Charge of £1,000 to deliver chair is ‘ludicrous’ – MSP

Consumer: Lochhead hitting out at ‘ridiculous’ surcharges on customers in north of country

A £1,000 charge to deliver a chair to Moray has been branded as one of the most “ludicrous” examples of courier surcharges to the north.

Retailer Mano Mano will deliver furniture to addresses in Edinburgh for free without excess costs.

But when orders are placed to deliver to Aberdeen, Elgin and the Highlands the Francebased firm adds a £1,000 surcharge, even on items costing less than £100.

The site describes itself as a “marketplace” to connect buyers with sellers who list items for sale, explaining they do not “handle logistics”.

However, when identical items offered for sale from Daal’s Home are compared, the £1,000 surcharge is only added for purchases from Mano Mano’s site.

Daal will charge £10 for delivery to Elgin and the north on its own site while deliveries of smaller items to Aberdeen are free.

The fee was reported by a shopper to Moray MSP Richard Lochhead, who has campaigned against extra delivery charges to rural locations.

“Over the last few months, lockdown meant that people were forced to shop online and sadly, my inbox suggests that many companies and couriers have continued to impose ridiculous delivery surcharges on customers in Moray and across the north of Scotland,” he said.

“I was gobsmacked when I heard that this company had calculated a delivery charge of £1,000 for a chair costing £75.99.”

He said he has written to the company concerned.

Research by the Scottish Parliament calculated that delivery surcharges cost Scottish residents £40 million last year, an increase of 11% since 2017.

The Advertising Standards Authority and Competition and Markets Authority has issued enforcement notices to firms who do not clearly state delivery prices.

Neither Mano Mano or Daal’s Home responded to requests to comment.

“I was gobsmacked when I heard of this”