Two Moray politicians are encouraging constituents to challenge retailers over delivery charges to the region.
MP Angus Robertson and MSP Richard Lochhead are also encouraging people to take the time to complete an online survey by Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) which has been campaigning on the issue for some time.
Mr Robertson said residents and businesses must continue to put the pressure on firms to ditch unfair costs for delivering goods to addresses in the north and north-east of Scotland
“While delivery charges continue to be a bugbear for many constituents, I am hearing more and more from people who have been successful in getting charges reduced by challenging the retailers they are dealing with,” he said.
“I believe that many online retailers are responding to the frustration and anger of customers being overcharged on delivery costs and are reviewing their policies. People power is an important factor in making this happen.”
Mr Lochhead added: “At a government level in Scotland, the SNP has been pushing retailers hard on making their delivery charges to areas like Moray fair for their customers, and I am pleased that a decent number of retailers have responded positively.
“I have heard, for example, positive news from Amazon and Next customers amongst others, but there remain retailers who are being less than helpful on delivery costs.
“I would encourage people to take part in Citizens Advice Scotland’s ongoing survey on delivery charges and to continue challenging retailers whenever they feel charges are unreasonable.”
A CAS spokesman said: “We have been working alongside the UK and Scottish Government, online retailers, parcel delivery operators and consumer organisations, since 2011 to ensure that Scottish consumers are not unfairly disadvantaged when trying to buy goods online, just because of where they live.
“We are asking volunteers to help us complete a review of over 500 companies by completing a short survey on our website, which should take less that 10 minutes for each review.”
A link to the survery can be found at:
http://www.cas.org.uk/news/rural-deliveries-survey
.