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Each year, Amazon delivers around 3.5 billion parcels worldwide, with the upcoming Prime Day (Monday 21st of June) being one of the busiest shipping days in the UK.
With thousands of UK consumers expecting deliveries throughout the week, it’s inevitable that some packages will be lost, damaged or delivered to the wrong place.
In these unfortunate circumstances, it’s essential to know your rights so you can figure out if you’re entitled to a replacement product, repair or even a full refund.
James Andrews, senior personal finance editor at money.co.uk said: “With such a large volume of packages being shipped at once, it’s highly likely some orders will receive a bit of wear and tear or go missing on the journey from warehouse to your door.
“The good news is that you’re protected, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Consumer Contracts Regulations Act from 2013 cover everything from damaged deliveries to entirely absent orders.
“The Consumer Rights Act stipulates that the retailer – not the delivery firm – is responsible for getting your purchases to you. That means anything missing or damaged is their responsibility to fix – as your contract is with them, not the people dropping it to your door or the manufacturer.
“The Consumer Contracts Regulations also give you 14 days to send something you’ve bought online back, for any reason at all, and get a full refund. This is to reflect the fact it’s impossible to tell how well something will fit, how it feels or what it looks like in real life when you buy it remotely – although there are some exceptions for personalised items and perishable goods.
“If there’s a problem with your order – for example it’s broken by the time it gets to you or doesn’t work – you have 30 days to report it to be guaranteed a full refund.
“But you have longer than that if you’re happy with a replacement or getting the item fixed – with shops required to repair or replace faulty products within six months, unless the shop can prove it wasn’t faulty before you received it.”
“Aside from knowing your refund and return rights, there are several other steps you can take to protect yourself on Prime Day. Firstly, it may seem basic but so many people are lax when it comes to keeping their proof of purchase.
“Sometimes, you need more than just a bank statement to secure a refund, so it’s a good idea to document every stage of the order process, just in case you need the evidence.
“This means keeping hold of the email confirming your order, the proof of dispatch, as well as the confirmation of delivery – you never know what you might need.
“Finally, if you make your Prime Day purchases on a credit card, you pick up an additional layer of protection for your purchase.
“With any purchase costing between £100 and £30,000, you’re automatically protected under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 if you paid for any part of it with a credit card. This means you have the right to apply for a refund from your card provider as well as the retailer if something goes wrong with the purchase.
“For a comprehensive guide to your refund rights, check out the money.co.uk refund guide, found here: https://www.money.co.uk/guides/your-refund-rights-explained.htm’
