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I’ve received an e-mail this morning from reader Eric who shares an unfortunate shopping experience with Buy.com. He ordered a hard drive which Buy.com says was delivered on October 30th. Unfortunately for him, no signature was required and the package disappeared from his front porch. This is not surprising, considering it was delivered on Mischief Night. He’s contacted Buy.com and it seems they aren’t offering much recourse to him now.

I just thought I would write since I am chock full of anger, which unfortunately is not how I should be feeling the thursday after election night.

I placed an order (#XXXXXXXXX) for an external TB firewire LaCie drive from buy.com and waited for it’s arrival. Nothing came. Several days after the date that was indicated in my shipping email I tried contacting them and after several false starts- they have a terrible support system- my order was reviewed and I was told I already had the item. That it was delivered, and that since Buy.Com does not request a signature the item was “left outside”. Now my wife works from home, so she’s always home, so I’m not sure how she didn’t hear the delivery person ring the bell. Worse yet the “delivery” date was Mischief night, October 30th, so it’s hard to believe they would leave a 300 dollar item outside without getting a signature.

Buy.com “reviewed” my claim and denied me via an automated email with no option for appeal. After writing them back I was told this,

Per company policy: “Title to goods passes to you upon delivery to the common carrier.” (http://www.buy.com/corp/legal.asp). Basically this says that once a product is in transit via the shipping carrier, the ownership and responsibility of the product has passed from Buy.com to the customer. It is the customer’s responsibility from this point forward to make sure someone is at the delivery address provided to accept the package. If no one is available at this address at the time of delivery, the carrier is authorized to leave the package at the door and the order is considered completed at that time. Basically, the security of the delivery location provided by the customer falls under the responsibility of the customer.

So apparently when you make a purchase from Buy.com you are actually not buying it yourself, but rather purchasing the item for a delivery service that may or may not send you the item. So what is to prevent the delivery agent from keeping the item, giving it to a friend, covering it with glitter and making a puppet friend?

I have tried to file a claim with paypal (what I used to pay), but I was hoping you might have some more information on what my rights are as a purchaser? Also if nothing else, please let others know this policy.

Buy.com customer service has offered no assistance or alternatives in resolving this matter. Here they basically tell the consumer that he is shit out of luck from their end. At the very least, I would think that they should offer to contact FedEx on the consumer’s behalf to assist in the investigation.

Is it the responsibility of e-commerce stores to work with the carrier to ensure packages get to the customer? At which point should a signature be required for delivery? If the retailer is going to offer no assistance in making sure packages get delivered, what other rights do consumers have in this type of situation?

Another day, another collection of stories on the web that I’ve come across today.

The New York Times has a great look at how Wal-Mart’s own policies and methods have hurt the retailer. Wake Up Wal-Mart asks, Is Wal-Mart too cheap for their own good?

Not too long after Wal-Mart revealed more information on their plans to enter India in 2008 (read more here and here), Marketwatch is reporting that Best Buy is in talks to enter India through a deal with Vivek.

Steve Miller at Two Hat Marketing is talking about return policies. I agree with him that liberal return policies create more loyal customers. While they may create loyal customers who abuse the system, they are outweighed by the loyal customers created who appreciate not being looked at like a thief if something doesn’t fit or they change their mind. Retailers like Nordstrom and Kohl’s are using their return policies to distinguish themselves from their competition.

And finally, some interesting tidbits related to the airline industry:

A customer service tale, of people going above and beyond what is expected, involving the TSA? That can’t be right! But indeed, Christ at The Diff shares a positive story about the TSA that also involves holday air travel. Good story to read.

While The Airline Hub is reporting on a change in United’s policy on delayed flights, maybe United should take a look at Service Untitled’s thoughts on ways airlines could improve customer service.