Online Christmas shopping – know your rights
This article first appeared in the Guardian on 3rd December 2012
As Cyber Monday heralds the start of a month of present buying, we look
at your rights and how you can avoid looking like a turkey this
Christmas.
It's that time of year again – the moment you realise that if you want to buy
Christmas presents at a good price and get them delivered in time to wrap and put under the tree, you'd better start shopping.
The first Monday in December is
usually one of the busiest for online shoppers,
although there are many who leave their purchases until later. So what
do you need to know if you are planning to join the throng online?
How do I get the best deal?
It's
the usual story about shopping around – but there are a couple of price
comparison sites you can use if you know what you are looking for.
Google
Shopping offers a pretty comprehensive round up of prices – type the
name of the item into Google and click on Shopping at the top – but it
isn't laid out brilliantly so you will need to scroll through to find
the best price.
Kelkoo and
PriceRunner
also claim to scour the internet for the best price, although they seem
to perform better on best-selling items than older goods (I searched
for Django Django's album and the The Killing series 1 on DVD and the
results seemed to show just one retailer's price).
A new site,
Flubit,
claims it can beat the best price you find, but you have to wait for it
to return with an offer by email so is not ideal for last-minute
shopping.
With any of these sites the actual order is placed with a retailer so your contract is with it, not the price comparison site.
Is it safe to shop online?
Under
internet sales rules websites should include the retailer's address and
an email address, so alarm bells should ring if none of this
information is available. You should also be concerned if, when you go
to pay, you do not see a padlock or key symbol somewhere on the page,
often near the URL.
The best way to avoid rogue sites is to
do a bit of research – internet forums are packed with people sharing
their stories about bad service and goods that do not appear, so before
you buy do a search on the name of the company.
Even if you
are shopping on a well-known, legitimate site you should be security
conscious. Make sure your anti-virus software is up-to-date, do not use
communal computers and create the strongest passwords you can. If a site
gives you the choice between storing your payment details or making a
one-off purchase, you might want to opt for the latter.
If
you are worried you could stick to sites that let you place an order but
pay when you pick up an item in store – this at least means you know
you have secured the item you want and do not have to queue up. Argos
and PC World are among the few retailers that offer this option.
Do I need a credit card to shop online?
You don't, but it is sensible to use one if you are ordering anything
costing more than £100, because using a credit card gives protection
that isn't afforded by a debit or prepaid card or PayPal. Under section
75 of the consumer credit act, the credit card provider is jointly
liable if something goes wrong, so if you place and pay for an order
with a company that goes bust before you get your delivery you can claim
your money back from the credit card company.
Debit and
prepaid card providers do offer a voluntary protection scheme called
chargeback which applies on smaller sums. You can find out more about
section 75 and chargeback here.
What happens if I change my mind?
If you have had an item made to your specification or personalised – for example, you have had someone's name put on a football shirt – you cannot change your mind.Otherwise,
under the distance selling regulations you are allowed to change your
mind and cancel an order at any point from the day you place it up until
seven working days from the day after it is delivered, but you should do so in writing, either a physical letter or an email. You then need to return the goods.
Some
retailers recently got into trouble with the Office of Fair Trading
for insisting items had to be returned in their original packaging.
Legally, this isn't the case – you are only obliged to make sure the
items are returned in reasonable condition. If you had to get them out
of the packet to inspect them, that is OK.
The retailer's
terms and conditions should tell you if you are responsible for paying
to return an unwanted order, so if you have any doubts before you press
"Buy", make sure you have checked this out. Retailers with a high street
presence will often let you take goods back to their stores, which can
be much handier than having to queue at the Post Office. If the retailer
does not say who is responsible for paying, it will have to stump up
the cost.
If you have any problems cancelling an item,
Which? has a range of template letters you can use to take on a retailer.
What happens if it doesn't arrive in time?
When you place an order the retailer should tell you when you can expect it to be delivered – if it doesn't, the
distance selling rules assume it will be in a maximum of 30 days.
If the retailer fails to deliver within the agreed timeframe it should
let you know and, if you decide you no longer want the order, give you
your money back.
What happens if it doesn't ever arrive?
If
the item does not arrive you should complain to the retailer. If the
retailer disappears or refuses to help then contact your credit or
debit card company and begin the process of claiming back your money.
A price is too good to be true – does the retailer have to honour it?
Online
price glitches can lead to retailers offering goods at incredible
prices, and usually spark a surge of consumers rushing to take
advantage. Whether the retailer has to honour it depends on its terms
and conditions – it can say that the contract is not deemed to have been
entered into until it has sent out a confirmation email.
This
means that even if you have placed the order and paid the "too good to
be true" price, if it spots its mistake later it is within its rights to
adjust the price to the correct sum. If the goods arrive at the low
price, however, it is not allowed to chase you for the difference.
