More than one-third of people in Scotland experienced problems with parcel deliveries last year, new research revealed.
A survey by YouGov for Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) found over 32% of Scots complained to delivery companies in 2020.
The most common reasons included lost parcels (21 per cent), items being delayed (17 per cent), items delivered to the wrong place (13 per cent) or receiving cards to say the item could not be delivered when someone was at home at the time (12 per cent).
The survey also found that only 34 per cent of people who had experienced a problem reported it or complained to the delivery company.
Of those who did complain, 61 per cent were dissatisfied with the response.
Ofcom is now proposing new guidelines for how parcel operators should handle complaints after their own UK-wide research also demonstrated continuing issues with parcel deliveries.
CAS Strong Communities spokesperson Gillian Fyfe said: “This research shines a spotlight on an industry that is clearly not doing its job.
"Parcel delivery companies need to see this as a red letter day for them to get their act together.
"Perhaps these findings don’t come as a huge surprise. After all, everyone has their own personal stories of parcels arriving late or damaged, going missing or being left in a neighbour’s hedge.
"Sadly, a lot of people will have had their Christmas marred by such failures."
CAS is also concerned about the fact that people don’t trust parcel delivery companies to resolve their delivery issues.
"It’s a basic principle of consumerism that people should be able to complain about poor service," they added
"Complaints lead to redress and also drive improvements in the service, so when complaints are not happening, poor service can become the norm.
Some of the barriers that stop people complaining include a lack of confidence that the complaint will be taken seriously and a lack of clarity about how to complain.
"We are calling for clearer complaints processes, allowing people to hold companies accountable for failures.
"We also want to see parcel companies giving people both digital and non-digital options to contact them about any issues.
"With more and more people shopping online, consumers in Scotland are entitled to a delivery service that is efficient, effective and responsive."
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here