would be mightily inconvenient for most online shoppers.

I can't be the only household where I am at home and can accept deliveries for OH and the children, who are all out at work!

Let alone delivering it to a neighbour....

 

They will probably also argue that you had options

- collect in person in store for example

- and by choosing home delivery you accepted the risk of what might happen to it after delivery to your home.

If you hadn't wanted to accept the risk you didn't have to.

 

Are you certain your housemate isn't involved in some way?

[BankFodder]

If they're not protected by a contractual term in their contract – then they won't we allow any big guns. When they realise that the OP business then they will put their hands up rather than spend all the money involved in fighting a losing argument

[BankFodder]

This is what seems to be their terms and conditions on their website https://www.o2.co.uk/termsandconditions/shop-purchasing-terms/purchases-from-o2-shop-terms-and-conditions

 

Delivery & Charges

 

We can only deliver to a valid UK address.

 

Delivery timescales cannot be guaranteed. There are certain circumstances where you order may be delayed:

 

Orders placed at the weekend or on a Bank Holiday will require at least one extra working day for delivery (for most postcodes, orders placed on a Saturday or Sunday will normally be delivered on a Tuesday).

Any unforeseen stock shortages. If this happens, we will notify you of any delay.

Certain remote postcodes will require additional time for delivery.

If we cannot obtain immediate security clearance for payment of your order. The security of our customers is paramount so these checks are essential to combat fraudulent use of payment and address details

Delivery charges are as specified in your order.

 

On the basis of this, they don't stand a chance.

[Hammy1962]

Best 'I want an iPhone X' for free post so far...................................

 

H

[ericsbrother]

Sorry BF, cant see why that would change the lack of liability for loss AFTER delivery The flatmate was perfectly within their rights to say

"I'm not signing for it as I dont want to be held responsible for it" and they would ahve to try again or use another method.

Doesnt need to be part of their T&C's it is common law.

[Racer_Bod]

Not sure if this is helpful or not lol.

 

I recently upgraded on EE and had the phone delivered. I had to show Photo ID to the delivery driver before he would hand over said phone.

 

Now admittedly this was to a work, not residential address but the driver (who delivers to us pretty much every day) still viewed my driving licence before handing over the phone.

[DragonFly1967]

Not O2, but I have two contract phones with EE.

 

Whenever I get a new handset delivered, I (personally) have to be at the address (although they'll deliver it to any address) with proof of ID, such as my driving licence, in order to have the handset delivered to me in person. They state that no one else can sign can sign for a handset on my behalf.

 

I'd be frankly amazed if O2 didn't have a similar procedure, in which case, this missing handset is going to be the responsibility of O2 and/or the couriers.