The customer purchased a new iPhone 7 on a 24 month plan. The plan included instalment payments for the cost of the new phone as well as the telecommunications plan itself. The phone was to be delivered to the customer’s home within two to three days. However, three weeks after the purchase date, the customer called her telecommunications provider to say that she had not received it. Both she and her provider attempted to resolve the complaint without success and TDR got involved.
The adjudicator considered a wide variety of evidence, including the customer’s submissions that she had not received the phone, that no one else was home on the day the delivery was supposed to have occurred, and that no neighbours received a package for her. The customer argued that because she had not received the phone, she was not liable to pay for it.
The telecommunications provider submitted information from the courier showing that the delivery of the phone was made to the customer’s address and that someone answering to the customer’s name signed for the package. The provider argued that the customer was liable to pay for the phone.
On balance, the adjudicator determined that it was more likely that the package was delivered to someone at the customer’s address. The telecommunications provider fulfilled its duty to deliver the phone to the customer and therefore the customer was liable to pay for the phone.
The complaint highlights the importance of evidence as well the duties and obligations that both consumers and telecommunications providers have in contracts.