New Sofa Delivered Damaged

[Driver101]

It's not fair for customers to be expected to sign for items on the spot to say they are fine. Sometimes it does take good time to inspect goods properly.

Companies use couriers that aren't paid enough to allow any time for inspection.

[roadsmash]

shovelheadrob said:

roadsmash said:

Honestly it doesn’t, because it doesn’t make a difference.

You’ve signed for it = the courier has done their job, and that’s as far as it goes.

What a load of tosh, we get deliveries all the time that have to be signed for & it's usually totally impractical for everything to be opened & checked on arrival while the delivery driver waits for someone who actually knows what they're looking at to check it. The delivery notice often says "damages or shortfalls to be notified within 24/48hrs" as the supplier is also realistic.

I think you’re agreeing with me (apart from the tosh bit ). Note that I said “courier” in your quote, not “supplier.”

As damage in transit is usually quite rare it is custom for the supplier to provide a replacement/refund, providing the damage is reported as soon as possible. As a consumer you have plenty of rights too, which usually means unless the supplier can prove you’ve damaged it, then they will provide you with a replacement/refund.

All I’m saying is that signing for something in good condition under the name “not checked” won’t help matters in the slightest.

You’re better off signing for the delivery normally then immediately checking it and calling the supplier, or rejecting the delivery if you can see it’s in a total state.

Signing for it as “not checked” won’t help.

As an aside, just to muddy the waters , 1 or 2 couriers do allow you the option to sign for something as damaged (it’s an option on the driver’s signature device) but I haven’t seen it in a while, nor do I remember which couriers these were that had this option.

Long story short, sign it under your normal name and then inspect the items as quickly as you can and report any damage immediately. Or reject the delivery if its totally fked.

[shovelheadrob]

Courier, haulage company, delivery company, it doesn't matter what you call them, they provide the service of getting the goods from A to B, I would imagine that the sofa that the thread is about was likely delivered by the manufacturers own fleet of vans/lorries rather than the likes of Parcelfarce. But the principal of not being able to adequately inspect things at time of delivery is the same regardless.
Example, you have an item of flat packed furniture delivered, do you
A Ask the driver to wait while you carefully unwrap everything, check off all the parts are there, spend an hour or two putting it together to make sure that it's perfect. Then sign for it.
B Sign that everything is great & hope for the best.
C Sign unchecked
D Tell the driver that he's having a giraffe if he wants a signature, best just take it back.

[roadsmash]

shovelheadrob said:

Example, you have an item of flat packed furniture delivered, do you
A Ask the driver to wait while you carefully unwrap everything, check off all the parts are there, spend an hour or two putting it together to make sure that it's perfect. Then sign for it.
B Sign that everything is great & hope for the best.
C Sign unchecked
D Tell the driver that he's having a giraffe if he wants a signature, best just take it back.

None of these.

A is unfair on the driver, especially if it’s a large delivery.
B is stupid.
C isn’t possible, as explained above.
D is stupid.

Instead;

If the packaging is clearly battered, you reject the delivery (or sign for it specifically with the “damaged” selection on the signature device, which as explained above, isn’t possible with most couriers).

Do NOT sign normally in good condition with the name as “unchecked” - this just shows the delivery has been signed for in good condition by someone called “unchecked”.

If the delivery looks to be in good condition you sign for it in good condition. If you open the packaging to find some unexpected damage, you call the supplier and ask them to sort it out.

That is it.

[Gary C]

roadsmash said:

Gary C said:

As the form they are trying to claim you checked it as satisfactory states you have checked the goods as satisfactory, then overwriting that as NOT CHECKED, does indeed state that you have not checked it.

And I have claimed back on it and have used the fact i signed it NOT CHECKED to get a refund. Now Im sure there is lots of bks legally, but by removing the bit where they say 'but you checked it and signed as such' removes one of their defenses.

It does help.

If the supplier checks the tracking at face value then the point remains that if you haven’t checked it, it doesn’t help your case whatsoever. You don’t know if it was damaged or not because you haven’t checked it.

If you got a refund then it would have been down to the fact that the supplier used their discretion to help you, signing for something, regardless of if you sign it as “not checked”, doesn’t make a difference.

You could have signed it with a smiley face, no difference.

stitched said:

Might just be me but this reads like 'please don't do this it causes me a lot of bovver'

Honestly it doesn’t, because it doesn’t make a difference.

You’ve signed for it = the courier has done their job, and that’s as far as it goes.

Why do they put 'checked as ok' or some such other phrase on the delivery note then, if it makes fk all difference to the process ?

[BertBert]

This seems very strange to me.

If the note you are signing is paper and has terms on it, your can write whatever you like with regard to the amount of checking.

If it is an electronic device, there aren't any terms visible. But if you write unchecked on it, there's no rule that says your name is "unchecked".

[roadsmash]

Sorry guys, but this is just the way it is.

Once it’s signed for, it’s yours, regardless of what you write.

You then have a reasonable amount of time after delivery to check damage/nothing missing, regardless of what you write.

The problem arises when, a lot of customers don’t check it in reasonable time. They leave the boxes in the porch or in the garage for a week, then realise something is missing/damaged, then struggle to get a resolution because the supplier cannot be certain on what happened after delivery.

If you call up within a reasonable time frame you will get it sorted 99% of the time... regardless of what you write.

[Speckle]

When we deliver goods, a signature on the delivery note is just to confirm that there is no obvious damage and no elements of the delivery appear to be missing. The client then has 48 hours to unpack and properly check the condition of everything and let us know if there are any problems

Is this not a common approach?

[Rewe]

Are the new feet on the settee yet?

[Mojooo]

Speckle said:

When we deliver goods, a signature on the delivery note is just to confirm that there is no obvious damage and no elements of the delivery appear to be missing. The client then has 48 hours to unpack and properly check the condition of everything and let us know if there are any problems

Is this not a common approach?

It is an illegal approach if you sell goods to consumers and don't accept faults after 48 hours.

Consumers have up to 30 days to reject faulty items

that means they can open the package on day 29 and reject it if it is not in compliance with the contract.

[Agila b 6yr 6k]

Rewe said:

Are the new feet on the settee yet?

[Meeten-5dulx]

I'm in the minority.
If I spent a large sum on a sofa (or any other item), I would expect it to be fully functioning.
A decent retailer would look to rectify thr problem.
And it seems they did by sending thr replacement. But a really good retailer would have made sure the item was up to customers expectation.

Seems they came good eventually by offering a replacement. Seems that your pig headed stance worked in your favour - assuming replacment isn't f ekked as well.

Who was the retailer?

[Speckle]

Mojooo said:

It is an illegal approach if you sell goods to consumers and don't accept faults after 48 hours.

Consumers have up to 30 days to reject faulty items

that means they can open the package on day 29 and reject it if it is not in compliance with the contract.

Depends on the goods and fault. In my case, they're timber construction materials which are sensitive to the environment in which they are stored. If someone calls on day 29 to say the timber they have had onsite for a month appears to be warped, I would not accept that as a product fault and at that point, it couldn't be proven to be so.

To be honest, most of what I supply is chopped up and permanently installed within a week, at which point it is well beyond the point of rejection.

Whether it be 2 days , 20 days or 200 days, my point was that the signature on the delivery note is not confirmation that everything has been painstakingly checked as being in perfect condition. Expecting that level of scrutiny at the point of delivery would be unreasonable for most goods.