Online Food Deliveries

castie

Following Scenario.

You order food at 7pm.
Delivery time is estimated at 8pm-8:30pm.
Food does not arrive until 10pm.

Are you legally within your right to refuse the delivery without payment?
Or are you bound by the online transaction and order confirmation emails received to accept and pay for it?

For cash it isnt too complicated but for credit cards you would need to open some sort of dispute and maybe a chargeback?

Peregrinus

castie wrote: »

Following Scenario.

You order food at 7pm.
Delivery time is estimated at 8pm-8:30pm.
Food does not arrive until 10pm.

Are you legally within your right to refuse the delivery without payment?
Or are you bound by the online transaction and order confirmation emails received to accept and pay for it?

For cash it isnt too complicated but for credit cards you would need to open some sort of dispute and maybe a chargeback?

Depends on the terms of the contract, which of course we can't tell from the information given.

The thing about online ordering is that there is no person-to-person interaction, and so no opportunity for negotiation. You can't tell the supplier, for instance, "it's really important that the food get here by 8:30 at the latest; if you can't guarantee that I'll go elsewhere". You pretty well have to buy on the terms he offers, or not at all.

The flip side of that is that the terms of the deal will be strictly construed against him, and he will not be able to rely on unreasonable or surprising terms which were not drawn to your attention.

But he did tell you, apparently, that the delivery time was an estimate, and he will argue that this means that you must or should have understood that there was no guarantee; the food might well arrive later than indicated. I think you're on weak ground.

castie

Peregrinus wrote: »

Depends on the terms of the contract, which of course we can't tell from the information given.

The thing about online ordering is that there is no person-to-person interaction, and so no opportunity for negotiation. You can't tell the supplier, for instance, "it's really important that the food get here by 8:30 at the latest; if you can't guarantee that I'll go elsewhere". You pretty well have to buy on the terms he offers, or not at all.

The flip side of that is that the terms of the deal will be strictly construed against him, and he will not be able to rely on unreasonable or surprising terms which were not drawn to your attention.

But he did tell you, apparently, that the delivery time was an estimate, and he will argue that this means that you must or should have understood that there was no guarantee; the food might well arrive later than indicated. I think you're on weak ground.

Just to clear up it isnt something that im looking for advice on.
Its just something that annoys me when it happens and only for the fact that were hungry Id tell them to get lost.

Just to give more of a solid scenario I have an email invoice that says order time and delivery time. (no word of estimate and delivery is 30 mins after order)

However they ring to confirm orders and said over the phone 60-90 minutes.
Order arrived 140 mins later.

From what you say you could order a delivery for lunch and have it turn up at dinner time and still have to pay whether you want it or not.

Can a mod approve if its okay to use one of these sites t&c's as an example so that we can further the debate?
Its not naming and shaming as I have never had a problem with the one I would pick.

Peregrinus

castie wrote: »

. . . only for the fact that were hungry Id tell them to get lost.

I suspect in practice they rely quite heavily on this. If you accept the food when finally delivered, of course you have to pay for it.

If you refuse the food, and it's a cash job, of course you'll refuse to pay. I doubt they will pursue you. (They just won't take any more orders from you.)

If you've already given them your credit card details, that's when a row shapes up.

If what they're selling is prepared food, ready to eat (as opposed to, say, delivering groceries) then I think you could argue that there's a reasonable expectation on the part of the consumer that the food will be delivered in a reasonable time and that if this is not going to happen the onus is on them to make this clear. What's a "reasonable time" depends on lots of circumstances; we all know pizza joints get busy on Friday nights, and if you ring up at 7 p.m. and want delivery, you're likely to be waiting a while. Whereas an order put in at 6 p.m. on a Tuesday evening is a different kettle of fish. But when you've asked, and they've indicated a longish delay (and I think 7 to 8:30 is a longish delay) and still told you that it's only an estimate, and you didn't cancel the order at that point, I think you were on notice that this was a busy night and things were not running smoothly.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Persoally I'd call them at the point the delay becomes beyond understandable and talk to them. I know this is an internet transaction but you surely have the contact details for a phone call. Tell them that the delay too much and that you are cancelling your order. Once they are at your door they have cooked the food and delivered it and they are likely to get pissy if you refuse it and ask for a refund.

castie

What triggered me asking is this happened the other night but Im in Hong Kong.

