Compensation Claim by Customer
We have a customer whose delivery date was 7 Oct. They contacted us on 7th Oct and said they didn’t receive the item. We gave a full refund for the item. They are now asking for compensation as it has affected her business.
Any advice on how to proceed? For reference, the item is only £15.
I’d appreciate your help.
0 replies
Seller_esvgLzKXw2YAl
You tell them “to go to hell” politely! 
Seller_8Wsckn3UoR095
Following Neil’s suggestion, I would also add (unless this is SFP) the date is an estimated delivery date, not guaranteed. Should they want a guaranteed date so it doesn’t affect their business they should message if you’d offer expedited shipping and pay the additional fee associated with this before they make the purchase or purchase via Prime.
To be fair, (unless SFP) I would have asked them to wait a few more days and said the above. Really bugs me, especially on listings where Prime is £1 more, providing they’ve a Prime membership.
Seller_rdB7lVzMuRctU
Thanks HO Supplies and Neil for your useful input, it’s pretty much what we thought. We gave her a quick refund as we detected a bit of an aggressive tone in her initial message. Good point about the buyer requesting guaranteed delivery for urgently needed supplies.
Seller_3yhYGU61cigbH
Call me cynical but I get the feeling the customer not only hasn’t got a business but probably just sits at home watching bargain hunt.
Seller_FGrlSKDjwty1z
Tell them to nick off - if you had a late delivery and it was likely to affect your business - surely you would order it earlier? No legal reason why you should compensate them.
Had this where our customer rang our courier and moaned - ParcelForce told them there was possibly a payout of £100.00 if we (the senders) claimed it! Parcleforce has a method to claim damages and losses. Our findings it that you are more likely to meet lord Lucan than be successful with a claim for an actual damaged item. We have managed to get a few credit notes from PF and no actual payment for a loss - So someone receiving a payment of compensation for a late item is less likely than zero.
Unless you offer guarenteed delivery they have nowhere to go. TBH no courier is 100% successful so unless you describe it as guaranteed and charge a premium for it- ignore. In our case we were only offering express delivery of 1-2 working days (not guaranteed) for £3.95. A lot of people still moan as its not delivered next day (even though its not a next day service) and the cutoff is 1pm - including the fact they ordered at 11pm.
Even had the ones who pay for Saturday delivery on the saturday, which is actually a same day service? Tell you are offering S**t service when they do not receive the item that afternoon.
After selling online for a few years now I am sure that at least 50% of people read nothing (including the instructions on our products).
Seller_s3YzLfkQHSyU2
We get these quite often, our standard reply is a polite response to the buyer stating that unfortunately the delivery process is handled by our shipping partners, and all we can do is ship the item out on time, using the selected service other than that the delivery process is totally out of our control. Our couriers do have a dleivery success rate over 97% but occasionally there can be slight delay in delieveries out of our control, and apologiers on behalf of our shipping partners.
Seller_B4VbHpnDLDLAU
Curiosity what was the item of £15 that could affect the buisness so badly?
Seller_SEFUa3VCdEdfl
I would suggets you send them this… I reserve it for special customers.
Seller_GJP3Cbt07uSu0
“Customers” do make me smile… no idea what at £15 could have been so urgent but why on earth did they leave it til the day before it was a necessary part o their business to order… did they order as a business or just a retail customer?? Politely what others have said - dates are estimated and given the turmoil caused by strikes they are very aware of issues and sadly more and more people trying it on.
