Postage Problem

pastorbarrett

I recently availed of a product home trial from the UK. On contacting the trial facilitator, he told me postage would be £8, payable via Paypal. I agreed, sent money, received product and posted back at my expense. Grand.

I again availed of the same service shortly thereafter, different product but same deal again. Sent money etc. Received message shortly thereafter from facilitator saying he received billing from the two postages and it was quite a bit more than he had anticipated - £44 in total. He's now looking to recoup this expense from me.

I guess some confusion arose on his part as I used my parcel motel UK address (N.I.) and he, like me, assumed the standard advertised UK postal rate for this service would apply. But obviously it didn't...

I've no reason to mistrust him but nevertheless it's quite the discrepancy and not my error - what's the fairest thing to do here?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Who or where is the "facilitator"? Did you not pay through PayPal at the time of ordering? Sorry, but I'm confused.

whiterebel

That's their own problem, they should have checked the correct postage. Strange to be "billed" after the event. Sounds like a scam to me.

pastorbarrett

Apologies if unclear - the facilitator is someone acting on behalf of the manufacturer. I'll try be clearer.

- It's a UK based company that loans out products to trial at home.

- To avail of service, you simply pay shipping each way and return after two weeks. No obligation to buy etc

- You send them the funds via Paypal to have it shipped to you, and after two weeks arrange to have it shipped back to them yourself.

- They quoted me £8 to have product sent to me. I sent this amount to them on two occasions, having availed of home trial on two of their products.

- They are now coming back to me, after the fact, saying they have received billing for their shipments, the cost of which is now in excess of the original agreed amount (cost me £16 in total originally, now they want £44 total).

- They say error arose because of shipping to N.I. (I used my parcel motel address). Their £8 postage quote seemingly only cover mainland UK.

Hope that makes it a little clearer...If any details are scant, please ask, thanks.

njs030

Just to clarify that this is long after both items have been sent to you and only now they've realised this "error"?
I'd ask for proof firstly but really it's not your problem op, they can't retrospectively charge you for their mistake.
I'd be quite surprised if postage to NI was that much more than to mainland UK tbh.

ED E

You break it you buy it.


Their mistake, jog on.

BeardySi

notjustsweet wrote: »

Just to clarify that this is long after both items have been sent to you and only now they've realised this "error"?
I'd ask for proof firstly but really it's not your problem op, they can't retrospectively charge you for their mistake.
I'd be quite surprised if postage to NI was that much more than to mainland UK tbh.[/:]

Prepare to be surprised. Some services can be a lot more expensive. When buying from sellers in GB I try and use ones that ship via royal mail as they can't charge extra. Couriers can and often do charge extra, sometimes quite a bit.

njs030

BeardySi wrote: »

Prepare to be surprised. Some services can be a lot more expensive. When buying from sellers in GB I try and use ones that ship via royal mail as they can't charge extra. Couriers can and often do charge extra, sometimes quite a bit.

Really? That's mad! Could it be almost triple the expected amount do you think and would couriers bill weeks later?

BeardySi

notjustsweet wrote: »

Really? That's mad! Could it be almost triple the expected amount do you think and would couriers bill weeks later?

I've seen places ship for a £5 flat rate to mainland UK and £25 to NI.

The later business sounds like they realised they made a cockup and are chancing their arm trying to recoup it.

At the end of the day, they asked for a fee and you paid it.

L1011

Royal Mail subsidise the cost of moving mail to NI from their general operations as they are a UK-wide PSO operator. Private couriers don't have to and many don't - and NI is small enough and poor enough to forget it exists occasionally on a general UK basis. So dearer shipping that they forgot existed is plausible.

Realistically if they told you the shipping was a price and accepted/processed/shipped the order, that's all they can charge though.