MSE News: Christmas presents arrived late? Know your refund rights

Former_MSE_Jamie

"While you won't be able to make up for the disappointment, you may be able to get your money back or get compensation..."

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Christmas presents arrived late? Know your refund rights

arcon5

Crucially, you're often protected by the Distance Selling Regulations. These mean you're entitled to a refund within seven days, no matter what the reason,

This bit is incorrect, Jamie. DSRs allow you to notify the company you wish to cancel within 7 working days of taking receipt of the goods.

A refund must then be issued within 30 days.

chrisorm1

I have just recently purchased an item online and paid extortionate delivery costs to ensure it was delivered in time for Christmas. The item was arriving from Hong Kong. I paid on the 15th December and in accordance to their online published timescales, my item would be dispatched within 2-3 calendar days to arrive within 3-5 calendar days if I paid for express delivery with DHL. I paid nearly half the amount my item was worth again in order to have it here on time. Unfortunately, after paying said delivery costs, the item was not even dispatched from Hong Kong until 24th December!! It arrived late on the 27th December. The horrible thing is, that by my reckoning, I could have had free delivery and still had the item on the same day!!
This company (Focal Price) are refusing to refund my delivery charges, is there anything I can do??
The item cost a little under £34 and I paid £14 delivery costs for express delivery.

skylight

I think a lot of us have tales of woe over this. I ordered a personalised tea cup on the 6th Dec via Amazon Marketplace and a UK seller. The original has never arrived and neither has the so called promised replacement, that they guaranteed would be here for Christmas (and hasn't arrived in todays post either). At least I have Amazon to fall back on in this case as there is no way two items have gone missing when nothing else has over Christmas.

bris

chrisorm1 wrote: »

I have just recently purchased an item online and paid extortionate delivery costs to ensure it was delivered in time for Christmas. The item was arriving from Hong Kong. I paid on the 15th December and in accordance to their online published timescales, my item would be dispatched within 2-3 calendar days to arrive within 3-5 calendar days if I paid for express delivery with DHL. I paid nearly half the amount my item was worth again in order to have it here on time. Unfortunately, after paying said delivery costs, the item was not even dispatched from Hong Kong until 24th December!! It arrived late on the 27th December. The horrible thing is, that by my reckoning, I could have had free delivery and still had the item on the same day!!
This company (Focal Price) are refusing to refund my delivery charges, is there anything I can do??
The item cost a little under £34 and I paid £14 delivery costs for express delivery.

Buying from China means you give up your consumer rights. Any recourse would be under Chinese law, so no there is nothing you can do.

rogerbloxham

When ordering goods or services direct from the retailer/supplier, it used to be a good idea to add the words 'time is of the essence' (to the contract) when signing the order.

If there is a space for 'special instructions' or similar when ordering goods on line, I always include it 'just in case'. I've never needed it yet, but who knows?

Pet50

My daughter ordered a fancy dress costume for NY on 16th Dec thro; ebay. It was dispatched on 17th, it's now the 28th and still no show. Tried emailing the company and rung them. They assured her it was sent and could arrive any day. Tried ringing again yesterday, no answer which is a bit strange bearing in mind they are a fancy dress company and the time of year??
How did they get 100% feedback???
Any ideas??

miduck

Pet50 wrote: »

My daughter ordered a fancy dress costume for NY on 16th Dec thro; ebay. It was dispatched on 17th, it's now the 28th and still no show. Tried emailing the company and rung them. They assured her it was sent and could arrive any day. Tried ringing again yesterday, no answer which is a bit strange bearing in mind they are a fancy dress company and the time of year??
How did they get 100% feedback???
Any ideas??

If sent by RM it is quite possible it is still sitting in some sorting office, I have had more delays this year than I can recall for a long time. I take it the item was not sent Recorded Delivery?

tracyhotwheels

I ordered items from Matalan on 17th Dec which should have been delivered within 3-5 working days 22nd December i contacted them to find out where my items where and was advised they would be delivered before 24th still no sign of them on the 24th so I called back i was offered a £5 credit voucher (which im still waiting for) for an apology and that they would not be able to contact the delivery company until 27th if my parcel had not of arrived by 26th yet again i rang them back on 27th guess what they couldnt get through to the delivery company as phone lines where busy they would email them and contact me later that day once they replied to email no further compensation was offered as my items where on free delivery at around 4pm that day i received a call from matalan saying that my parcel was late due to van driver being out of action i am totally disgusted at them how do i explain to a child santa didnt bring your present because the company are useless, i will never order any thing off line from them ever again. I am wrong in thinking they should offer me more than £5 voucher???

MamaMoo_2

tracyhotwheels wrote: »

I ordered items from Matalan on 17th Dec which should have been delivered within 3-5 working days 22nd December i contacted them to find out where my items where and was advised they would be delivered before 24th still no sign of them on the 24th so I called back i was offered a £5 credit voucher (which im still waiting for) for an apology and that they would not be able to contact the delivery company until 27th if my parcel had not of arrived by 26th yet again i rang them back on 27th guess what they couldnt get through to the delivery company as phone lines where busy they would email them and contact me later that day once they replied to email no further compensation was offered as my items where on free delivery at around 4pm that day i received a call from matalan saying that my parcel was late due to van driver being out of action i am totally disgusted at them how do i explain to a child santa didnt bring your present because the company are useless, i will never order any thing off line from them ever again. I am wrong in thinking they should offer me more than £5 voucher???

You ordered items via standard delivery 5 working days before Christmas. Their standard delivery is £3.50, and takes 3-5 working days (one would expect longer during busy periods).
Why not spend the extra £1 for next day delivery?
I think £5 is fair as it has only really been 7 working days so far. Next year, order earlier, or pay extra for next day delivery?

ThumbRemote

MamaMoo wrote: »

You ordered items via standard delivery 5 working days before Christmas. Their standard delivery is £3.50, and takes 3-5 working days (one would expect longer during busy periods).
Why not spend the extra £1 for next day delivery?
I think £5 is fair as it has only really been 7 working days so far. Next year, order earlier, or pay extra for next day delivery?

They shouldn't need to pay extra for next day delivery. They left adequate time (in fact Matalan count 3-5 days as including the date ordered, so they even had a day spare). If delivery is going to take longer then Matalan ought to remove the 3-5 days claim from their website and put on the correct information.

Given that the failure is with Matalan, there is no guarantee that next day delivery would have arrived in time either.

That said, they clearly left it so late to order that there was no time to deal with any problems that may arise. A £5 voucher seems fair enough to me.