Christmas presents for grown-ups

Some people like to buy a present straight from the company that made it. Before you buy, it helps to look the company up and know your rights.

Look the company up

Every UK limited company is on the Companies House register. Search it by the company's name to see where it is registered, what it has filed and who runs it. Those details come from the company itself.

The Made in Britain mark

Some makers show a Made in Britain mark on their website or their goods. Made in Britain is a group of British manufacturers who use its marks.

Its marks are registered trademarks. Only its members may use them, to identify their business and the products they make in Great Britain or Northern Ireland.

If you change your mind

Buying from a business online, by phone or by mail order gives you a 14-day cooling-off period. It starts the day after the order arrives. Nothing has to be wrong with the item. Let the seller know within those 14 days. From then, you have another 14 days to post it back.

Some things have no cooling-off period. Citizens Advice names food and other things that go off quickly, and anything personalised or custom-made for you. A business has to tell you before you buy if an item has none.

In a shop, the rules are different. Changing your mind gives you no automatic right to a refund. The shop decides what it offers, and its returns policy says what that is.

Faulty presents

A present that turns out broken, unusable or different from its description gives you legal rights. You may be entitled to a refund, a repair or a replacement. This holds whether the item was new or secondhand.

Damage from wear and tear, an accident or misuse falls outside those rights, and so does a fault you knew about before you bought. Citizens Advice has an online tool for faulty goods. It writes these pages for England and links to its advice for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Useful links