What are your rights if your parcel is late or gets lost?

Were you aware that if your parcel gets lost whilst being shipped, is late arriving at the delivery address or even stolen, you’re likely to be entitled to some form of compensation?

How much compensation you’re able to claim depends on such factors as how long the delivery delay was, what sort of courier service was used and the type of delivery service you paid for, i.e. same day delivery service, next day or 3 day.

You should at least have the cost of the delivery service refunded to you, as the courier company employed will have failed to provide the service with ‘reasonable care and skill’ - a breach of the Consumer Rights Act.

It’s important that you know the ‘terms and conditions’ of the courier company or parcel delivery service, so if you decide to use so that, you know exactly what type of compensation you could be due.

In most cases, the standard delivery cost won’t include any extra insurance cover for the parcel you are sending.

Did you pay for additional cover or insurance?

You can pay for additional insurance, or pay for particular delivery methods that include extra liability cover - such as Royal Mail recorded delivery.

If so, the courier service will have its own claim process that you will need to follow.

It’s always makes sense to pay for extra protection for the delivery of any high value or fragile items.

Complaints.

If you decide you want to raise a complaint with a courier service you’ll need to follow the following process:

Firstly, you should get in touch with the courier companies customer service team.

If this doesn't work you need to take your complaint to the next level, the person who is actually responsible for customer complaints.

If the complaint regarding your delivery still can’t be resolved, you can ask the independent postal redress scheme (POSTRS) to investigate your case. But, only regulated postal operators are covered by this scheme. Non-regulated mail services are sometimes covered, provided both the company and customer agree to use the service voluntarily.

If you’re still unhappy with the response to your complaint, unfortunately, you’ll need to seek independent legal advice.