Non delivered items dispute - Merchant threatening me

[kodiplod]

I purchased various items from two different stores. I had issues with both stores in where items where tracked and shown as delivered to my address but unfortunately have not been. I have had a few issues like these in the past due to me living in a ground floor flat in the city centre with various unlocked entry points to the communal area. 

 

As both stores have refused to refund me, I opened a dispute with my bank. Since then, the merchants are now clubbing up against me stating they have built a case against me and will be contacting relevant authorities and solicitors if I do not withdraw the dispute from my bank.

 

Where do I stand here and should my course of action be? I genuinely have not received these items but obviously do not want to get in trouble with the police!

 

 

[honeybee13]

That sounds a bit heavy by the merchants. Who are you dealing with please?

 

HB

[kodiplod]

Have PM you

[BankFodder]

Please will you give us the name of these retailers on the open forum. It's very important and doesn't put you any disadvantage.

Also, you should disregard these threats. They are meaningless and these people do not have this kind of power.

 do you have copies of these of these threats in writing and if so please would you post them up here.

we will only be able to help you if you are prepared to trust us and follow our advice

 

 

[BankFodder]

I also don't understand how these merchants would be clubbing together which potentially would be in breach of data protection rules

[kodiplod]

This is from one company after I made the dispute: Auto Oid is the company.

 

We’ve been made aware from a number of companies about your fraudulent activities and have built a case against you. 

We have it in writing from Royal Mail that the item was successfully delivered to your address via GPS tracking and have evidence that you have contacted us via a different email address confirming you have received the item. 

I suggest you retract your chargeback with immediate effect or you should be getting a call from our solicitors and the police. 

This will be my final warning.

 

This is from the second company: M L Performance

We've kept all the information on file relating to your case, including your Facebook profile, your business info linking your details to your Facebook profile, proof of delivery of both shipments, and should you decide to take this matter to the bank we will present all the evidence, and also seek legal action to recover any losses that occur as a result of this, as well as report this to the relevant authority.

 

[dx100uk]

then their target is surely the people that own flat in not employing the correct means of building security...??

[BankFodder]

I think there are a lot of questions to ask you.

First of all – and observation – there is no particular evidence here of "clubbing together" other than the fact that it seems to be quite a coincidence that these companies which presumably are independent of each other are attacking you in the same way. Do you have any explanation for this?

Next, apparently one company has said that they have received an email from you confirming that you have received the item. What details about that please?

Also, what are these items? And what is the value? And I suppose that we have to ask have you got any record of this kind of thing happening in the past? The message you have received says that they are aware of a number of companies who have experienced loss deliveries.

I have tried searching for the first company Auto Oid and I can't find them. Presumably they have a website. Please could you provide a link to them.

Is this the website of the second company? https://www.mlperformance.co.uk/

 

[kodiplod]

They both are in the same industry and I just assumed they have been speaking with each other.

 

Bit of background in regards to MLP... 

I was in a forum on Facebook in where I put a picture up of my car (on the morning of expected delivery from ML Performance) and stated that I will be fitting the said parts to my car next week. ML Performance found this post and are using this as evidence that I have received the goods. However, this post was put up at approx 8am and I put it up because I was excited I would be receiving my delivery later that day and fitting the parts to my car. The delivery was supposed to be coming around 2pm however it never did.

 

He then posted my Facebook profile and said evidence within this group and called me a scammer and wanted to warn other people about me. The post has since been removed however I was removed from the Facebook group (owner of ML Performance is the group moderator).

 

That is correct. Autoid claim they have evidence of an email received from a different email address claiming to have received this lost parcel. For some reason they think that I have emailed them from a different email address saying I have received it - it's crazy!

 

The items are car parts. ML Performance was approx £500 and Autoid is approx £400. Yes, I have had some issues with deliveries in the past to my current address but also so have my neighbours. We have had a case before where something was supposedly delivered and left outside my flat door but we assume was stolen. A door literally next to my front door leads on to a busy main road and is unlocked.

 

Autoid is the company. autoid.co  https://autoid.co/

 

 

Yes that is the correct second website. 

[BankFodder]

Okay, two things I think you should do.

Firstly is sent both these companies an SAR. Do it today.

Secondly, in case they do contact the bank, I think that it is better that your bank has it from you first rather than from them.

Presumably you have a chargeback reference number so I think that you should alert the bank to the fact that the chargeback is being challenged and that if your bank has any questions then you are happy to receive them and to answer them.
Let your bank have this information in writing.

I'm not sure what else we can do for the moment until something happens. It will be interesting to see the SARs and to see whether they have been sharing your personal data which would put you in a very good position. Also, they would be obliged to disclose this email address and that might give you something to go with as well.

By and large it sounds to me as if the threats are a load of hot air – but you certainly want to protect yourself and so take the steps that I suggested above. Let us know if there are any developments

[kodiplod]

Thank you. Have sent the SAR and will await their response. I will post it here when they do!

[theberengersniper]

I have a couple of further thoughts along with BankFodder's, whose advice you should follow.

 

If they do in fact have GPS data, then that data will only be accurate enough to place the delivery driver near, or at best, in your building. It will not be accurate enough to place him definitively at your door and certainly doesn't prove you received the parcel, even if it was pinpoint accurate. Moreover, any GPS trackable services I've ever used tracked the van, not the package itself, which would further dilute its usefulness.

 

Secondly, if their claim is that your package was delivered, Royal Mail will have a signature from the recipient, which won't be you, right? Unless you gave the delivery company express permission to deliver to someone other than you, then won't liability for the lack of delivery rest with the Royal Mail through their failure to deliver to the correct recipient? To obtain the signature data, can the OP SAR Royal Mail themselves to get it, or on the basis that the company was the Royal Mail's client in this case, would that data only be available to them?

 

OP, I take it you have knocked on a few doors just to double check nobody else took this in for you and just hasn't bothered to contact you?

[kodiplod]

This is all correct.

 

No signatures are currently being given due to the pandemic, so it is solely relied on GPS or a picture of the parcel.

 

I have knocked on approx 5 doors and all with no luck. It’s really alarming to see that Autoid have received an email from someone claiming to have received my parcel. Absolutely madness that they think it’s me!