DELIVERY FREE FROM THE EU BUT NOT THE UK? PLAY FAIR!
AS Black Friday and the Christmas retail rush amply demonstrate, we do ever more of our bargain hunting online – and part with our cash without ever leaving our homes.
Retailers are quite aware that in today’s cutthroat marketplace they need to tap into the vast reach of the internet to attract customers.
An estimated 82,000 delivery vehicles were on the road for Black Friday, with 80 per cent of purchases being delivered to homes.
In rural areas the convenience of ordering online can be a godsend – especially when the goods are not available on our own doorstep.
Little wonder that, as increasing numbers of homes and businesses install high speed broadband, more and more rural customers are taking advantage of home deliveries for items they would otherwise have to travel to larger towns or cities to buy and take home.
Yet for far too many Scots, online shopping comes with an expensive catch. Many are being ripped off by retailers charging astronomical sums for delivery. Sometimes the delivery charges are several times the cost of the item being delivered.
Such is the scale of the delivery surcharges that many Scots simply cancel their intended purchases. Or, if they can’t find the same product elsewhere, they pay through the nose and seethe about it.
Customers are increasingly fed up with being fleeced by retailers who deliver free or at low cost elsewhere in the UK but impose hefty surcharges to much of Scotland.
A delivery fee of £50 was demanded for despatching a £5.99 pair of hand towels to Speyside. A £60 surcharge was levied for sending a small £8.99 item to Fochabers.
MANY examples defy belief. Such as my Fochabers constituent who told me that when he was buying some spare car parts, he could get them delivered for free from Germany but ordering from elsewhere in the UK incurred a delivery surcharge of anything up to £45. The reason? Because his postcode was not ‘mainland UK’.
A lady in Insch near Inverurie bought an exercise bike at £155 plus £15.99 for delivery. The next day the company informed her there would be an additional £34 surcharge due to her AB postcode. That is a £50 charge for a £155 purchase.
Citizens Advice Scotland estimates one million Scots are affected. Delivery charges have actually increased since 2012 despite petrol costs falling.
Surcharges are costing rural Scotland millions of pounds a year. Too many courier companies use postcodes to calculate their rates but these are blunt instruments given the huge geographical areas covered by each postcode.
I have had cases where the surcharges for delivery to Elgin – which has an IV postcode – are greater than for nearby villages with AB postcodes.
A lady in Wick told me that because Caithness has a KW postcode associated with Kirkwall, she is convinced island surcharges apply. And, astonishingly, much of Scotland is not even classified as ‘mainland UK’ by many retailers.
So the banners blazoned across their websites boasting free UK delivery are worthless once customers get to the small print at the end of ordering.
At this point, many Scottish households find out that, apparently, they don’t live where they thought they did. The last time I looked at the map, Scotland had not drifted away from the rest of the UK mainland.
There have already been attempts to tackle rip off surcharges. Scottish Ministers led the way in 2014 by working with the industry and consumer groups to draw up a statement of principles for retailers to follow. Some retailers stick by them. Others pay no attention.
The first principle says that online retailers should not discriminate against consumers based on their location. It also states that there should be objective, justifiable criteria for surcharges. Both of these are being flouted by many retailers and courier companies.
The problem is that signing up to the principles is voluntary. They are only aimed at retailers and not courier companies and are largely ignored. Maybe it is time to regulate and accredit couriers.
UK Ministers need to be persuaded to tackle these unreasonable surcharges. When I wrote to the UK Government I was told there are no current plans for regulation and it is being left to the market to decide. But the market does not always work.
We must push for transparency before orders are placed. If delivery is free to the UK mainland then that must include all of mainland Scotland.
CUSTOMERS should shop around, and name and shame the worst offenders. Some big retailers such as Halfords and Lloyds Pharmacy have reviewed their charges after I contacted them on behalf of constituents. So I know it can be done.
I’m campaigning to end ripoff delivery surcharges and to ensure there are common standards and rules that all retailers and courier companies must abide by. I’ve launched a website – fair delivery charges. scot – to allow the public to support the campaign and to learn more about it.
We now need all retailers and couriers to play fair when it comes to rural delivery charges and to end their extortionate charges as an early Christmas present for Scots customers.
In the meantime, I urge Scottish Daily Mail readers to shop around for the best deals – and to name and shame the rip-off merchants.