TODAY Sun Money asks readers to visit shops – real shops – for last-minute Christmas gifts, to help boost our ailing High Streets.
Around 16 shops are closing daily as we spend online instead, with Oddbins, LK Bennett, Karen Millen and Mothercare among the latest to fail.
Using stores lets you handle products and get personal service, so instead of clicking for those festive orders, here are five reasons to head to the shops.
Bungled
MANY online shoppers have reported delayed or damaged deliveries in the past few weeks. Delivery firm Hermes this week admitted it had faced unprecedented demand over the Black Friday weekend after some customers complained of waiting weeks for items to arrive.
But it insisted it is not buckling under the pressure. Sun Money has also seen hundreds of complaints on social media about rushing couriers chucking items over fences, into bins or leaving them out in the wind and rain.
One complained to Hermes: “Twice in the space of a week I have had deliveries launched over my fence and left in horrendous rain. Parcel was inside a cardboard box today, contents are ruined.”
Another, labourer Barry Murphy, 35, from Cardiff, came home to find a delivery driver had wrenched off his letterbox by forcing a package containing his wife’s new dress through it.
The repair was expected to cost around £50.
Parcel thefts
DELIVERIES can also be lost or stolen. This week Amazon apologised and launched an investigation after customers who ordered £279 Nintendo Switches instead received toothbrushes, tambourines and washing powder.
Steve Handy, from Worcester, complained he had been sent a £10 laptop fan cooler rather than the Nintendo Switch with Pokemon Sword and Shield accessories he had ordered.
On Amazon’s Facebook page, he wrote: “After I called customer services they told me they couldn’t do anything about the fact that it’s gone back up in price now, I have to wait for my refund and then pay the higher price now the deal has ended.
“How is this fair? This was Amazon’s fault, not my own and yet I’m literally paying for it.”
Nintendo Switches were this week available for store collection from Currys PC World for £279.
Hacked
AMAZON customers have also been warned to check their accounts after scores of customers complained they had been hacked.
Victims whose card details were stored on their account found items had been ordered in their name and sent to Amazon lockers across the country, far from where they live.
Carl Gibson, 37, a health-care support worker, discovered a fraudster had used his account to buy £3,400 of electrical items including iPads, iPhones and Fitbits.
The orders were delivered under different names to Amazon Hub lockers around the country. Carl was later refunded after ringing Amazon “countless times” but said: “This has been such a nightmare.”
Other affected customers also said Amazon was slow to react and that they had been forced to cancel their credit and debit cards to stop further payments being taken.
Web scams
FRAUDSTERS have started targeting online shoppers in a bid to clean out their bank accounts. Last week Sun Money revealed a new scam where criminals plague families with automated calls and emails pretending to be from Amazon, asking if they want to cancel a Prime subscription charge.
The ruse has so far scammed 200 people out of £400,000.
They do this so people give them remote access to their computer to “cancel” the fake subscription fee. Once they are connected to the machine, they ask victims to log into their bank accounts and then dupe them into transferring cash.
But more people who recently took out a free month-long Prime trial to get faster deliveries or to watch Premier League football are expected to fall victim in the New Year.
One customer who responded to our story told how he lost £10,000 to the scam.
Competitive prices
BUYING online is not always the cheaper option. This coming week and next weekend – dubbed Super Saturday – will see a surge in High Street sales, with retailers slashing prices to tempt last-minute trade.
The Original Factory Shop, whose products are only available in its 167 UK stores, is currently running festive deals on fashion, beauty and electrical items which undercut online specialists. Its Calvin Klein Contradiction fragrance is £20 compared to £21.99 on fragrancedirect.co.uk.
A Lego Winter Holiday Train costs £74.99 from John Lewis this week but was £90 on Amazon.
To save time, order online using stores’ click and collect option – it still counts towards supporting the High Street.