The question of delivery charges has long been a source of complaint, especially in rural Scotland.
Fergus Ewing MSP
Last year,the Scottish government even held “parcel summit” to discuss the issue. It was chaired by the Enterprise Minister, Fergus Ewing, and included some of the companies accused of treating people in some parts of Scotland to a second-rate service. There’s already been research which confirms that, when Scots try to buy goods online, they face often punitive surcharges and, on occasion, a refusal to deliver the parcel at all.
Now, an MP has brought forward a bill in the Commons which he hopes will tackle such “unfair” delivery charges. it’s been brought forward by the MP for West Aberdeenshire, Sir Robert Smith, whose bill would make it compulsory for websites to declare any surcharges before consumers even start to browse.
It follows an intense campaign on the subject by Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) which published a report at the end of last year entitled “Postcode Penalty”. This reported that more than a million people were being “routinely ripped off” by unfair delivery charges, with the islands especially hard hit. The report claimed that, on some occasions, they had to pay as much as 18.60 extra to have goods they bought online delivered – a 500% mark up on the standard delivery price. It also said that customers in the Highlands could expect to face an extra charge of £15 per delivery on average.
CAS looked at the policies of 534 retailers. 335 admitted charging extra for delivery to certain parts of the UK, almost a quarter of which applied to Scottish consumers. The report’s authors argued that consumers here were being disproportionately affected by delivery surcharges. Worst hit were those who lived on the islands. 55% of the retailers who restricted the areas of the UK to which they would deliver refused to deliver goods there. The report also found that even areas such as Aberdeenshire, Moray, Argyll and Bute and Perthshire were said to be in the Highlands and Islands for charging purposes.
Sir Robert Smith
Liberal Democrat MP
Sir Robert, a Liberal Democrat MP, launched his Fair Delivery Scotland campaign along with a petition on Monday. He called on online retailers to end excessive delivery surcharges and to make surcharges more transparent on their websites. “People in Aberdeenshire are fed up with the excessive surcharges that some online retailers charge,” he said. “This campaign is about making sure that consumers in the North East and the Highlands and Islands are no longer charged ridiculous surcharges.
“Consumers are particularly frustrated by websites that do not declare the extent of surcharges until the end of the shopping process. This is against current consumer law and if anyone has experienced this recently please do get in touch so the website can be reported to Trading Standards. However I want websites to be even more transparent and declare any surcharges before you even start shopping. That way consumers in Aberdeenshire could decide whether it’s worth their while to take the time to browse the website.”
And Margaret Lynch, CAS chief executive, added that “when we published that evidence, we received positive feedback from all the political parties, and we have continued to have useful discussions with them. “This bill gives them a new chance to say what they are actually going to do about the problem. We look forward to hearing what they have to say.”