Anger over ‘rip-
Thousands of islanders are being charged ‘rip-
The research shows that rural Scots are often refused delivery altogether because their location is classed as ‘remote’. If they are able to get delivery at all, the charges can be so high that many report abandoning purchases at the online checkout.
Nearly 900 people responded to the survey run by the CAB service across Scotland. The interim report shows that 84% of respondents had been refused delivery altogether because of their location, and 85% have warned friends and family against using certain companies because of their excessive charges.
People said that many companies routinely offer ‘free delivery but then charge substantial fees for people in rural areas; refuse to deliver at all to certain areas; use expensive couriers for all their deliveries – even though Royal Mail delivers to all UK postcodes for the same low price.
Campaign’s co-
“The comments reveal huge levels of anger, and some of the examples reported are really shocking. With families watching every penny at the moment these excessive costs are a major burden for many people.
“But it’s not just about the money. This survey reveals that rural people feel exploited, and frankly discriminated against. They are very angry and want something done about it. And so do we.
“We will be reporting this evidence to the Office of Fair Trading, and to Trading Standards, as well as to both the UK and Scottish governments. We are also writing to the companies named by respondents, to ask them to change their policies in the light of this evidence. We will be naming the companies and publishing more detail of that in the New Year.
Citizens Advice Scotland are also re-
The survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s/FreeDelivery is open until midnight on 19 January.
, 2012. All the evidence will go into our next report, which we will publish in the New Year.
Ms Murphy said: “What we are aiming to do here is to persuade these companies to change their policies. We hope that many of them will be open to persuasion. After all, our survey shows that they are currently losing potential trade, which is cutting into their profit margins. Changing their pricing policies would make sense for them too. It would not only give rural people a fair deal but would increase their own trade and profits as well.
“The more evidence we get, the better, so we urge everyone to take a few minutes to fill in the survey and let us know their views. This is people power in action.”