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?

[*tippy*toes*]

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@cezm wrote:

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@*tippy*toes* wrote:

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@porcelain_dolls_by_me wrote:

It beats the hell out of my how Fastway couriers still manages to survive - anyone can check the numerous online rating services andsee theat Fastway have zero customer satistaction.

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I know they have a bad name all over the country, but my few experiences with them have been very positive. Couldn't fault them. 

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I agree. I have never had any problems with Fastway.

As with any reviews, I generally consider that people are more likely to post a review if they have a grievance and therefore reviews are more likely to be stacked to the negative. Those without a grievance just receive their parcel and go on their merry way

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I agree. When the main Product Review site took off, there were both negative and positive reviews. You could get a good idea of the product you were wanting to purchase. These days, it's as you said, people only leave a review if they have an issue. Therefore, it could look like an item was complete rubbish, when in actual fact, it's not too bad.

I have been a "reviewer" since the site was in its infancy. Anything I buy that people might want to know about, I leave a review. Most being positive. I have purchased a few things that were absolute rubbish, in my opinion. I'd never say that people shouldn't buy, but explain my issues with that particular item. 1000 people could get a 100% awesome item, then there is that one person who isnt happy.

Case in point. More than 5 years ago I bought a Bissell carpet cleaner washer thingy. Absolutely amazing. I love it. It does an amazing job. Far better than paying for a professional. My carpets are probably 30 years old, minimum. We've been in this house 21 years and haven't replaced the carpet yet. You can tell they've been there quite awhile, plus the type of carpet was a good indicator of age. I would love to be able to buy the quality of carpet that we currently have. The washer brings them up like brand new.

When I decided to buy a steam cleaner for the non carpeted areas, I went straight for the Bissell steam cleaner because my carpet cleaner was so good. Big mistake. Absolute rubbish. It throws hot water around and that's about it. There is nothing positive about that machine, for me. 

I left a glowing positive for the carpet cleaner, but one star for the steam cleaner thingy. I was so disappointed. Seems a lot of others were too.

[countessalmirena]

Interesting, tippy*toes... Interesting. I am looking at the ProHeat 2X Revolution Max Professional as we speak.

You're right; reviews are based on a limited number of experiences (often, but not always, from people who can be bothered to write a review because the product is either so amazing that the buyer wants to shout out its excellence, or it's dreadful and deserves to be shamed online). That gives a skewed view - and simply because one product by a company is not as good as it could be, that doesn't mean that other products by them are of the same standard.

[frogfix]

Hi,

Yes this is a totally incompetant carrier/courier company.

I first encountered them about 5 weeks ago when constant contact with the seller resulted

the item finally arriving 19 days after it was picked up.The seller's Sydney address was 45klms

from me. I was so disgusted that I gave the sellera negative review.My first since being a member for 15 years.

I had never heard of this carrier previously and without checking a purchased something else from another buyer about three weeks ago and discovered that the seller used Fastway.

I warned the seller of my recent encounter but they took no notice.

Well the tracking stopped once they picked up the item and no more was heard of the item and so

I requested a refund after 10 business days had elapsed.

The seller has refunded me the purchase price but where the item is, is anyones guess.

I have recently purchased a similar from another seller who does not use this carrier.

It is a sad day that now

I have to contact each seller to ascertain the carrier they use prior to placing

the order.

The Fastway (Aramax) website proudly advertises the large companies that they are associated 

with using their "services" and surprise surprise there in the middle is Ebays Name.

[imastawka]

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@frogfix wrote:

Hi,

Yes this is a totally incompetant carrier/courier company.

I first encountered them about 5 weeks ago when constant contact with the seller resulted

the item finally arriving 19 days after it was picked up.The seller's Sydney address was 45klms

from me. I was so disgusted that I gave the sellera negative review.My first since being a member for 15 years.

I had never heard of this carrier previously and without checking a purchased something else from another buyer about three weeks ago and discovered that the seller used Fastway.

I warned the seller of my recent encounter but they took no notice.

Well the tracking stopped once they picked up the item and no more was heard of the item and so

I requested a refund after 10 business days had elapsed.

The seller has refunded me the purchase price but where the item is, is anyones guess.

I have recently purchased a similar from another seller who does not use this carrier.

It is a sad day that now

I have to contact each seller to ascertain the carrier they use prior to placing

the order.

The Fastway (Aramax) website proudly advertises the large companies that they are associated 

with using their "services" and surprise surprise there in the middle is Ebays Name.

Soooo,  all up,  lockdowns and COVID don't apply to you?

And the seller gets a neg for something out of their control?

Welcome to a lot of BBL's

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[sugar249]

Wow you are a great buyer and going on my Blocked Buyer list,  you give the seller a negative because the courier took to long in your opinion,

Not sure if you have noticed there is a world wide pandemic, and all postage is going slow.

I am just wondering which courier you propose to use.   I know in the first lockdown in Melbourne, I had one parcel take well over 4 weeks to go about 30 Klm's,  it did go via Sydney, because that is how Australia Post decided to handle the work load at the time.   Did I give the seller a negative,  No way, it wasnt their fault,  But hey if thats your way,  welcome to a lot of Blocked Buyer lists.