Ordered cash-on-delivery — but couldn't pay at the parcel locker: Czechs complain about new PPL and Zásilkovna rules

In early July, Czech resident Václav Motl ordered books from the Luxor bookstore, choosing delivery to an AlzaBox parcel locker in Dolní Břežany near Prague. He selected cash-on-delivery payment, expecting to pay upon pickup. But when the parcel arrived, he received a message saying the money had to be transferred via the carrier PPL's app or website — the very method he had been trying to avoid by choosing cash-on-delivery in the first place.

For decades, cash-on-delivery worked in a simple way: the buyer pays the courier, post office or parcel locker by card or cash upon receiving the package, and the carrier — after a delay and for a fee — transfers the money to the shop. Unlike prepayment, this scheme gives buyers a guarantee: there's no need to share payment details, and the purchase can be refused if the customer changes their mind. This method is barely used in Western Europe, but remains popular in Czechia.

PPL never responded to Motl's letter asking for an alternative payment method, and the shop only suggested placing the order again and picking up the item in person at a physical store. A similar situation happened with a juicer he tried to buy: the Balíkovna online gateway also demanded that the cash-on-delivery payment be made online. In the end, the unclaimed parcel was sent back across half the country.

Until recently, Motl hadn't used internet banking — the kind linked to online shop apps — at all; he only had a regular bank card. This wasn't a matter of principle, but simply the practical impossibility of receiving the parcel. According to statistics, roughly a fifth of Czech adults still don't use internet banking.

Some lockers don't have card terminals at all

Complaints like this have been piling up, including on the website Vašestížnosti.cz. According to Martin Pitron, a legal expert at the consumer organization dTest, much depends on whether the buyer was informed about the payment terms in advance.

"If payment were required before delivery, it would no longer be cash-on-delivery paid for by the consumer. In that case, the customer can demand that the situation be corrected, request redelivery under the agreed terms, or ask for a refund," Pitron explained. However, in Motl's case, Luxor had already stated the prepayment condition when he selected the pickup point, so, according to the expert, the seller acted within its own stated rules.

Practices vary from one locker network to another. AlzaBox allows card payment for orders placed directly through Alza.cz, but other carriers tend to use such terminals only for online payment. Zásilkovna's lockers don't have card payment terminals at all — the company explains this by saying the boxes run on solar panels and need to save electricity. The situation is similar with PPL: card terminals are only available at some of the older lockers.

"When it comes to the option of paying cash-on-delivery directly at a parcel locker terminal, it all depends on the technical and contractual setup of the specific locker type or network," said Jan Vetyška, executive director of the Czech E-Commerce Association. He noted that the share of online payments keeps growing, partly because people don't want to spend extra time paying on-site. "I understand that digitalization creates difficulties, especially for older generations, but the data shows that most users welcome a faster process," he added.

Experts advise anyone who still wants to pay by card on the spot to choose lockers that support it, or to arrange delivery to a staffed pickup point or directly home by courier.

Read also: Sending money from Czechia abroad: Wise, Revolut, or a bank

Source: novinky.cz