Perhaps I am being a drama llama but this feels very odd.

I recently ordered some bike bits from a European bike shop that ships from a UK distribution channel or takes into account VAT etc ~£60 anyhoo.

Received a dispatch email weeks ago but the tracking keeps stating that the delivery has been delayed and could not be delivered.

I initially thought that this wasn’t a problem as I wasn’t in a rush but its looking ever likely that its not arriving.

I contacted the company and they have, eventually, sent me a document to sign inc passport number(!) to send to them stating it has not been received with the premise that they will refund me. It goes on to state that if they do turn up I have to contact them to pay for the items. I’m fine with the latter, fair is fair, but its open ended. What happens if they turn up 6 weeks from now, 6 months etc.

It’s all a bit odd.

I wouldn’t expect to sign a document and include my passport number under these circumstances.

Am I drama llama’ing?

Should I just raise a dispute through PP?

* They refer in the document to it being an affidavit but the document itself is untitled.

Out of interest, how would they verify your passport number if you just sent them a made up one?

But yes, just raise a PP dispute. What if you didn’t have a passport, as many don’t? Seems like obstacles being put in the path of you getting refunded.

My daughter just repatriated her bike from Amsterdam via DHL and they requested my passport number as the recipient. So maybe it’s a thing.

1) “I don’t have a passport”

2) Cancel the order under the Consumer Rights Act.

Consumer rights laws etc apply in the country you buy from, not the country where the goods are delivered.

Are you sure about that?

I genuinely don’t know for certain, but I thought that in order for a company to be able to sell to [country] they had to abide by that country’s legislation. Seems like an awfully large loophole otherwise.

how did you pay? if it’s credit card just contact them and let them deal with it.

He paid via PayPal, that usually voids any rights under Section 75.

Seems like an awfully large loophole otherwise.

Yeah, they don’t even have to abide by environmental protections or things like child labour and anti slavery laws, but it’s cheaper right, so who cares?

(obviously an EU bike shop will have reasonable local law to comply with on most of these things, potentially [very unlikely] providing greater rights to the purchaser than if they bought from the UK)

OP – I’d query the time frame for loss/payment assuming you’re happy with it (i can’t remember the limit but I *think* 28 days is the legal definition of lost, it’ll be covered by cmr I think, though once it’s airborne it’ll be Montreal convention) sign it and return it without you passport number.

Is the company you bought from based in a country with compulsory is cards etc? This may be why it’s there.

“I don’t have a passport”

I could give mine, but I think it ran out in 2017 or something. But yes, a great many people don’t have a passport.

via DHL

glad she got it back. IME DHL are the worst international courier service. Never had a smooth experience with them.

It goes on to state that if they do turn up I have to contact them to pay for the item

or you could refuse delivery and they can return to DH(el)L or whatever courier-based parcel purgatory they used.

a European bike shop that ships from a UK distribution channel or takes into account VAT etc

Your best course of action will depend on which or these it is, but it sounds as if it’s not a UK distributor, just an EU one that applies UK VAT.

My guess is that their standard non-delivery form requires the customer’s national ID card number (compulsory in most of the EU?), and passport is the nearest thing we have in the UK.

Never had a smooth experience with them

And we didn’t either. They claimed that they’d deliver it on Monday, so I waited in, missing out on the best riding day we’re likely to have for a while. At 6:15pm they claimed that they’d tried to deliver it but I was out. Lying liars who lie. They did deliver it yesterday.