There’s still time to get what you wanted...
HE presents have been unwrapped but did Santa bring you what you asked for? If the gift is not quite right, you might want to return it to the shop.
According to a recent YouGov poll, this year the UK population will have received almost 60 million unwanted Christmas gifts, at a cost of £380 million.
More than half of the 2,000 people surveyed said they receive at least one unwanted gift each year during the festive season, with bath products being the number one offender.
The poll also found that 37% of participants would be happy to get a charitable donation as a gift, perhaps instead of T V box sets, candles, chocolate and socks, which also topped the list for unwanted presents.
Here, James Walker, founder of consumer rights website Resolver. co.uk, offers his tips on how you can return unwanted presents bought online and in stores. IF YOU buy an item and it’s broken or isn’t what you were told it would be then you have a number of rights for faulty or misrepresented items.
However, if you want to return something that just isn’t your thing then the rules are a bit different.
Some stores allow you to return items with standard or gift receipts. The shop is allowed to set the rules and timescales for returning items that you don’t want, but they can insist on you providing the receipt.
If you weren’t given the receipt, you might have to confess to the buyer that the gift isn’t to your liking, in order to obtain it.
Alternatively if you were given a gift receipt, you can use this to make a return or exchange. 2018 to December 31, 2018 inclusive, may be returned at any time before midnight on January 31, 2019. THE good news is, if the item was bought online or on the phone then you have 14 days to return it under the Consumer Contract Regulations 2013.
In-store purchases are a different matter and will depend on the shop’s policy. You can always call a store or check the retailer’s website for information on its policy.
You’re entitled to a full refund if the goods are returned within 30 days. The money be refunded into the account of the person making the return, so if the goods were purchased online, the person who bought the gift will need to organise the refund.
IF GO ODS are faulty you have up to six months to return the items – and the burden of proof is on the retailer to prove the item wasn’t defective or refund you.
They are allowed to have one crack at a repair or replacing the item, but after that, you can ask for a refund. Even beyond the six months, all is not lost, though you’ll need to prove why you didn’t realise the item was damaged or that the problem isn’t just down to wear and tear.
Be prepared to compromise though, you could be looking at a repair or a replacement, although, if the product has been upgraded since, you aren’t entitled to the upgraded version. THE key thing here is whether the goods are ‘satisfactor y quality’, ‘fit for purpose’ or ‘as described’. The latter is pretty straightfor ward – Compare the item’s description with what you’ve got and if it’s misleading (not as described), make a complaint.
‘Fit for purpose’ is important to remember because you might not realise an item isn’t doing what it’s supposed to be doing until you’ve started using it – which might be some time after it was purchased. So if you’ve ordered blackout curtains that don’t actually black out the light, then you can argue they’re not fit for purpose.
‘Satisfactor y quality’ is pretty subjective. For example, if you don’t like your restaurant meal after eating it all you’re not going to get very far. But if you’d asked for a vegetarian option but one isn’t provided, then you clearly haven’t been given what you wanted.
A good starting point is asking ‘does it do what it says on the tin?’ If not, take the time to explain why you haven’t got what you thought you were getting.