Europe-wide survey finds online shopping fails to deliver for customers
Online shopping may be a favourite for convenience and price but it still fails to deliver for a significant number of purchasers.
That’s the finding of a Europe-wide survey of consumer rights centres which shows that the number one problem shoppers have with online suppliers relates to delivery of goods.
Half of all 10,386 complaints about online purchases reported to the 27 branches of the European Consumer Centre (ECC) network last year were about delayed, missing or damaged deliveries, with traders tending to offload blame to postal and courier services.
A further 25% of the complaints related to the quality or suitability of the actual product or service, while 11% were about disputes over terms in the transaction contract.
Problems encountered by Irish customers included a customer who bought tickets for two Irish international rugby games from a Spanish trader but didn’t get the tickets in time for the matches and is still trying to get a refund, and a woman who ordered a camera from a French webtrader only to be informed the item was not in stock. She was moving house and could not wait several weeks for delivery and so cancelled the order but had to get ECC Ireland onto ECC France before she got her refund.
Online shopping may be a favourite for convenience and price but it still fails to deliver for a significant number of purchasers.
That’s the finding of a Europe-wide survey of consumer rights centres which shows that the number one problem shoppers have with online suppliers relates to delivery of goods.
Half of all 10,386 complaints about online purchases reported to the 27 branches of the European Consumer Centre (ECC) network last year were about delayed, missing or damaged deliveries, with traders tending to offload blame to postal and courier services.
A further 25% of the complaints related to the quality or suitability of the actual product or service, while 11% were about disputes over terms in the transaction contract.
Problems encountered by Irish customers included a customer who bought tickets for two Irish international rugby games from a Spanish trader but didn’t get the tickets in time for the matches and is still trying to get a refund, and a woman who ordered a camera from a French webtrader only to be informed the item was not in stock. She was moving house and could not wait several weeks for delivery and so cancelled the order but had to get ECC Ireland onto ECC France before she got her refund.
Another case involved a man who was delivered the wrong model of laptop from a UK trader and was told he would not be sent a replacement unless he returned the first one at his own expense. After discussion he returned it on the promise of being reimbursed but it took the intervention of ECC Ireland and ECC UK to persuade the trader to honour the deal.
Rosaleen Quinlan of ECC Ireland urged consumers to do their homework before buying online. “Know who you’re buying from. If you buy from a high street shop, you know who you’re dealing with and the same principle should apply to online purchases.”
The centre’s website www.eccireland.ie has a “shopping assistant” tool which allows shoppers search for online information about a trader.
