Quote:
Originally Posted by donheff
As I understand the front door delivery processes, if the carrier reports it dropped at your door the seller is not obligated to give you a refund if you claim it hasn't arrived. A fair number of packages are stolen from front steps and that is technically on you.
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I don't think that's correct. Remember that, legally, there are two separate and completely distinct business contracts here. One is your contract of sale with the etailer (e.g., Amazon), the other is the contract of delivery services that the etailer makes with the delivery service (e.g., UPS). Our contract with Amazon is for the purchase of an item, we have no liability or responsibility for its delivery. If we don't receive the item, the contract is not fulfilled, full stop, in which case we are entitled to a refund, and credit cards make that very easy now. If an etailer receives an unusual number of refund requests from a particular customer, they can always ban that customer, the way retailers do when a customer returns too many items (which is sometimes a shoplifting scam).
They could always require a signature, but that takes more of the delivery service's time, and so costs slightly more, so most etailers skip that and accept the additional losses that may partially offset their savings on shipping.