When your new dishwasher needs an app to get full functionality

[Agent_24]

The seller isn't responsible if the courier can't deliver to a buyer, if for example, there is some confusion about the delivery, such as a shared driveway and the house does not have a number sign, and the parcel is too large to fit in the letterbox.

How is it the seller's responsibility to ensure the parcel is delivered, if the delivery person is unsure which house to leave the parcel at?

However, in such an event, if there is a phone number on the package, the driver could (in theory) call the recipient and ask for clarification.

Again, this kind of thing hardly ever happens, so you don't have to provide a real phone number. Just make one up if you'd rather they didn't have yours.

If the courier cannot deliver, they can and should contact the person who bought their service , not the addressee. That is the person responsible for delivery, not the courier.

Here is the relevant piece of law -

https://www.consumerprotection.govt.nz/g...%20carrier.

There is no need to give false information when buying something online, a correct address and delivery details are all that is required. No other personal information is necessary. Especially in these days when cyber security and phone scams are actually things everyone needs to be aware of,  it pays to be careful.

Sounds like a law that's out of touch with reality, as a lot often are.

Imagine the scenario I described above where it's unclear which house to leave the parcel at.
The most practical and logical solution is the courier calling the recipient for clarity, assuming their phone number is available.

Following what the law says, where you wait for the courier company to pass the issue back to the sender (good luck if they even bother!) - (most likely YOU will be the one contacting the seller because the parcel didn't turn up.... where you then supply the information about which house is yours).... and then pray that the seller accurately passes this on to the courier... and that they bother to pass that accurately to the courier driver... so we have a nice chain of Chinese Whispers played by people who can barely be bothered doing their job... and what's most likely to happen is the courier company just returns the parcel to sender, and tells them "Too hard, sorry"

Then you have to go through the hassle of waiting for all that to happen, and then the seller may decide they don't want to re-ship the item without charging you for postage again, or even just canceling the order....

But sure, you have fun with all that, while being happy in the knowledge that the companies are following the law