These types of situations have crept into our daily lives: “I sent a package with a very expensive cell phone and it doesn’t arrive.” “Oops, but this is not what I bought.” «My order has been at my neighbor’s house for days and no one has notified me. Furthermore, the merchandise is broken, what do I do? Who do I claim? With the unstoppable increase in online purchases and services, incidents with courier companies are the order of the day to the despair of millions of users, who do not know how to solve these types of “very frequent” problems with orders.
«There are few things as frustrating as waiting for a package and it not arriving or sending something and it getting lost along the way. Furthermore, not all messaging problems are resolved in the same way: many things can happen from the moment we place an order until we open it, but also when we are the ones who contract the service,” they say in the Organization of Consumers and Users ( OCU). These are some keys to avoid or, at least, minimize setbacks with courier companies.
Who is responsible?
The experts make it clear: «From packages that never arrive to those that do, but are delivered without our permission to a neighbor who shows no signs of life or are defective. It doesn’t matter what has happened: when we buy from an online store, the seller is responsible for ensuring that the merchandise arrives in good condition and it is he who must be complained to if this is not the case.
If the sender is an individual and problems arise with the shipment, it is the seller who will have to negotiate with the company with which the service was contracted, unless otherwise agreed. Now, if the purchase has been made on a ‘marketplace’ (such as Amazon), before making a claim we have to clarify whether that product is sold directly by the platform or if it only acts as an intermediary between individuals.
«Deliverers cannot leave merchandise at a neighbor’s house without warning and without the consent of the recipient. It is illegal”
Things change when we are the ones who contract the shipment, either as senders or receivers (because the claim method is different). “The first thing to do is present the case to the customer service of the parcel delivery company, which must respond within a maximum period of one month,” the OCU highlights. If they do not respond or the result is not the desired one, the next step is to appeal to the Transportation Arbitration Board of each community.
«Its procedures are characterized by being free and agile. Furthermore, unlike the Consumer Arbitration Boards, it forces companies to submit to its dictates when the value of the shipment does not exceed 15,000 euros. With one exception: that the parcel company renounces this clause in the shipping contract, a circumstance that we have only detected in the terms and conditions of companies such as GLS, which expressly rejects the powers of these boards to resolve disagreements,” they reveal in the OCU.
Compensations
What if the company permanently loses the package or breaks it? «In these cases, the solution may not be as satisfactory as we would like because, although the company compensates us, the regulations that regulate this type of incident are quite meager with the amounts: specifically, 6.60 euros per kilogram shipped. Which means that as soon as the content has some value, the compensation will not compensate us even remotely,” consumer experts warn.
Remote purchases between individuals are also a major source of incidents. «In this type of shipments we must be especially cautious because we will always be more exposed to any setback. However, we should not resign ourselves when what was purchased does not arrive or is not what was agreed upon. There are already sentences of buyers who denounced sellers for ignoring a shipment after collecting payment and who were convicted of a crime of fraud.
We have encountered customs
Another incident that generates many headaches – and also pocket troubles – is when we are informed that the package (coming from outside the EU) is detained at customs waiting for the buyer to pay the VAT that was not charged. to the product in the country of origin. «To this we must add tariffs when the declared value of the shipment exceeds 150 euros, in addition to commissions for settling the tax and various procedures.
To avoid these ‘extra expenses’, when buying in non-EU markets it is better that we do so in those that have already taken advantage of the Single Import Window. In this way, we will pay the VAT at the time of making the purchase and not worry about additional costs being claimed,” they advise at the OCU.
A solution for every problem
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«My package is on the 4th Right.»
Leaving the package with one of the building’s neighbors when we are not at home is a common practice among delivery people. «However, it is not legal for them to do so without prior notice and without the consent of the recipient. In fact, the State Data Protection Agency (AEPD) has already fined several companies for this reason,” they point out in the OCU. In this case, you can complain to the seller and the transport company, in addition to filing a claim with the AEPD and reporting the seller and transport company for a non-consensual transfer of the data. -
“This is not what I asked for.”
If it is an error, it is normal for it to be resolved without major setbacks. “However, if the purchase has been made on a second-hand platform and you have been a victim of fraud, you must contact them immediately so that they do not release the payment and file a report.” -
“I sent a very expensive cell phone and they lost it”
In these cases, the most advisable thing is to “examine the amounts that the company covers if the package is lost and if it is not enough, the best thing to do is to make a declaration of value and insure the shipment for that amount.” -
“It arrived broken”
«If upon receiving the package you suspect that it may be in poor condition, this must be noted on the delivery note. “Complaint in writing as soon as possible and attach photographs.”
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