Women furious at pet company's 'hateful' rant after Inverness delivery surcharge query
TWO Inverness women have been left shocked after a query about delivery charges triggered a hateful rant including a claim that they were responsible for giving Scots a reputation for being stingy.
When Shirley Hynan considered buying a cat scratching pole from Scarborough company Cozy Pet UK, which sells through global online retail giant Amazon, she queried why she was being charged for “shipping”.
This resulted in a diatribe from a “Colin F” at Cozy Pet in which he said people who raise concerns about high delivery charges to the north were “radicals” and “extreme”.
His initial response read: “As I am Scottish I can easily answer this question. You live in a location that ALL carriers surcharge, so it is quite correct that you pay the actual cost to ship to your location.
“The only other way to ship to you without additional cost would be to ask the 96 per cent of UK Mainland customers (who live in normal areas) to pay more for their purchases so we could subsidise your postage costs.
“As a Scotsman I am so sorry our other customers have to read this response. It is what gave our nation a reputation for being ‘tight’.”
Ms Hynan’s friend, Cat Thomson was furious, and Tweeted the response to Inverness SNP MP Drew Hendry who has been lobbying for fairer charges from online sellers.
A further response from Colin F stated: “The few radicals that attack UK companies over postage surcharges are costing Highlands and Islands residents access to fantastic products at great prices, you should all be ashamed of yourselves.
“Just look at the number of Ebay and Amazon retailers that state WE DO NOT SHIP TO Highlands and Islands. Of course they can, but they just do not want to deal with the handful of individuals like you.
“I was born in Edinburgh and lived there for 45 years and you simply disgust me. You really should be ashamed and you are certainly not truly Scottish.”
Mrs Thomson said: “I felt what he said was bordering on hateful and abusive towards the Highlands, and I would question his Scottish heritage as he certainly did not empathise with us or express any sympathy with the situation.
“Amazon removed the posts, but that is really sweeping it under the carpet.”
Ms Hynan said: “I posted Cozy Pet a question asking if the company could elaborate on why they could not ‘ship’ here when we are clearly part of Britain, and that was the response.”
Mr Hendry said: “Most reasonable people would be shocked by the response from Cozy Pet’s representative ‘Mr F’.
“Well done to Shirley and her friend Cat for highlighting it. We cannot allow this kind of attitude to go unchecked and I have written to Cozy Pet to try and seek a change of view from them over the value of treating the Highlands with the respect.”
Amazon said its seller performance team is investigating and Cozy Pet refused to comment.
- Do you know of any similar cases? Email us at newsdesk@spp-group.com