Beware of sellers using Fastway! Seller won't respond, what can I do?

[nautimonkee]

Just had a bad experience with a seller using Fastway. If I had known he was using Fastway I wouldn't have bought from them. My mistake for not asking before hand but I never knew Fastway were this bad. I just discovered this forum, wish I had seen it earlier!

I'm in an inner suburb of Melbourne about 16km away from the CBD. I bought an item for my son's birthday nearly 2 weeks ago.  It all looked good until my parcel got to Melbourne from Sydney. Then for 3 days the tracking showed "in transit". On the morning of the final day it was due for delivery I had another look at the tracking and it still showed "in transit". I was expecting on that morning to at least show "on board with driver". Then within 30 minutes I got a message from eBay saying the parcel has been delivered. I was home all this time so I quickly went downstairs to check outside the door and the parcel wasn't there. I went to my letterbox and I couldn't find the parcel. I thought this is odd. Maybe the driver delivered it to the wrong address, so I knocked on my neighbour's doors, all four of them on either side of my place. They all said they didn't receive any parcels addressed to me.

I then contacted the seller and he replied back asking if the delivery address was correct which I said yes. He never replied back after that. Then I put in an enquiry in with Fastway Melbourne. They replied back the next day with two photos of the driver putting the parcel in the unsecured, open cylindrical advertising material slot next to my letterbox. When I looked there after the delivery confirmation it wasn't there. I replied back saying it wasn't there. Then they replied back saying that due to Covid-19 all their drivers have an automatic authority to leave in a safe place and if no safe place was found they'll leave a calling a calling card. According to them their driver followed correct procedure and further correspondence should be made with the seller I purchased from. So Fastway have this notion that leaving a parcel anywhere they want is deemed as "safe" as long as they have photos to protect their back sides! For all I know the driver theselves could've taken the parcel back after taking the photos. It's not impossible to do, especially in this environment when they give themselves automatic authority to leave which leaves us responsible for the parcel according to their terms & conditons.

Since then I have contacted my seller again numerous times asking him what can be done, if the parcel was insured etc. Ha has yet to reply. I can't even request a refund through ebay as the item is flagged as delivered and that option isn't available. If I go to Paypal, they tell me to raise a query through eBay. I can't even report Fastway to the Postal Services Ombudsman as they will only help if the company is registered with them. Unfortunately Fastway isn't. In this day and age I can't believe such dodgy businesses and practices still exist.

What can I do about my seller not responding? What recourse do I have? If these companies can get away with things like this then what's the point in even using online shopping?

[audio-spot · Accepted solution]

I wouldn't deem the cylindrical slot attached to your letterbox as a 'safe place' either.

Since the seller has abandoned you, I would write a letter of demand addressed to Fastaway, stating the amount you want to be compensated for because the item wasn't safely delivered. Advise you will lodge a statement of claim with your local court if not paid within 28 days. This might be enough to get your money back.

If you need to lodge a statement of claim at the courthouse, it does cost money (in NSW it is around $75, not sure in Vic) but you get this back if you win the case. Represent yourself and argue the 'safe place' clause. Staff at the courthouse will help you lodge your claim, but of course you will need to turn up on hearing day.

I doubt eBay will be any help because tracking will show as delivered.

[nautimonkee]

Hi, thanks for your response audio-spot!

Ok I'll try to do that but honestly such a hassle to go through. I might even cut my losses and put it down to a big lesson learned. I supposed these big companies have found loopholes to get away with stuff like this. Especially courier companies and using Covid-19 as an excuse. I know Australia Post have their problems too but I've never had issues since I've had all my parcels go to my parcel locker. I hardly have anything get delivered to my house these days but this seller said they don't post to po boxes or parcel lockers at checkout. That should've woken me up to the fact they weren't using Auspost.

I doubt eBay would help either as they take "delivered" status in tracking as item delivered whether it actually gets delivered or not or that it even gets delivered to the right address even though the correct address is on the parcel. You live and learn I guess

[porcelain_dolls_by_me]

Afraid IMHO you do not have a leg to stand on.

