DEAN DUNHAM: Dry cleaner shrank my jumper – then went bust. How do I get a refund?

I took a jumper to the dry cleaners in Sunderland in March but when I got it back it had shrunk. 

I have chased the company for a refund but have now discovered it has gone bust.

J. B., via email.

Dean Dunham replies: The consumer Rights Act 2015 states that services such as dry cleaning must be provided with reasonable care and skill, failing which the consumer will be entitled to a remedy; typically the service provided again free of charge, a refund or compensation for a loss.

Hung out to dry? A reader is chasing a refund for a damaged jumper from a dry cleaning firm that has gone bust

Here you would be entitled to compensation as your jumper has been ruined. This would not be for the amount the jumper cost you to purchase, but instead the value of the jumper in a used condition.

Incidentally, you sometimes see signs in dry cleaners saying something like ‘we take no responsibility for items left with us’. 

This will never be binding and will therefore not act as a defence to a consumer claim.

So the law is clearly on your side and you have the right to a refund and compensation. 

However, as the firm has gone bust, it adds a significant complication as you have no one to pursue your complaint against.

This leaves you with two potential options. If you paid with a debit or credit card, make a chargeback claim and ask your bank for your money back on the basis that the dry cleaner breached the Consumer Rights Act and now cannot remedy the situation.

Or find out who the administrator or liquidator of the company is and put in a claim to them — you most likely won’t receive any money but it’s always worth trying.

Can bailiffs break down my door over someone else’s debt? 

I’ve broken the law by opening a letter delivered to my address in the name of someone who does not live at the property. 

I’m glad I did open it as it said that unless I pay £1,185, an enforcement agent may enter my property ‘by force’ to take control of my goods.

I called the agency and was told I had to prove who I was by sending a copy of my utility bill. 

I don’t particularly want my details with the enforcement agents. Where do I stand? And what rights do I have if they do break down my door?

B.C., via email.

Dean Dunham replies: The postal Services Act 2000 states it is illegal to open someone else’s post. 

The Act says: ‘A person commits an offence, if, intending to act to a person’s detriment and without reasonable excuse, he opens a postal packet which he knows or reasonably suspects has been incorrectly delivered.’

You may therefore have not broken the law if you had a suspicion that the letter was from an enforcement agent as this will have given you a ‘reasonable excuse’ to investigate and protect your own interests.

If you had no reasonable excuse to open the letter it would be a criminal offence landing you with a fine and a prison sentence of up to two years.

That’s why I always advise that you put letters you’ve received for someone else back in the post box marked ‘not known at this address, return to sender’.

An enforcement agent is not legally allowed to confiscate goods from a home that is not the debtor’s property. 

You need to contact the enforcement agents to notify them that the debtor does not live at your address and you will need documentation to prove it, such as a tenancy agreement, utility bills and a passport or driving licence.

• Write to Dean Dunham, Money Mail, Scottish Daily Mail, 20 Waterloo Street, Glasgow G2 6DB or email [email protected]. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given. 

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk