Online shop has changed the product without warning. what's my rights?

Nickthedeal

An online food shop I have used for years has changed the product without warning. The packaging is now 4/5 times larger! meaning I cannot store the same amount as before. I then in turn have ordered to much and so the food is wasted and cannot be kept. The company states they never said what packaging it came in, and so is my fault. however advice I have been given is for years they have sent it one way so setting a "president" for the product and the change was not communicated or advertised anywhere.

I am told trading standards would be best and resolve this quickly if required. this the best option?

jon81uk

Your post is very confusing.

You are entitled to get what you ordered, so if the listing on the store was for a 1kg pack, you should receive a 1kg pack. If you did not receive what you ordered then you can return and the store should refund.

Also the word you are looking for is precedent - "an earlier event or action that is regarded as an example or guide to be considered in subsequent similar circumstances."

emmajones1976

So (as an example) did you pay £10 expecting 1kg but you paid £10 and got 4kg?  Or did they take more money off you?

soolin

Who told you that setting a precedent for packaging was a ‘thing’? I’d go back to them and ask what they meant and what they felt that entitled you to. 

I can’t see what trading standards can do either, you ordered a product, you got a product- what exactly are you expecting them to do? If you are looking for compensation, then trading standards can’t help with that anyway that is between you and the retailer and unless anyone has any better ideas I suspect you would be wasting money spending it on trying to sue. 

Can the packaging not be removed, can you re pack the items into your own packaging to avoid this issue? 

p00hsticks

Nickthedeal said:

I am told trading standards would be best and resolve this quickly if required. this the best option?

Trading standards won't be at all interested.

If ordered online then consumer rights usually mean that you should be able to return within 14 days for a refund, although ther may be a proviso around foodstuffs that prevent you doing so - I'm afraid I don't know.

The word you are looking for is 'precedent'. If there is no mention in the description online of what sort of packaging is involved, and the actual type/quantity of the contents is unchanged, then I don't think you can demand they continue to send you the item in the old style packaging. Presumably there is a good reason for them changing as normally companies are looking to reduce the size and amount of packaging to save themselves both production and storage costs.

theoretica

Are you saying that the packs are now all puffed up with air in some way you can't repack them smaller?  Or that instead of 5 packs of 1kg you got one pack of 5kg? And similarly can't split it up?

emmajones1976

This needs the OP to actually clarify if he was charged four/five times as much, and at what point he noticed this.

Sandtree

If its just the packaging then repackage and store the items as you did before for this shop and consider if you want the faff of repacking every time you buy before your next order.

TELLIT01

The OP makes no sense.  Unless the supplier states one quantity and a lesser quantity is provided, Tradings Standards are not going to be interested because nothing has been done wrong.  If the OP is complaining about the packaging being a different size that's not a TS problem, but a storage one for the OP to resolve for themselves.  Even the supplier isn't going to care about the size of a customer's cupboard.

The_Fat_Controller

@Nickthedeal, if you got the quantity you paid for, then the size of the packaging is irrelevant.

sheramber

Did the order form state the size of the package?

Surely a larger package cost   more that you usually paid.