1. Choose your ‘safe delivery place’ carefully.

If you order goods online, there’s always the chance you won’t be home to receive the delivery when it arrives. Many couriers give you options of a ‘safe delivery place’ where the driver can leave the parcel for you.

If you selected specific delivery instructions, perhaps to leave the item in the shed or with a neighbour, it will be more difficult to claim they lost your parcel. This is because, when a parcel goes missing, the retailer can claim your delivery was performed as agreed.

Therefore, it is important that consumers think carefully before entering their ‘safe place’, and try to order items they know they will be available to personally receive.

2. Examine your goods as soon as they arrive.

When you take delivery of high-value goods such as laptops, mobile phones, televisions, and any other gadget make sure you check inside the package to make sure you’ve received the item you ordered and secondly that it isn’t damaged.

If the retailer sends you the incorrect item, you have the right to a replacement. Therefore, the sooner you check your goods, the sooner you can instigate an exchange for the item.

3. Contact the retailer NOT the courier if undelivered.

As it says in the Consumer Rights Act 2015, it’s actually the retailer who has full responsibility for the condition of any products they sell to a consumer until they are received. Therefore, if you don’t receive the item you ordered don’t do what most people do, contact the courier company that was supposed to carry out the delivery to you, get in touch directly with the retailer as soon as possible

It is the retailer’s responsibility to contact the courier company they use to carry out their deliveries to find out where your parcel is.

If it turns out the item is missing, The retailer is legally obliged to give you a full refund if your items have gone missing or arrange the re-delivery of your goods. If the retailer doesn’t act on your behalf, you should get in touch with the Retail Ombudsman and they’ll contact the courier company for you.

4. Payment method and refunds

PAYPAL - If you paid for your goods using PayPal and they don’t arrive, fortunately, you’re going to be protected by PayPal’s Buyer’s Protection Guarantee. This means you’ll receive a full refund for the product and also all shipping and packaging costs Also PayPal will reimburse you if the product received is not the same as what the seller described.

CREDIT CARD - If you have paid with a credit card, you could try to claim under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, If the goods you’ve bought have a value of £100 to £30,000 you can attempt to make a claim.

DEBIT CARD – If you purchase goods using a debit card and you need to make a claim, you can contact your bank and ask them if you can use the ‘chargeback scheme’ for undelivered items. If the bank authorises this, they will ask the seller’s bank to reverse the payment, refunding the money back into your account.

5. Delivery instructions

If unable to deliver your package to a safe place, delivery drivers will often leave your package in another location, such as behind your bins or down the side of your house.

So, If you’ve been waiting for your parcel for a long period of time it’s always best to re-check your order for any delivery details. If you didn’t provide delivery instructions and it turns out the item is in fact missing, the retailer is legally bound to replace or refund your order.