Firm quotes £1000 delivery charge to deter Moray orders
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A COMPANY which quoted a delivery charge of £1000 for a Moray woman to have a £75 chair delivered has said the figure was given to deliberately deter orders to certain postcodes.
Moray SNP MSP Richard Lochhead intervened last week after being contacted by the constituent.
Mr Lochhead, a long-time campaigner against unfair delivery surcharges, wrote to the company involved, DaAls Home, which was selling the chair through the website ManoMano, urging it to review its "ridiculous" parcel delivery surcharges policy.
The company offers free delivery to the UK mainland – but this doesn't include IV postcodes.
A DaAls spokesperson said this week: "I can confirm that, as we are a small family-run company, we do not currently have the facilities to ship to certain locations.
"In addition, we are unable to apply a 'block' to the postcodes we cannot deliver to, thus preventing customers from ordering.
"It is for this reason that we have, as a temporary measure, had to put a deliberately high delivery surcharge onto the affected items when ordered to the select postcodes to deter those customers from making the purchase only to be let down when the order is cancelled and having their funds 'tied up' in a purchase that cannot be fulfilled.
"We do hope, in the foreseeable future, to be able to expand the areas we can deliver to or find a better solution in displaying deliverability moving forward.
"I hope this helps to better explain the reasoning behind the prices and assure you that we would never actually charge someone this for shipping."
Mr Lochhead has repeatedly called for action from the UK Government to end rip-off parcel delivery charges. He said the Scottish Government was doing what it could to address the issue but the UK Government held the power to regulate.
Today Mr Lochhead said: "Companies should not be allowed to treat shoppers in the north of Scotland like this – businesses need to be upfront and transparent.
"Most people will find it appalling that they’d add a £1000 delivery charge for delivering to this area, as a way of putting customers off, and I think they should dump their policy.
"Shoppers in Moray and across the north of Scotland should keep naming and shaming businesses imposing unfair surcharges or that refuse to deliver to this part of the country.
"If a company is offering free mainland delivery, but can’t offer that service to shoppers in Moray, then they should find a better courier."
Mr Lochhead started his campaign to end unfair parcel delivery surcharges nearly four years ago, securing cross-party support.
