16 November – 22 November
National Consumer Week (NCW) 16-22 November is an annual campaign which aims to raise awareness of consumers issues and protections. This year, Citizens Advice are raising awareness of what people’s rights are when shopping online, and what they can do if something goes wrong with their order and delivery. This is a particularly timely with pre-Christmas shopping and lockdown restricts resulting in people relying on online purchases.
Top tips:
1. Check delivery policies – before you place an order find out what the delivery times, costs and returns policies are of the items you have ordered.
2. If you’re out of the house during delivery – Consider asking a neighbour or friend if it can be delivered to their address if you think it may be a time or date you are not home. But beware, if you do provide details of a safe space or nominated neighbour and something goes wrong it’s not the seller or courier’s responsibility.
3. Online trader or online marketplace? – Make sure you know if you are dealing with a trader or a private seller on an online marketplace as dispute processes may vary. If you have an issue with a trader, a dispute can be raised directly with them, but if it’s a private individual it may be easier to go through a marketplace’s dispute process.
4. Review traders – Check and review if the trader is genuine. It’s always worth taking a look at reviews to gain an insight as to how reliable the company is and how well they deal with missing parcel complaints and refunds.
5. Who to deal with when a parcel goes missing – your purchase and contract is with the seller. If your parcel goes missing, you should speak to the trader to deal with the problem, not the courier company.
Find out more about your rights and National Consumer Week at www.citizensadvice.org.uk/NCW20
You can also call the Citizens Advice consumer service for more advice on 0808 223 1133
