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?

[nautimonkee]

Totally understand how Sendle works but the seller sent me a tracking number that took me to Fastway tracking website.

Well the seller told me they didn't put ATL, but Fastway advised me that due to Covd-19 regardless what sellers put down, apparently their policy now gives them an automatic ATL. That same policy also states that if there is no safe place to leave a parcel then the driver is supposed to leave a calling card. When I challenged Fastway that where the parcel was left isn't safe and anyone could easily take it as they walked past, they replied with a spiel stating that according to their policy the delivery was made correctly from their end and they will now close the case. Judging by that it seems a "safe" place or area is subjective. What you and I would deem a safe place is different to what courier companies deem it.

True regarding Auspost but tbh I've never had issues with them. They've always knocked on the door when I was home and if I wasn't I always found a calling card in my letterbox. So I really can't comment on Auspost the same way. Plus Auspost are registered with the Postal Ombudsman. The only postal company that is required to be registered. All other private companies are not required and Fastaway are not. The ombudsman won't even look at the case if they are not registered with them. So all courier companies have to do is take photos of their deliveries as "proof" regardless of where they leave the parcels and their **bleep**s are covered!

Thanks mate, all good. I've gotten over it and have cut my losses. I've put it down to an expensive lesson learned and will be very careful in future. I hardly have anything delivered home these days but unfortunately this seller was the only one that had this particular item I was after. My mistake was not asking him beforehand who they were using

[nautimonkee]

Exactly! How Fastway think that slot is safe is beyond me. I have just done the same...I've purchased a po box, use the parcel lockers and collection points and most of my bills are emailed to me. I don't have anything delivered home anymore due to all this

[nautimonkee]

Shame you haven't had good experiences with Auspost...mine have been good with Auspost. I suppose it depends on your local postie or courier. I've never had anything delivered by Fastway before so I can't compare it with any of their other drivers. But it's done and I'm moving on and have taken steps to make sure I don't have any parcel or letter delivered home anymore. If they can't deliver to either my PO Box, a parcel locker or have collection points I won't be buying from them

[lyndal1838]

By using a PO Box you have just ruled out buying from any sellers who send via couriers....no couriers can deliver to post office boxes except StarTrack.

[tazzieterror]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

By using a PO Box you have just ruled out buying from any sellers who send via couriers....no couriers can deliver to post office boxes except StarTrack.

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That's one way to look at it. The other is that by not offering an Aus. Post friendly shipping option, some sellers have ruled out making sales to buyers who for whatever reason can't or won't accept deliveries at their home addres.

[nautimonkee]

I said that in my last sentence and I'm happy with that

[nautimonkee]

Exactly, I don't want deliveries to my home address due to thefts occuring.

As a seller myself the only reason I can see for not using Auspost is due to price. But in most cases I've found Auspost to be cheaper than other couriers, even Sendle. As a buyer I rather pay a little extra to have the assurance it will be delivered to a more secure place. The option should be there for the buyer to choose

[lyndal1838]

Sendle is not a courier.....it is a courier brokr and you never know what courier company will be delivering your parcel.  It could be the dreaded Fastway.

[brulinsfarm]

My ebay address now has 'Do Not use Fastway or Sendle' after my name. After so many horror stories, & hours wasted chasing parcels that they don't deliver I had had enough. You should read about them on Product Review, 400 pages of angry customers, how they stay in business defies logic. A little tip, they have changed their name to Aramex.

[lyndal1838]

They have changed hands....they were bought out by an overseas company.