NSW Dispute and Negligence Over Missing Valuable Delivery?

[ohdeanna]

Hello,

I'm making some initial enquiries into where I might stand legally on an expensive item that was couriered to me and recorded as delivered but never received.

In brief;

1. A Company lent me a piece of expensive equipment for a work trip for which I signed an Loan Agreement and was assured it would reach me by a specific date.

2. The courier company failed to deliver it before the date I left so I travelled without it.

3. The Company that owned the item told me they had requested 'Return to Sender'.

4. The courier claimed it was signed for on day X - after my departure.

5. A different delivery was signed for on the same day by my wife.

6. The Courier claims this was the item in question but we did not receive the item.

7. The Company says I am therefore responsible for the item

This bothers me greatly for a number of reasons.

1/ It was addressed to me and being valuable should not have been left in the hands of someone else, relative or not

2/ The agreement from the Company I signed for the loan of the equipment stated I was responsible for the item once received it and I wasn't even in the country when it was supposedly delivered

3/ The courier says it was delivered but it was not

4/ The courier, up until the delivery day, displayed incompetence (late delivery) and avoidance (staff contact member not answer calls or emails) and general negligence which in my mind implicates them in it going missing

And now we are being asked to carry the responsibility for replacement costs which are substantial.

Any help, general of course, on this kind of delivery dispute?

At the moment we are exchanging pointless emails but if it escalates I'd like to make sense in my responses.

 

[Rob Legat - SBPL]

Unless you authorised anyone else to collect the item on your behalf, simply respond that you did not receive the item and the there is no record of you having received the item. Point out that the supposed delivery date is past the date when you left the country in any case.

It is a matter between the company and the courier as to what they did and did not allow in terms of the delivery - nothing to do with you.

 

[ohdeanna]

Thanks. So it seems I have to find out the specifics of the delivery courier's responsibility.

Did they do wrong letting someone else sign for it?
What were the instructions from the company that sent the item?

My concern is that they are using my wife's signature for a delivery on that day as proof of my responsibility. But she received a different item, the box of which I have retained but to complicate things my wife through away the attached delivery sheet, and it wasn't meant for her and I was not in the country so how can I be liable?

This feels to me like someone in the courier company pulled a swifty only handing over one parcel not two.

Is my wife's signature going to be enforceable as proof of delivery if it wasn't address to her or meant to her?

Its a fairly horrible electronic scrawl. Unreadable.

 

[Rob Legat - SBPL]

It shouldn't be your problem to figure it out. Simply say:

- that you were out of the country and did not receive the goods;
- your wife wasn't authorised by you to take delivery on your behalf; and
- in any case, your wife doesn't acknowledge receipt of the goods. If she does acknowledge that the electronic signature is hers, it was for completely different goods which were addressed to her.

It's up to the courier company to prove that they delivered it to you.

 

[ohdeanna]

I've just noticed on the 'Proof of Delivery' docket it says

"Nature of Authority: Addressee"

Does this mean only I - as the addressee - had the authority to sign for it?

Did they screw up by letting someone else sign for it?