Delivery Service FAQs

Here are some frequently asked questions on the subject of a delivery service – which more and more of us are using in our modern world. What exactly is a delivery service?

The answer sort of depends upon who you’re asking. For a transport company, it’s a service they provide to their customers. For some big chains and shops, it’s something they buy in so they can make deliveries to their customers. If you’re a consumer waiting for goods, then it’s something you’ve either arranged yourself or have asked a shop or retail outlet to arrange for you.

How big can the deliveries be?

The only real limits are as defined by road haulage law. You may have seen those huge vehicles transporting houses, boats and vast storage tanks – well, they’re all arguably delivery services of one kind or another.

Who insured the goods being carried?

That’s a more complex question than it might at first appear. In theory, if you arrange delivery through a retail outlet, they should be responsible for getting the item safely to your front door or other reception point. Until such time as you have signed for the goods, the responsibility for things like carriage insurance resides with the retailer.Unfortunately, it’s not always quite so simple.

Sometimes, you may have made the purchase on an ‘ex-works’ basis. What that means is that the seller may arrange shipping for you but that’s at your risk and cost.You should check your sales contract carefully on that and related points. No item, unless it’s really of trivial value, should be shipped without insurance. What happens if the item or goods are received damaged?

Assuming you’re the potential recipient, you are probably facing two options:

• refuse to sign for or accept the item;• accept it but sign for it as "received damaged".

As a general rule, it might protect your rights a little more if you adopt the former course of action. There are, though, some complexities here again.

The most common form of problem in terms of damage arises when the external packaging looks fine, so you sign as "OK", but upon opening, the goods inside are damaged or not as purchased. Here things can get a bit messy. If you’ve paid by credit card or other form of electronic payment you may have some protection by rejecting the debit through your card. Take a photo of the ‘as found on opening’ position and send it plus a full refund claim to the seller. Do this immediately! Leaving things until days or weeks after receipt is hopeless. Put yourself in the seller’s position – you’ve had the goods for days or weeks then suddenly decide that they were damaged upon arrival. At best it looks a little odd and at worst crooked! What happens if the goods are lost or stolen in transit?

Someone, somewhere, should have insured them one way or another. See the above discussion. Make a claim against the appropriate party if you’re the sender or a recipient who accepted shipping costs and insurance responsibility.

One point to look at closely here though is the ‘empty parcel’. It’s sometimes the case that a thief will carefully open a box or package (often at the hard-to-see underside) and remove the contents. They’ll then carefully re-seal and allow the box to continue on its journey. The recipient usually then signs for the parcel as "OK" then subsequently finds that nothing’s inside. There’s no sure-fire way to guard against this other than to refuse to sign for a delivery until you have checked all the surfaces of the box for signs of opening. Though the drivers of a delivery service might get a bit impatient, make sure you take a minute or so to do this. Sign as "box appears to have been opened" if you have any doubts.

Norman Dulwich is a correspondent for Courier Exchange, the world's largest neutral trading hub for same day delivery service in the express freight exchange industry. Over 2,500 transport exchange businesses are networked together through their website, trading jobs and capacity in a safe 'wholesale' environment.

Writer and Online Marketing Manager in London.