Ayrshire classed as '˜off shore' by Amazon for delivery charges

Amazon has launched an investigation after a customer in Ayrshire was told he would be charged a £12.99 delivery fee because his postcode showed he lived 'off-shore'.

Amazon charged a customer extra for a delivery to Ayrshire because it was classed as 'off shore'

Ian Stevenson, a foster carer, from Ardrossan, ordered a £80 boxing punch bag as a Christmas present for a boy.

When the item did not arrive on its delivery date Mr Stevenson contacted Amazon.

He received an email from Naik Sports, the third party seller, whose items are for sale as an approved marketplace seller on the Amazon website.

It read: “Sorry to know that you are still waiting for your item. Upon checking on my system your post code is a offshore and courier companies are charging extra for delivering your item £12.99. Please confirm.”

Mr Stevenson said: “I think it was offensive in the first instance. It’s also outrageous. The principle here is how people in Scotland can be treated like this over delivery charges, never mind the nonsense about me apparently living ‘off-shore’. They could have checked my address on Google maps. There’s no excuse for it. Mr Stevenson, responded: “The item was well overdue and you did not initiate communication with me to say there was a problem.

My postcode is UK mainland. This can be easily checked. “This is the first time you have raised this fantasy excuse. You are disappointing a customer at Christmas and damaging Amazon’s reputation. I will be charging Amazon at a professional rate for the time I have spent on this.”

Mr Stevenson told the company he would be making a complaint. He was then told that as a “goodwill gesture” the punch bag would be sent “without any extra offshore charges as we normally do.”

Further complaints led to an Amazon supervisor apologising for the issues with Naik Sports and saying an investigation would take place.

“We at Amazon.co.uk take pride in our customer service standards and believe that customers who purchase from the Marketplace should be treated with the same degree of service as a customer who’s purchased directly from us.

“Even though your purchase was made from a Seller, we realise that it may influence your decision to visit our website again.

“I’ve forwarded your message to our team that investigates Seller activities alleged to be in violation of our policies.”