Wick couple slam £12.50 postcode surcharge
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A LOCAL couple asked to pay an extra £12.50 to have a package delivered from Inverness to Wick claim they have been ripped off.
Dane and Jo Sutherland, of River Street, Wick, were told by Halfords they had to pay the extra cash for having the Kirkwall (KW) postcode in their address.
Mr Sutherland ordered two pressure hoses from the company’s website earlier this month which came to a total of £29.98.
On top of that was a standard £4.99 delivery charge – common with all orders placed on the website – and his items were despatched from a depot in Worcestershire to Inverness.
But the 68-year-old was also notified that, due to his location, he would have to pay a postcode surcharge of £12.50 to have his package delivered from Inverness to Wick.
Mrs Sutherland (64) said she was astounded at having to pay the hefty surcharge which almost cost as much as one of the items purchased.
“The package was originally sent from the Midlands to Inverness, but we were told that for the package to be delivered to Wick we would have to pay the extra surcharge,” she told the John O’Groat Journal.
“I think this is very much a case of discrimination against people who live in isolated areas.
“On the package the address was marked with British Isles which seemed to indicate that we are overseas. We have had problems regarding postcode surcharges with other companies as well due to our address; it is just a rip-off.”
Mr Sutherland contacted Halfords to query the surcharge. The company offered to cancel the order if he was unhappy but he required the items and agreed to pay.
“As far as they were concerned, the postcode was overseas and that was the reason why the surcharge was included,” he said.
“I explained to them that we were on the British mainland and I was passed up to a manager at Halfords. But I got the same answer as before and he said they could only go on what was on their records.”
A spokeswoman for Halfords confirmed it did include the £12.50 postcode surcharge on Mr Sutherland’s order. “Our delivery charges are based on zones the countries are split into and the customer does fall into a zone where the charge is added, unfortunately.”
The couple’s claims follow news that Caithness Citizens Advice Bureau is joining with its counterparts across rural Scotland to campaign for fair delivery charges.
It revealed there have been 500 complaints from people living in the Highlands and Islands who have been charged extra due to their rural address.
The organisation is currently helping to organise the campaign to introduce fairer charges to isolated customers. Local people are also being encouraged to take part in a survey to give examples of unfair delivery charges.
The CAB plans to name and shame companies which add postcode charges unless they change their ways.
Manager Jill Smith said since a story was published about the campaign in last week’s Groat, she has dealt with a number of queries from people who want things to change.
“We have been inundated with people who said they are fully behind our campaign,” she said.
“They have told us about some companies who have charged them extra to deliver to the Highlands and even some which won’t deliver to them at all due to their location.
“We are working in conjunction with other advice bureau branches in the Highlands and so far we have had 500 responses regarding this issue. In Caithness, this is a very strong issue with many people claiming that they have to pay more due to having a KW postcode.
“Some firms actually think Caithness is an island, but we are committed to putting across the fact that people in the Far North should not be paying these extra charges.”
The survey closes on Wednesday and is available at www.?surveymonkey.coms/Remote?AreaDeliveryCosts
