Never use Overstock.com and Yodel

[Tony]

Here's a little rant from me, I usually refrain but I would hate for anyone to be caught out by them as I have.

Last year I purchased a sleeping bag via overstock.com, the bag + postage and taxes came to £170, I waited weeks for it to arrive but it finally did and it was faulty, stitching missing, some messy, straps frayed etc and it was sold as canvas and there's no way the nylon outer was like any canvas I've seen. Anyway, I contacted them for a return, they sent through documentation for me to print off and I had to arrange for collection with DHL as it seemed to be my problem not theirs.

So, I contact DHL using overstocks global DHL number to order the pickup, Wed 14th of December about 5pm the package gets picked up, I've followed the instructions from overstock to the letter, hand the driver all the correct papers and the parcel and he leaves. The policy at overstock is that you print off 3 copies of the invoice and 2 copies of the shipping label and in bold it says give ALL 3 Copies of the invoice and BOTH COPIES of the shipping label to the DHL representative. It also states 'Do NOT put any paperwork in the box or attache any paperwork to the outside of it.
So, you give the driver the package and 5 documents and off he goes.

I contact overstock and they say they've not got it, I contact DHL and they say Yodel picked it up for them, they're all asking for a tracking number to prove the package was sent and there is none.

What's winding me up is that I followed the instructions to the letter and now it's all dumped on me, I take the hit for £170, I'm running around trying to sort it out and all this because they provided a duff product and their policies and instructions leave you hanging.

I would imagine that there would be no issue with Overstock.com if your product is fine, but overstock.com will leave you in the lurch if you've got to make a return, their policies are orientated around their own financial gain with no regard for the customer, you follow on set of rules and they another, do not trust them.

Obviously there's Yodel as well, they have not delivered the package, they have picked it up, not processed it and they are the cause of this situation because of their incompetence, it seems that between overstock.com and Yodel it's an unavoidable disaster for the customer.

 

[Ogri the trog]

Have you called Citizens Advice Tony?

Just a thought!

Ogri the trog

 

[nunzionuk]

DHL/Yodel should have given you a collection receipt for it. I know its no help now.

Have you reprinted the forms they sent you, as you would have had to quote something when you arranged collection, so if done via phone/interweb, then they should have records of this.

 

[roger-uk]

hind sight is a wonderful thing but I don't suppose you got areceipt or any proof that Yodel had the package?

 

[Dangerous Dan]

This is of no use to your immediate predicament Tony but I've started rejecting suppliers bids based on their choice of courier - and I always let them know why. Some will offer to send via another courier but those who insist on using clowns like Yodel get struck off. I suggest the more consumers take this course the sooner vendors will realise that 'cheap' couriers are hurting their business.

 

[nunzionuk]

Maybe we should have a thread with the suppliers in.

 

[Tony]

DHL have been on the phone to me this morning, I have to say that they're being proactive and they're hunting for it and taking it seriously.

nunzionuk, nope and that's part of my issue, I shouldn't have let it go without something but the instructions they sent were quite explicit, even part of the text in high case and I followed them to the letter, that's what my main issue is with them.

 

[nunzionuk]

DHL are normally quite good, they should have logs of the pickup requrest, if not the pickup directly.

 

[Tony]

yeah, they do have logs of the request etc, it's jsut tracing it from the point Yodel picked it up, they said they use other companies for the more remote deliveries and collections and this is where it's come unstuck.

 

[nunzionuk]

Yeah, we have it easy here in London area, yodel aint too bad, royal mail seems to fsck everything up tho.

Hope you get it sorted.

 

[Hoodoo]

Real bummer Tony. I hate mailing returns. One of the plusses of buying locally. I try to buy locally whenever possible but it is more and more difficult, especially for those who live off the beaten path. Hope it works out for you. Sounds like you may be stuck with postage at the very least.

 

[Tony]

just got this from the helpful overstock.com

We believe that we have resolved your inquiry. However, if it has not been answered to your satisfaction, you may reopen it within the next 7 days.


Hello Tony,

Thank you for contacting Overstock.com regarding the return of order # 106568138. I appreciate the opportunity to assist you today.

The tracking number was on the label and paperwork you were emailed and printed out and gave the driver with the customs paperwork. I am sorry it's never updated but we cannot track it if there's nothing to track. That is why I suggested you file a claim with DHL as they are the ones that supposedly took the package and have never scanned an update with the tracking number. That is on them.

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance on this or any other issue. I hope you will visit us soon for great savings on name-brand products.

Sincerely,

Chris B.
International Customer Care
Overstock.com

The bit that is really starting to irritate is this line "I hope you will visit us soon for great savings on name-brand products" and it's always someone else that has caused the problem, what they don't seem to listen to is that their policy and instructions were followed to a T.

 

[dwardo]

In this kind of situation where does the legal responsibility of Overstock.com end? Surely they cannot just pass the blame onto DHL/Yodle as it was their choice to use these companies, you had no say in the matter. My stance would be to pass all information you have to Overstock.com and let them deal with it. Also providing them with a letter of authority stating that you are happy for them to provide your details to the shipping companies involved whilst trying to resolve the issue. If they do not provide a satisfactory result within 14 days then you will take it further. So summed up, you have followed their instruction, tried to resolve the matter your self which isnt your responsibility in the first place and now its time for them to either resolve it or take the loss them selves and take it up with the shipping firm.

