Online Christmas shopping - what are your rights?
If you’re doing some last minute online shopping for Christmas presents, do you know what are your rights if your orders don’t turn up in time, or you don’t like them when they arrive?
Storm Darragh has disrupted online deliveries in certain areas, with several carriers reporting delays. Even without the bad weather retailers can struggle to meet Christmas deadlines due to the volume of items ordered. Here are five things you need to remember when buying online.
Check delivery dates
Different retailers have different deadlines that you need to submit orders by if you want them to arrive by Christmas, so make sure you check before buying.
For example, if you’re shopping on Amazon, you’ll need to make your purchases by 23rd December by 11pm if you want to take advantage of its one-day delivery service. Delivery dates will vary depending on the item you’re buying, so you need to look out for the “Arrives before Christmas” tag if you want to be certain it will arrive in time for the big day.
If you’re shopping at the Disney store online for children or grandchildren, you’ll need to make your purchases by 18th December if you want Standard Delivery or 20th December if you want Express Delivery.
The last day to make John Lewis orders online is 22nd December for next day delivery.
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Delivery dates aren’t necessarily guaranteed
Even if a retailer states you can ‘order now for Christmas’ that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to deliver the items you’ve bought by 25th December. By law, online retailers only have to deliver goods within 30 days of you ordering them. If you’re buying a big item or something that is being made to order, you may have to wait longer than 30 days, but the retailer should let you know this when you place your order.
It’s therefore really important to read what’s in the shop’s terms and conditions, as these will set out what the retailer is actually committing to do.
Know your rights
You might not have any specific rights to return goods you’ve bought online because they didn’t arrive in time, but you do usually have the right to send back your order, as long as you do this within 14 days. Some retailers give you 30 days to return goods if you’ve changed your mind.
You can send items back for any reason - they don’t have to be faulty or broken for you to request a refund. For example, you might decide to send them back because you don’t like the item, you’ve changed your mind, or it’s not what you expected (it doesn’t fit or it looks different to the online image, for example).
Return postage costs may be free unless the retailer has told you how much you’ll have to pay. Most list details of how you’re supposed to return goods in their terms and conditions, so check the shop’s website if you’re not sure.
Beware scams
There are lots of fake shopping sites around at this time of the year, which often look frighteningly authentic.
Make sure you only from websites with ‘https’ preceding the website address, as this means the site is a secure connection. Always use different passwords for all the websites you’re shopping on, as this means that if one retailer suffers a data breach and usernames and passwords get into the wrong hands, your passwords with other websites won’t be affected.
If you think you’ve fallen victim to an online shopping fraud, contact our bank immediately and see if they can stop your transaction. You should also report the incident to Action Fraud either online or by calling 0300 123 2040.