Whose responsibility is it to refund a gift voucher that didn’t arrive?

For a family member’s Christmas present this year, I bought a gardening voucher online.

I bought it nine days before the 25th and wanted it to be delivered to my home address first so I could wrap it up.

However, it has now been 10 working days since I made the order and I haven’t received the voucher – even though the firm said it had sent it first class via Royal Mail the day after I ordered it.

Whose responsibility is it to refund or replace the voucher in this situation?

The Royal Mail has been overwhelmed with post over the last few weeks as more use service

Grace Gausden, This is Money, replies: As we know, the Royal Mail was overwhelmed this Christmas. More families than ever sent presents and cards through the post because they were unable to see each other in person.

The sheer amount of parcels meant the Royal Mail had to abandon its Special Delivery service – which promises to have items delivered the next day – on 23 December.

This meant that, unfortunately, many presents would not arrive in time for Christmas Day.

It also had to deal with staff shortages, as many had to take time off to isolate in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite all these understandable issues, it is still disheartening to know that post you have sent to others, or are waiting to receive, has not arrived.

It is not surprising you will be looking for a refund or replacement in this situation.

The best thing to do in the first instance is to speak to the retailer you purchased the voucher from and see what it suggests.

It may be that it asks you to wait a little longer for the voucher to arrive, due to the delays in post being delivered.

However, it may also offer to send out a replacement voucher and cancel the old one. 

Garden vouchers – and other gift cards – are a popular present over the Christmas period

A Royal Mail spokesperson replies: Every item of mail is important to Royal Mail. The vast majority of mail items sent by Royal Mail arrive safely and on time. We are sorry that this may not have happened in this case. 

In these rare instances, customers should contact the retailer to discuss a refund or a replacement. The retailer may then claim compensation from Royal Mail if applicable, depending on the service used.

It is the seller’s responsibility to sort out the issue – not the courier, in this case, Royal Mail.

Grace Gausden, This is Money, adds: In this scenario, where a voucher was sent first class with no tracking, Royal Mail said there was very little it could do to help. 

It may have been better if the item was sent by special delivery, which offers compensation for money – including vouchers – and other items such as jewellery. 

Compensation for up to £2,500 can be claimed under special delivery, whilst the Royal Mail’s signed-for service also offers compensation of up to £50 if the parcel gets lost.  

Under the Consumer Rights Act, you can ask the seller to deliver the item again if it wasn’t delivered by the agreed date or within a reasonable time, usually within 30 days.

You can also cancel and ask for your money back if you don’t get the item either within 30 days of buying it, on the date you agreed with the seller, or on the date of the second-chance delivery you agreed with the seller.

If you are not getting a response from the seller, write a formal complaint.

After that, if there is no action, see if they are a member of a trade association and contact that to see if anything can be done.

Another option is to contact your bank and do a chargeback. This is a protection placed on the majority of debit, prepaid and credit cards that allows customers to request that a transaction is reversed if there is a problem with the goods or services they’ve paid for.

It is the main form of protection for purchases made with debit cards, and also provides protection for goods worth less than £100 made on credit cards.

To find out more about chargeback, read our guide here. 

Some sellers also belong to an alternative dispute resolution scheme, which means they offer a way to solve your problem without going to court.

Finally, if it was a relatively large purchase, you could make a court claim – but this should always be the last resort.

This is Money asked DPD and DHL what compensation they would provide but, as of publication, have not yet received a response.  

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk