Since placing the order, I’ve learned that the courier has gone into receivership.
When I contacted the business, it said it had already handed over the cover to the courier and there’s not much else it can do. I haven’t been able to get in touch with the courier to check my delivery. Who is ultimately responsible for delivering the item to me?
James, Co Louth
?A When you ordered and paid for the radiator cover, you entered a sales contract with the shop.
It sounds like your sales contract also included delivery of the cover – since a delivery timeframe was included in both the item’s listing on the website and in the confirmation email that they sent you.
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2022, a trader is responsible for the goods until you personally receive them, or until someone collects them for you.
Since your contract for the radiator cover included delivery to your home, the shop is obliged to deliver it to you, in line with the agreed delivery date or timeframe.
You don’t say how long ago you placed the order, but I see that you already contacted the shop to check the status and didn’t receive a satisfactory answer.
You should email the shop with a formal complaint about the delay and request delivery within an appropriate additional period.
It’s open to the shop to use a different courier.
If the shop cannot agree a new delivery time, you’re entitled to request a full refund due to non-delivery of the cover.
The shop must refund you no later than 14 days after being informed that you want a refund.
When you pay for an ocean view, you expect an ocean view. Photo: Getty
‘An online travel agency refused to help after I was given a shabby room’
Q I recently booked a one-week package holiday to a Greek island with a UK online travel agency that has an Irish-registered office.
I paid €125 extra for a room with a balcony and a sea view, but when I arrived at the hotel at 10:30pm, I was told they didn’t have any of those rooms left and didn’t have a record of me paying extra for one.
As it was so late in the day, I agreed to take the room the hotel assigned to me and to call the travel firm the following morning. However, the hotel room was shabby, had water pooling on the bathroom floor from an upstairs leak, and overlooked a huge construction site.
I called, emailed and messaged the travel firm the following day, but it wouldn’t do anything to solve the problem.
It was only on the third day, after I’d posted a bad review of the hotel on TripAdvisor, that I got the room that I’d paid for – thanks to an intervention by the hotel manager.
The online travel firm never resolved the situation. Am I entitled to compensation? The shabby room ruined the first half of my holiday.
Caitríona, Co Cork
A I’m assuming that you booked with the Irish entity of the UK travel agency, which would mean your holiday was covered under EU package holiday regulations.
Under the European Union (Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements) Regulations 2019, the “organisers” of package holidays (travel agencies) are responsible for providing a remedy if something goes wrong during your holiday.
This includes providing an alternative arrangement of the same quality for free if significant parts of the package holiday – such as accommodation – cannot be provided as agreed.
You agreed with the travel agency to pay extra for a superior room but were only able to access this room mid-way through your holiday, despite repeated contact with the agency.
If a travel organiser doesn’t provide a solution within a reasonable period, you’re entitled to request a partial refund of your holiday costs.
Any refund would reflect the reduced value of your package due to the first hotel room you were given. You may also be entitled to compensation for the inconvenience of dealing with a leak from the floor above you.
Since the agency didn’t address the issue during your holiday, you can complain now you’ve returned.
You must do this within 28 days of the end of your holiday and should clearly state that you’d like a partial refund. Include any photos or videos of your initial hotel room and outline your efforts to resolve the issue with the agency while you were away.
If this doesn’t work, you can check the agency’s website to see if it’s a member of a travel association and then contact the association for independent support to reach an agreed solution.
Another route is to apply to the small claims procedure to recover the partial refund.?
You can also report the agency to the CCPC through our website.
We cannot step in for individual issues, but if we receive several complaints about the same business, we have powers to issue it with a notice or to obtain a written commitment to comply with consumer protection legislation.
Gráinne Griffin is director of communications at the CCPC. Email questions to gabrielle.monaghan@independent.ie
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