“Deliveries should go to your front door – and my front door isn’t the entrance to a block of flats,” says tenant Graham Barrett.
Graham believes a door service delivery should be just that, whether your front door is a bungalow in the suburbs or the 20th floor of a block of high-rise apartments in the city centre
This week Asda apologised to Colin Smallman, of Newcastle, after he received a text telling him to collect his shopping from the ground floor of the lift-free Stoneyfields Court because the driver had a bad back.
Previously the Asda home-delivery service had always dropped off his shopping at the front door of his first-floor home.
Graham, who lives at Southern Court in Hanley, believes Colin was well within his rights to complain.
He said: “They should deliver to your front door, and if you live in a block of flats that is not the front entrance.
“If you are having groceries delivered, the chances are you are a busy mother who can’t get out or someone who has got a disability or is elderly. Most people who have got a car will go out and do their own shopping.”
Robert Dyson, who lives in a flat at Seddon Court, Hanley, also believes deliveries should be made to the front door.
The 42-year-old said: “I always thought it was the procedure that groceries were delivered to your front door. That is the service you pay for.
“In the flats where I live we have got lifts, so I would expect a delivery to come to my front door no matter what floor it is on.
“If a customer has got arthritis or something like that they might not be capable of carrying their shopping upstairs.”
Terms and conditions are available online showing the delivery policy of each of the ‘big four’ supermarkets.
Asda states: “Where the only access to your front door is by stairs, for example in an apartment block that does not have a lift, our driver will call you and arrange to meet you in a communal area on the ground floor for you to collect your goods. If you live in a block of flats and there is an accessible lift in working order, our driver will take the goods to your front door. We always reserve the right to deliver only to the main entrance of the delivery address.”
Tesco has a similar policy of only delivering to the main entrance. However, Tesco insists drivers will carry the order into the delivery address on special request providing the it is 'safe and practical to do'.
Sainsbury’s policy states: "Our driver will deliver to any floor of your residential building providing it is safe to do so.”
Meanwhile, Morrisons does not specifically mention deliveries to blocks of flats under the terms and conditions. However, a spokeswoman said drivers will deliver to the floor of any flat, regardless of the level. However, there could be some circumstances when alternative arrangements are made, such as if a lift is not working or if there were safety concerns.
Simon Harris, chief executive of Stoke-on-Trent Citizens Advice Bureau, urged customers shopping online to check the terms and conditions.
He said: “Part of it depends on the ability of the shopper to take delivery of their shopping. If they are not, you would hope the retailer would send out a delivery driver who was. It could be argued they have a responsibility to talk to the customer to make that happen and not to treat them any differently if they happen to live upstairs at a block of flats.
“However, a clear part of it is about the terms and conditions and what you are paying for. Our advice would be to check what the retailer is committed to do.”
