Celebration Box no cause for celebration
Q. I ordered a Celebration Box to have sent to a friend. They took my money and sent me confirmation that it was going to be shipped to my billing address. I asked if they could send it to my friend, which they agreed to, so I gave the address. They said it was rural so they couldn’t. I emailed back and forth three times asking to cancel my order and refund my money. They totally ignored me and sent the box anyway to my billing address. It’s arrived a day late anyway and they won’t reply when I try to communicate with them. What are my rights? I want my money back.
A. Jessica Wilson, of Consumer NZ, said if the company couldn’t deliver to the address you wanted, it should have given you the option of a refund immediately.
‘‘Companies have to carry out their services with reasonable care and skill. When they’re responsible for delivery, they also have to ensure goods arrive on time. If they don’t meet these obligations, the customer has grounds under the Consumer Guarantees Act to request a refund.’’
Iyia Liu, founder of Celebration Box, said it was made clear on the website that delivery could not be guaranteed on a selected date.
‘‘We (Celebration Box), pay our delivery companies for ‘same-day delivery’ or ‘next day delivery’ to ensure the product gets to the recipient on the date they select, however if the delivery company delivers a ‘same-day delivery’ item, overnight, we have limited control over that . . . If this continues to be a problem, we will have to switch to a ‘dispatch date’ instead of ‘delivery date’ on our website, although this may make it further confusing for buyers on selecting a date.’’
She said if a box was two or more days late, a refund would be offered.
Celebration Box has confirmed the customer has already been given a refund.
Q. I took a 12-month KiwiSaver contributions holiday when I went on parental leave, assuming contributions would kick back in once that time was up. That doesn’t seem to have happened. Is there anything I can do?
A. Your first step should be to contact your provider to ask to get back on track, and check in with your employer, too.
Q. I had to withdraw a portion of my term deposit early and found the promised interest rate had been reduced to 0.6 per cent a year – an 83.3 per cent reduction. The interest paid dropped from $5543 to $921. The bank had said that breaking the term deposit would mean a reduction of 3 per cent. After a period of debate, the bank conceded their figures were incorrect and offered a confidential settlement, but short of the correct amount. A. This is a problem I hear about from time to time. Banks need to offer a disincentive to deter people from breaking term deposits. While they might say the rate will drop by 3 per cent, what they mean is by three percentage points. A drop of 3 per cent wouldn’t be sufficient to reflect the impact on the bank.
The Banking Ombudsman said she had not dealt with a case quite like this.
‘‘On occasion, customers challenge their bank’s calculation of break costs, but we do not appear to have had a case where the bank did not calculate the break cost by the method disclosed in the contract. We also receive complaints about misleading information about term deposits and non-disclosure of break costs.’’
Her office would be happy to discuss the complaint. The fact you’ve accepted a settlement may limit its involvement.
Do you have a consumer or personal finance question you’d like answered? Email susan.edmunds@stuff.co.nz