NAME AND SHAME THE POSTCODE PIRATES

Time to tackle greedy firms over rip-off delivery charges, says former minister

FURIOUS Scots have bombarded a ‘name and shame’ website launched to expose the delivery pirates hammering rural shoppers.

People outraged by the huge surcharges imposed on vast swathes of the country posted a catalogue of horror stories. The consumer backlash came after a Mail investigation revealed some English firms are charging more to deliver to parts of mainland Scotland than they do to deliver to mainland Europe.

At least a million Scots are victims of the postcode penalty scandal which rides roughshod over UK and Scottish Government guidelines by excluding them from ‘Mainland UK’ status.

It means that while customers in remote areas such as Cornwall or Pembrokeshire are counted as ‘mainland’, up to half of Scotland is categorised as ‘Highlands and Islands’ by many retailers.

This results in sky-high delivery charges or a refusal to deliver at

all. Our investigation uncovered a complete postcode lottery in which even customers in large cities such as Aberdeen or Dundee could find themselves in a non-delivery zone.

Yet Scottish firms routinely deliver to all parts of England and Wales with no extra charges levied for remoteness.

Just hours after our exposé of the problem on Saturday, online shoppers flooded the Mail with stories of their unfair experiences, with one complaining of being charged ten times the ‘standard UK delivery’ to her home in North Kessock, Inverness-shire.

And another, who lives in Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire, told how she was hit with a bill four times higher than the standard rate paid by those 40 miles away in Carlisle.

Yesterday, former Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead, who launched the website www.fairdeliverycharges.scot, said he had also received complaints from customers about voucher website Groupon, which claims on its website that it does not deliver to Argyll, Inverness and Aberdeenshire.

He said he plans to amalgamate the findings and bring the issue to Holyrood next month.

Mr Lochhead added: ‘Customers being charged for deliveries in Scotland is indefensible.

‘In the 24 hours since the issue was raised in the Mail, I have been inundated with 400 examples from irate customers of absurd levels of surcharges that often don’t make any sense and are completely inconsistent with other retailers’ rates.

‘There is now huge momentum building and the more examples we have the stronger the argument for reform of the regulations becomes.

‘Name and shaming is one way customers can use their power to change the retailing culture where some companies pay little attention to the cost of deliveries, so many people are being asked to pay often simply because of their postcode where they are not deemed to live on the UK mainland even though they obviously do.

‘We know some companies that have changed their policies after some of their jaw-dropping delivery surcharges were highlighted publicly and those retailers that are doing this need to know that customers in those parts of Scotland most affected are saying they are not standing for this any longer.

‘I’m urging customers who want to speak out to feel free to contact me or use my website to provide such examples.’

Writing in today’s Mail, Mr Lochhead calls for an inquiry into what he describes as ‘a lottery and discrimination against many Scottish postcode areas’.

He adds: ‘I hope the UK Government takes this forward urgently, with more people no doubt facing extortionate delivery costs over Christmas.’

Moray MSP Mr Lochhead said he plans to raise the issue at Holyrood on December 6.

Our findings come as internet retailers prepare for their busiest month of the year with at least two-thirds of Scots doing at least part of their Christmas shopping online.

Pensioner Pamela Copeland, a retired carer, contacted the Mail to complain how she was hit with a £60 delivery charge to have an electric bike from mobility specialist Pro Rider, based in Northampton, East Midlands, delivered to her home in North Kessock, Invernessshire, ten times the company’s £5.95 ‘standard delivery’.

Miss Copeland said the incident, in February 2014, was not the first time she had experienced problems with online retailers, with other internet shops classing her address on the Black Isle as ‘overseas’.

She said: ‘I initially tried to order a bike from a company in England and was told they couldn’t deliver it because I lived overseas, which is ridiculous.

‘And when I did eventually find a company that would deliver, I was horrified to find out that there was a surcharge of £60 because of where I lived, which is literally just off the A9.

‘The same delivery to Edinburgh costs just £5.95.’

Miss Copeland added: ‘If I had known that there was a surcharge for delivery before I got to the end of the process rather than at the end I probably would have put some petrol in the car and driven to a shop instead.’

Her complaint follows our revelations on Saturday that in one case a company wanted to charge more than £40 extra for taking an item to the other side of the toll-free Skye Bridge.

Miss Copeland added: ‘That person who was charged £40 for getting a delivery all the way to Skye got a bargain compared to me.’

And customer Judith Blake, 54, of Castle Douglas, complained that she was set to be charged £21.95 when buying a £41.95 kettle, more than three times the delivery charge of someone living 40 miles away in Carlisle.

She told the Mail: ‘Some time ago, I was looking at purchasing a kettle from a company online – the Online DIY Store.

When it came to the checkout page, delivery to England and Wales was £6.95. However, the

‘Wouldn’t shop with them again’

whole of Scotland is shown as having a delivery charge of £21.95.

‘I contacted them to say that I lived in Dumfries and Galloway – no further north, in fact, than Carlisle, and certainly further south than the likes of Newcastle. Surprise, surprise, I never even received so much as an acknowledgement.

‘Needless to say, I didn’t go ahead with the purchase.’

Pro Rider, Groupon and the Online DIY Store were all contacted for comment yesterday.

Although customers were told about the additional delivery surcharges, each person who contacted the Mail said that information came only at the end of the order.

And in one case, it was the following day before they were told.

One reader said she ordered some flooring for a DIY project online and got all the way through to the checkout section of the order with the company, Liverpool-based Floors UK, where it became apparent the delivery cost would be £28.99.

However, the next day the customer received a phone call demanding an additional £30 for delivery to the home in Blairgowrie, Perthshire, despite the company’s website boasting ‘Nationwide delivery from just £2.59 per pack’.

The message is also illustrated with a picture of the British Isles.

Our reader wrote: ‘I submitted an order to Floors UK, at checkout it said delivery was £28.99.

‘They had a list of Highland postcodes and I could not see my PH10 postcode on it, so I completed the order. The next day I had a phone call and they wanted another £30.

‘We tried to get it delivered to a friend in Dundee but the lady on the phone said even Dundee was an extra £30, so that was a total of £58.99. I told her I wouldn’t shop with them ever again.’

Floors UK was contacted for comment.