 

[hedgerowpete]

firstly a great opening message, top job. so now lets break it down shall we (mummy used to be a legal secretary)

MAIN POINT IS, THE CONTRACT OF SALE FROM YOU TO OVERSTOCK.COM, IS A LEGALY BINDING CONTRACT IN LAW, END OF FULL STOP THE BIG ENDING, SORTED AND FINAL remember that as we will keep coming back to that!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the reciept is proof of contract as it were and its on them to prove other wise not you.

next the goods delivered were at fault, you listed several, damaged goods, poor workmanship/quality and wrong spexification of materials, all of which break the contract they enterd into with you via the sale of goods

next point the returning of faulty goods is done via THERE PARCEL PEOPLE NOT YOUR OWN as such they have a problem with there people not you have a problem with there people, get it??

even if you were under a contract because you paid the parcel firm to return the goods your contract would be with dhl and just because dhl have used subcontractors that has nothing and in no way effects your contract with dhl if you paided them that they collect a parcel and then deliver it to someone else

next up is what to do about it.

firstly is to send a legal letter,

so what you need to do is to send a letter to overstock, stating that you belive they have broken the contract with you with the faulty goods delivery and then the failure to collect and replace the item within a reasonable time and within a reasonable cost. you then say that due to your belife that they have broken the contract you entered into with the purchase of the said sleeping bag you will now go to the CAB to confirm your legal position and will after a period of seven days starting from the the date on the letter ( the seven day start date is roughly when you think they would recieve the letter) so today is the 24th send the letter tommorow and say they have untill the 5th of feb to reply in writing not email) if you want to run legal, its paper all the way electronic emails are not preffered.

so then on the 5th of feb we will start a small claims court , now dont be frightend by those words its very simple and designed for people like us a very david and goliath set up at times, i personal have gone up against some massive companys worth billions and won my paltry £100 back

what will happen is you can either collect the forms from the court or i think you can get them deliverd or online , and what you do is write down your side of the story and the fact they failed to fullfill there contract,

you then back that up with as much printed out emails reciepts, bank statements showing transfer of funds, paypal printouts letter stamps collection reciepts any and every thing you have with the sleeping bag in mind and these then become your evidence dont worry about how poor it is the ownuce is on them not you to prove other wise, so now we go and find what we can to back up our story, did you that a photo of the naff sleeping bags to send to the as proof of damage, can someone make a statement like the wife or the mate how laughed at it when you showed it him

you then send it to the courts with the fees (£20-£30) but dont panic as on our form we list a set of costs so , so far they owe you

product costs £170
return paper work printing 25 pence per sheet times how many you did
time off work to organise said parcel say two shall we times your working hourly rate
next is cost of phone calls thats about 45 pence per min costs plus your time
emails work out about the same and ontop of that lot you should also add the fees from the law courts and dont forget the time off work when the court case is set, thats atlest an afternoons worth of hours



what happens nexxt is the court sends over a copy of your paper work, to the other side they write down there side of the story or what they belive, then return it to the court. AND THEY HAVE TO !!!
once the court has bothsides a date a time is set, the meeting or court case is always held in the judges chambers not the pot but his office its all very frendly legal words are not used and if the try to be clever and send down a solicitor to baffel you the judge steps in on your side to make sure fairness is up held

like i said very calm and friendly at tthe end of it the judge makes a decision on how is right or if your both a bit off how much one has to pay, so you can win all your coasts of £170 goods and wasted time or just goods only or a percentage either way ect

if they recive the court papers from your most companies will roll over and return the £170 but not the full expence claim and the choice is yours to except an out of court payment or they might refute and its off to court you go.

some will try to frighten you by saying that there lawyers cost £2,000 per hour and they will counter charge you by 178 hours worth, alot of the time is to put people off and many succeed stand your ground, in a small claims court david has a habbit of winning.

what you have to rememebr is that once you drop off your money fee and you little pile of paper work the company HAS TO DEAL WITH THE COURT NOT YOU as we now dealing with the british legal system, if they dont reply or fail to turn up etc then you win be default and as such you can ask to organise baliffs to recover your debt, i once managed to send three bailiffs to a companys head quarters in central llondon with a legal court order to recover goods to the value of £184.88 and they they then charged this company £750 to do so and we got our money , lol lol lol lol


more details can be found at my heros web site of "money saving expert" and small claims.

did you know most people also have legal assistanace on the house insurence , thats worth a call so is the point that if you paid via paypal pr by credit card they have to repay you in full as well.

sorry its so long, peter

 

[ged]

... if you paid via paypal pr by credit card they have to repay you in full as well. ...

Yep. If you paid by credit card then the card company is liable for the full amount. In this case I'd say you probably won't need to mess about with Small Claims in the County Court. It looks like you have a clear admission from the supplier that the faulty/not as described/unsaleable goods were indeed collected from you, so if you paid by credit card then the card company can't really do other than refund you.

They will just dock the payment from their 'business partner' next month so they don't need to mess about either.

 

[roger-uk]

Hedgerowpete

Hmm I did not know you could use the small claims court against an overseas company. Overstock.com is a Utah, USA based company selling overseas. My expereince of legal action against these companies is forget it.

 

[hedgerowpete]

By rights unless other wise stated and it would have to be stated very clearly in the uk law eyes because they trade in the uk the have to abide by uk laws.

It was not stated in the first message that overstock is a usa company so i was just quoting the basic uk facts on the laws dealing with buying items. The first message does not also mention if it was brought from the overstock website or via an intermidiatory like ebay or someone similar in which case there might be redress via those people. there are many other ways of dealing with these people , the british standard is a threaten of small claims and the fact that they are legal accountable by that contract.

personaly i would internet research the problem with the help of the " money saving expert " website and see what the more informed and up to date people say