Recently bought a Lego set (Tyrannosaurus Rex - $399 retail price). Have bought from Target previously and they normally send signature on delivery which I like as I live in an area that is subject to parcel theft.
Anyways. For whatever reason target sent the item through Couriers Please, not Australia Post and sent it as authority to leave. And yes, the parcel got stolen.
I’ve contacted target and they investigated and provided proof of delivery, but I explained according to their own terms and conditions all parcels are sent signature on delivery. They selected ATL, not me.
I’ve even confirmed with Couriers Please it was booked as ATL. And I’ve provided Target with that email.
I paid through PayPal and submitted a claim but PayPal sided with Target as the item was delivered (All they had to do was provide a tracking and PayPal sided with them)
I’m at a loss (literally) as Target don’t respond to email or chat. And their phone number is outsourced and useless.
Any advice?
Does anyone have a phone number or email contact to an Australian customer service rep who might actually look into it properly.
Kind of.
The RRP value may be $400, but for these circumstances, the insurance value is only the amount that you paid.
If you paid $600 for the item, would you still claim that it was only valued at $400 because that's what RRP says?
I do understand where you are coming from and I'd be completely devastated if this happened to me, but without additional insurance, this is one of the draw backs for online trading.
As it stands, Target did supply the item. You asked them to supply it to a delivery service and they have done that.
Target don't provide a delivery service, but they do offer to provide one on your behalf. The choice of that service is for the buyer. Where they don't nominate one that both parties agree to, if the buyer wants to continue with the contract, it means they've accepted whatever service the seller has nominated by default.
Note seller does not have to agree to use the service nominated by buyer.
Hence, target appear to have done exactly what you have asked them, and your issue is with the delivery service.
At a very basic level, you generally can't be responsible for a product once it leaves your hands and/or what a third party does with it when it is no longer in your possession or under your control.
And as far as contracts go, the choice of delivery service is a term of the contract and ultimately considered the choice made by the buyer. If buyer didn't like terms of sale contract, they either needed to negotiate or trade elsewhere with the contract terms they wanted.
Unfortunately, target have proof that they sent the product. Apparently, they even have proof that the item was delivered to your address.
That's ordinarily the extent of their obligation.
By law, it is actually up to the buyer to choose the method of delivery. If none is nominated, then obviously the default goes to whomever the seller selected on the buyer's behalf.
Of note, there is a slight grey area here for online contracts that offer "free delivery" as it is generally determined that the contract for delivery is separate to the sales contract and is between the delivery service and buyer.
As for the delivery service, even if this loss was determined to be their fault, as the item was not insured, the maximum amount for which they are liable is whatever cost they charged for the service they were supposed to provide (ie postage/shipping charge) as that is the service they didn't provide.