By Mashum Mollah
When the coronavirus really hit the UK in March and people moved into lockdown, online shopping surged.
Bored consumers were ordering on Tuesday and returning the items on Wednesday. Some newspapers reported that couriers were complaining that they were risking their lives and that consumers should have some consideration.
In those early days, it was somewhat of a panic. There was stockpiling and the most vulnerable were unable to get the most basic of items. In some cases, prices of prized goods like hand sanitizer went through the ceiling and carried on rising. Disgruntled shoppers made videos of their local convenience store selling 4-packs of toilet rolls for £10 or snapped pics of £16 hand sanitizer.
Then some sort of sense kicked in. Supermarkets began restricting the number of products people could purchase in one go, they introduced social distancing and key worker and vulnerable people only shopping sessions.
Online stores prioritized the sending of essential goods.
That was then. And we’re not fully back yet.
But what if you did or do need to return something or get a refund where your circumstances are down to the lockdown measures? Many people have had problems.
The Covid-19 Taskforce
Human nature being what it is, in March the government created a Covid-19 Taskforce. Its job was to report back to the government areas where competition regulations could be exploited and to monitor businesses taking advantage of the situation with price hikes and unfair practices – such as refusing refunds.
The task force found that four out of five complaints were related to bad refund practices and the government, via the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), issued its guidance on what was acceptable refund practice.
In short, they said you get what you pay for. If you hadn’t received anything you wouldn’t be expected to pay, even in the event of a non-refundable deposit. If you’ve had part of a service or product you wouldn’t be expected to pay for the portion you hadn’t received.
And it’s worth noting that the guidance is just that. Only a court can decide if a law has been broken. THB Legal solicitors in Chelmsford are regulatory law specialists and recently blogged about the guidance around returns and cancellations in regards to the Coronavirus and realistically if you’re on the receiving end of a trading standards investigation, or need to take action against a business for a refused refund, you’ll definitely need proper legal advice.
Most of the bigger retailers extended their returns to cover the lockdown period and beyond. But the biggest areas of complaint when it came to refunds were weddings, accommodation, and childcare. Some retail firms handed out vouchers instead of giving refunds, despite guidance saying that while vouchers can be an option, shoppers should be given a monetary refund if they so wish.
A widespread reduction in staff numbers caused more problems with returns in terms of reduced capabilities in businesses and the reduced delivery power of Royal Mail. Given the circumstances, it would be unfair to expect people who wanted to cancel their contracts, or purchase, to be thousands of pounds out of pocket. Especially at a time when people are losing their jobs and the need for extra cash is more acute.
Read also: Building Effective Teams in the Post COVID-19 Workspace
What Are Your Options?
The CMA has written to a number of businesses to advise them of their responsibilities and has said it won’t hesitate to take people to court if necessary.
If you know of a firm that is not following the guidance you can report it to the CMA.
You may be able to issue a chargeback with your bank or credit card company and you can also complain to the financial ombudsman. If you still can’t get a refund your only course of action might be to take the firm to court. This would, however, be a last resort.
It’s better to keep a log of things and maintain a good relationship with the company. It’s also worth bearing in mind that companies may be overwhelmed with staffing and customer service issues because of the pandemic, so may just be taking longer to do everything.
Your rights remain the same regardless of coronavirus or not. It’s worth remembering that and that the battle for returns may take slightly longer than normal because of the unique set of circumstances the world finds itself in at the moment.
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