Not getting next-day delivery? You’re not alone
Nearly 1 in 4 people in the UK have had a next-day or nominated day delivery arrive late
Today, after a 6 month investigation, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that Amazon Prime’s next-day delivery claims are misleading. While the ASA found that Amazon delivers the majority of items by the predicted delivery date, this is often later than people would reasonably expect.
The ASA has said that people who subscribe to Amazon Prime could reasonably expect all Prime-labelled items to be available for next-day delivery. As this isn’t the case for a significant number of items, Amazon’s promotion of the Prime service as offering unlimited next-day delivery was seen to be misleading for shoppers.
Amazon isn’t the only culprit
While we welcome steps to make online shopping and delivery terms clearer for people, this ruling is part of a bigger issue of next-day delivery failing to meet expectations.
1 in 4 UK shoppers are signed up to a delivery subscription service like Amazon Prime or ASOS Premier. These service offer unlimited premium delivery services for a fixed monthly or annual cost.
They are part of a wider industry trend of parcel delivery becoming faster and cheaper or, in many cases, free.
Premium delivery services now account for more than half of all parcel deliveries, up from a third in 2015.
This rise in premium delivery services is making it harder for retailers to keep their promises, with the number of late deliveries across all service types almost doubling in 2 years.
Our own research found late delivery is the number one delivery problem people face. Looking just at premium delivery services like next-day and nominated-day delivery, 23% of people in the UK have had their parcel arrive late.
If you exclude people who haven’t used a premium delivery service, or can’t remember using one, that number rises to almost 40%.
And people in rural areas are getting the worst deal, with 45% saying their delivery arrived later than expected, compared to 38% in urban areas.
It’s the seller’s responsibility to make sure items arrive on time and in good condition. If people pay extra for a next-day or other premium delivery service which doesn’t arrive when expected they have the right to a refund of the difference between the standard delivery cost and the extra paid for premium delivery.
We want people’s consumer rights to be clearer
People’s consumer rights are less clear when delivery is free. If delivery was free, there’s nothing to refund, which makes claiming compensation a lot less straightforward. While this may not seem like a problem, some people are relying on their item arriving the next day. A late parcel can mean having to rearrange delivery or return items that arrived too late to be useful.
Andy called our Consumer Helpline after his next-day delivery subscription wasn’t living up to his expectations. Of the three or four items he’d purchased since signing up only one had been delivered next-day. He complained to the retailer who said they’d investigate the issue but did not offer him any compensation for the delayed deliveries.
Although subscription services like Amazon Prime have the potential to save people money on the cost of delivery, this shouldn’t come at the expense of consumer rights. Despite the rise in subscription services, retailers need to make sure that customers still have access to compensation if their deliveries arrive later than expected.
We’ll be continuing to monitor this issue, as well as looking at what refund arrangements sellers have in place, as part of our continuing work on postal services.
The ASA’s ruling today shows that retailers can be held to account when they don’t meet their promises. But it’s important that all retailers advertise their delivery offer clearly, and that there are clear routes for people to seek redress if something goes wrong.
If you’ve had an issue with sending or receiving a post that you need help to resolve, call our consumer helpline on: 0808 223 1133.