60-90 minutes is standard delivery times, cant for the life of me get anything delivered faster.
Tried to ring them after 2 hours passed and no answer.
I did my ankle one Saturday at a rugby game when I was living in the Beacon in Sandyford.
Was barely able to move around the apartment so ordered food online and paid by card only for delivery driver to refuse to come into the apartment block and insist I go to meet him at the door.

I did eventually as i figured getting my money back would be severe hassle and seems I was right.

hullaballoo

Time is not of the essence.




So, no.

BrianD

3 hours for delivery is certainly unreasonable and grounds for refusal. You could have shopped and prepared your own food in that time.

45-60 minutes is reasonable delivery time for something like thai food.

60-90 minutes is a warning flag and a good sign to try elsewhere. Even if you agreed to this they need to flag this to you if they go outside of this time. Eating a meal is a very time specific event for a whole range of reasons.

hardCopy

Aren't all online transactions subject to cooling-off period (no pun, I swear) of 14 or so?

Victor

hullaballoo wrote: »

Time is not of the essence.

So, no.

So, I can pay you whenever? I can deliver your Christmas turkey on the 27th? Desert before main course? Pay per view TV the day after? All Ireland tickets on the Monday after?

What if the delivery guy didn't come until the next day? While I can understand tolerance of some delay, delay to the point of frustration - I contend - is frustration of the contract.

BrianD

hardCopy wrote: »

Aren't all online transactions subject to cooling-off period (no pun, I swear) of 14 or so?

Think that only applies to financial services.

Victor

Is there some distance buying directive?

hardCopy

Victor wrote: »

Is there some distance buying directive?

This would seem to apply as it's a one off transaction for food. http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/consumer_affairs/consumer_protection/consumer_rights/distance_selling.html

7 Day Cooling Off Period.

I have no experience in this area, I just remember reading about the directive on boards.

castie

In addition, the majority of the Regulations do not apply to:

Food and drink delivered to the consumer at his or her home or his or her place of work by regular roundsmen (for example, milkmen). However, once-off transactions are covered.
Contracts for the provision of accommodation, transport, catering or leisure services where the supplier has undertaken to supply these services by a specific time or date (for example, plane, train or concert tickets or hotel bookings).

Could it be considered a catering service?

Also 7 day cooling off period is from when you recieve the product.
Issue here would be your rejecting the delivery and hence not recieving it?

FreudianSlippers

Victor wrote: »

So, I can pay you whenever? I can deliver your Christmas turkey on the 27th? Desert before main course? Pay per view TV the day after? All Ireland tickets on the Monday after?

What if the delivery guy didn't come until the next day? While I can understand tolerance of some delay, delay to the point of frustration - I contend - is frustration of the contract.

But you're imparting a time (being of the essence) on most of those scenarios; dessert before main being the exception IMO.

BrianD

I don't think that the Distance selling directive could be reasonably construed to cover this type of online transaction. Otherwise this kind of transaction would not be practical.

The OP got his/her food 3 hours after order not by the latest time advised. eating a meal is a very time sensitive event. If the food is not arriving by the time advised then the supplier needs to inform the customer.

The OP had grounds to refuse the food based on the very late delivery. Their bestion option is to complain to the supplier and at least get a free meal out of it!

monkeypants

Could it be refused on health and safety grounds? If a meal was cooked three hours ago, I wouldn't eat it.

jblack

Implied fundamental term that when your ordering dinner it will be delivered within reasonable time. What is reasonable is up for debate.

No reason why you cannot state while ordering, especially where there is an online written delivery instruction facility, that if the food doesn't arrive by xxx it will be refused and any money already debited must be refunded. If food provider still agrees to deliver then your terms have been accepted.