Can I get Royal Mail to pay for a gift I sent to my sister in Scotland that never arrived? DEAN DUNHAM responds

I sent a gift to my sister in Scotland and it never arrived. It was not sent by certified mail, but I have the Post Office receipt. Can I get my money back and the cost of the gift?

SJ, Bournemouth.

Dean Dunham responds: In principle, the answer to this question should be that yes, you can indeed get your money back.

This is because the Consumer Rights Act says that when a service is purchased (in this case, the delivery of a parcel) it must be provided with “reasonable care and skill” and this has clearly been breached by the parcel going missing.

The remedy you are entitled to under the law is to return to the situation you would have been in had the breach not occurred, meaning you would recover the postage cost and the value of the gift.

However, this does not mean you have to go to court, as fortunately there are other avenues of redress when it comes to complaints about Royal Mail.

In the first instance you must make a claim through Royal Mail’s compensation process, details of which can be found here: royalmail.com/help/lost-items-parcels-letters.

The amount of compensation Royal Mail will potentially offer depends on the postal service you used, as follows; second class, up to £20; first class, up to £20; signed, up to £20; guaranteed special delivery before 1pm, up to £750; Guaranteed special delivery before 9am, up to £50.

Please be sure to submit your claim within 14 days of posting and provide proof of shipping and the value of the item.

If you are not satisfied with their response, you can raise your complaint to the Royal Mail Postal Review Panel, who can be contacted by emailing postalreview@royalmail.com or writing to FREEPOST, Postal Review Panel.

If your complaint still cannot be resolved, you can ask the independent postal redress system (often called POSTRS) to investigate your case.

Finally, a word of advice: when posting something worth more than the compensation amounts mentioned above, it is always advisable to purchase additional coverage from the post office. You can get cover of up to £2,500 for valuable items and if the

If the loss of the item causes additional financial loss (i.e. purchasing a replacement when the cost has increased), you may be able to claim consequential loss cover of up to £10,000.

Was the ‘cheeky’ shop assistant right?

I bought four shirts, two jackets and two ties for my husband in a department store on High Street and had to return them because he didn’t like them.

The clerk taking the returns cheekily said to me, ‘Next time, ma’am, can you ask your husband to come to the store to try it on, since this is taking us a long time to sort out?’ What are my rights?

LR, Chester.

Dean Dunham responds: When you purchase products “in store”, the Consumer Rights Law, the applicable

The law covering in-store purchases does not give you an automatic right to return products due to a change of mind or any other reason.

In fact, the only legal right you have to return products purchased in store is if they are faulty, do not meet the description provided by the retailer or are not fit for their purpose.

By contrast, when you buy online, or from any location other than the merchant’s usual place of business (such as a pop-up shop or exhibition), the Consumer Contracts Regulations (the applicable law covering online sales and at a distance) gives you the right to simply change your mind and request a full refund, provided you exercise the right within 14 days of taking possession of the goods.

So when you buy from a store, your right to return non-defective products depends on the retailer’s returns policy.

If the policy states that you can return items for any reason, this will form part of the contract between you and therefore something the retailer will have to honor.

So the comment made by the assistant was unhelpful and unjustified, as I assume the store’s return policy allowed you to return products that were not defective.