Amazon agent Hermes non delivery - **resolved**

[Carningli]

High Fellow Caggers,

 

 

Please could you give me some advice. In August 18, I placed an order for a new chainsaw with Amazon and requiring it fairly immediately, I accepted their kind offer of a prime trial, believing that I would be entitled to next day delivery. In the event I received an email from Amazon stating that the chainsaw would be delivered on the day after the expected day of delivery.

 

 

My partner and myself waited at our home all that day, no delivery was made. In view of non delivery and anxious to make the best of August Bank Holiday weather, I rang the importers of the chainsaw direct on the following day. I was at the time unaware that the importers were only some 50 minutes drive away. Thinking that Hermes might deliver that day, I requested the importers if they would be kind enough to keep a unit for me until they closed at 1.30pm, explaining that I might get a delivery and not require their kind assistance. By 11.00 am, there was no sign of any delivery so I went to the importers and picked up a new chainsaw of the model I wanted. That afternoon I sent an email direct to Amazon by their Help page messaging system. In it I asked them to cancel my order and refund my credit card account if they had debited it.

 

 

 

Approximately a week ago, I looked at my credit card statement and was surprised to see entries for a chainsaw from both Amazon and the importer. I immediatey sent a message to Amazon by their messaging system, explaining that no chainsaw had been delivered by Hermes and no card left by them. Their response to say the least was unhelpful, citing that they could do nothing as 20 days had already elapsed and denied they had ever received a notice of cancellation at the time of their alleged delivery.

 

 

 

Where should I go from here Amazon are the seller of the goods, Hermes their delivery agent? Amazon say they did not receive my message, Hermes claim they made a delivery to a secure place on the second day after ordering (no proof of delivery), I say no chain saw was delivered. I am aware of Sec 75 posibilities.

 

 

With thanks Carningli

[renegadeimp]

Get a complaint going higher up amazon. You cant go after hermes as it is amazon that has the contract with them for delivery. Not you. Amazon are responsible.

 

The good side is, if you make enough noise and take the complaint high up, they usually back down to avoid bad publicity

[BankFodder]

I'm afraid that I disagree with quite a lot of what has been said above.

 

First of all I have to say that you've been with us since 2009 and I really don't understand why you have left it until now – the beginning of November – to ask for our help.

 

I understand that you bought the chain saw using Amazon Prime and this suggests to me that the seller of the item was in fact Amazon. You cancelled the order before you even received the chain saw and this means that under the distance selling regulations, they should honour your cancellation. Do you have any record of the message that you sent to Amazon? You could send Amazon an SAR to see what record they have of your cancellation. However, as a first step I would call Amazon on the telephone using their helpline service – which is generally pretty good – and see if you can get the call centre to agree that they did receive a cancellation notice from you. Of course because you have been his of 2009 I don't need to tell you to record the call. You do that all the time don't you.

 

Secondly, you say that you are aware of the section 75 possibilities. So why haven't you invoked them? Once again here we are at the beginning of November and this happened more than two months ago.

 

Finally, in relation to Hermes although it is correct that there is no contract with Hermes, unless Hermes have specifically excluded it, you will have excellent rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act which confers on you all the same rights that are enjoyed by the sender of the item. You will have to check the Hermes terms and conditions to see if these provisions have been specifically excluded but I have had a brief look and I don't see anything. If I'm right then you could certainly bring an action in contract against Hermes.

 

Even if there is no contract against Hermes because they have specifically excluded the Act, I would have thought that this could be an excellent case for bringing a claim in negligence. However, whether you bought a negligence action or a contract action, you will have to do some rooting around and particularly you will have to you get evidence of where Hermes left the parcel. If they are unable to provide you with the actual location or the identity of the recipient, then I would think that that would be enough evidence to persuade a County Court in a small claim.

[renegadeimp]

I still stand by my advice. Escalate it high and they almost always back down.

[Carningli]

Hi BankFodder and renegadeimp

 

 

Thank you for your prompt replies. I am pleased to inform you that by escalating the request Amazon have agreed to a full refund. One of my problems was finding someone in the customer care team prepared to take my request up the line. I ended up with two people dealing with the problem, one really trying to help, the other being a company policy protector.

 

 

With regard to the length of time to raise the issue, delivery was scheduled for 23rd August and this item was not shown until I received my credit card statement in early October. A message was sent to Amazon on the 25th August cancelling the order, Amazon claimed they never received this message.The initial part of October was taken up with searching for the item, questioning neighbours and making contact with Amazon customer services. It was only when I received an email on 31st October quoting "We are only able to issue a replacement or refund for an order within 30 days of the delivery date" that I consulted this excellent site and took matters further with Amazon. I have already received a confirming email from Amazon and am very satisfied with the result. The matter is now closed.

 

 

Best regards Carningli

[BankFodder]

Brilliant. Well done and thanks for letting us know

[renegadeimp]

Works every time. Well done on getting it sorted