There is evidence/proof the item was delivered to your address, which fulfils the sellers delivery obligation.  Fastway have followed the same procedure as AusPost for delivering items in this day and age of COVID-19

[danieh_6]

I'm sorry I can't be much help but just FYI this is a seller problem not fastway.

They need to specific ATL or deliver to door.

[nautimonkee]

They delivered to my address correct but the issue is they left the parcel in an unsafe place. Even their own procedures state that if there is no safe place to leave a parcel they will leave a calling card. This is the procedure the customer service rep emailed me word for word "We will be processing all deliveries as an ATL (Authority to Leave) transaction. This means the parcel will be left in a safe place at the delivery address, and a photo will be taken of the item at the door. If the courier cannot deliver the package to a safe place, they will leave a calling card with further instructions". The last sentance in that procedure is what the driver failed to do!

In regards to Auspost, I've had numerous deliveries from them and each time since March during Covid-19, they have come to my door, knocked on my door, then asked for my name, signed it in front of me on my behalf and left it on the shoe shelf next to the front door for me to grab. Literally took no more than 2 minutes each time. If I wasn't home I'd find a calling card in my letterbox. I'm sorry but there is a huge difference in their procedures. Fastway just want to use Covid-19 as an excuse for their drivers to be lazy. Even though I pointed out that the driver breached their own procedures by leaving the parcel in an unsafe place, they were still adament the delivery was done correctly because they have "proof" with photos. The photos show it's an unsafe place. These companies know they can get away with it as there is no true recourse for parcel recipients and Covid-19 has just made it even more easier for them to get away with it

But lesson learned!

[nautimonkee]

Thanks danieh,

That's true...since I posted my original thread the seller got back to me. After I asked him if he had requested ATL he said no and if I wanted specific delivery instructions I should've written them at time of checkout. He has a point and that was my mistake. We are still in discussions, not holding my breath and not expecting anything from the seller. If only they had specified they were using Fastway. They could've even used Sendle for all I know. I'll be asking before I buy from now on.

I think I'll just put this down to another life lesson learned and tbh it's not worth anymore of my time and mental exhaustion. My sanity is worth more. I believe in karma and Fastway will get what they deserve. I've been buying and selling on eBay since 2007 and this is the first time a parcel of mine was stolen! I suppose I had a good run.

[danieh_6]

Sendle is a broker not courier its either Couriers Please or Fastway you get.

Not so much a Fastway issue.

I'm not too sure what the current policy is but, if the seller leaves it blank its usually ATL, if not I put "don't leave unattended" They will require you to have it in your hands. Deliver to door is just "don't leave in postbox" sort of thing. If he did specify no ATL, on the instructions, you can be reimbursed from fastways insurance, this happened to me before but he needs to have specified that.

Also just fyi same thing applies with Australia Post, if its ATL, they can deliver to the same suburb but wrong address. Guess what? you'd still lose out as a buyer because of the seller and courier.

I'm very sorry mate but this is something that's a rare risk of online shopping. Hopefully someone does the right thing, whether that's Fastway, seller or the person who stole it.

[cezm]

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@nautimonkee wrote:

They replied back the next day with two photos of the driver putting the parcel in the unsecured, open cylindrical advertising material slot next to my letterbox.

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I was interested in this statement. I have always assumed that the cylinder was for A4 envelopes etc. that would not fit in the actual box. That is what Australia Post used it for (and therefore it's deemed safe?). I don't agree and have a PO box now as I don't deem anything delivered street side to be safe in my area (unless it goes in to a locked box)

[*tippy*toes*]

The cylinders were originally used for newspapers. These days I think they are more for junk mail, or as you say, larger envelopes.

My few dealings with Fastway have been good. They have seen that my front door is not considered a safe place. Shame that Aust Post can't see the same. I've had several parcels stolen from the front door. Once in under a minute after the parcel delivery guy dropped it. I have hounded AP to death about not safe dropping parcels here, but they keep doing it. Each time I complain, they say they put into the system not to safe drop, but it keeps happening.