If you’ve had a damaged delivery or it didn’t arrive at all, your rights are protected under the Consumer Rights Act and the Consumer Contracts Regulations and these rules apply to both goods bought on the high street and those bought at a distance e.g. online or mail order.

If your delivery arrives late or has gone missing, the retailer is responsible as you bought the product from the retailer. Under the Consumer Rights Act, the retailer is responsible for delivering the goods to the consumer without undue delay, so late delivery or missing parcel constitutes a breach of the contract. Therefore, you should complain to the retailer not to courier.

Under the Consumer Rights Act, unless a specific time frame is agreed for delivery, the retailer must deliver them within 30 days after the day on which the contract is entered into.

If you paid for delivery by a certain date or time and the delivery arrives late, you have rights to terminate the purchase and get a full refund if delivery of the goods at the agreed time or within the agreed period is essential under the contract or it should have been clear or obvious to the retailer that it was essential such as birthday cake, wedding dress.

However, if parties did not agree that delivery within a certain time frame was essential, the consumer may give further reasonable deadline to deliver the goods. But, if the goods are not delivered within that period, then the consumer may treat the contract as at an end and the retailer must without undue delay reimburse all payments made under the contract.