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These are tough times for traders, with many shops and businesses falling victim to the current economic crisis and going into administration. But what about their customers?
If you've paid for goods it can be worrying to see shops going under before they've been delivered. So Lucy Siegle shopped around to get some good advice for customers who've been affected.
When a shop is put into administration it is usually an independent firm who decides the best way to deal with the situation. More often than not this means selling off the assets while they continue trading. This sell-off creates a pot of money to be distributed among the creditors who are owed money.
Sadly, if you have put in an order for a product and paid for it, you will be quite far down the pecking order when it comes to getting your money back, behind, for example, the tax man and staff.
Lucy's tips:
* If you are buying something over 拢100 use a credit card so you're covered by the Consumer Credit Act 1974. If a store goes into administration after you've placed an order, you can claim your money back from the card company (up 拢30,000).
* The credit company has to chase the administrators for cash.
* The same protection applies to hire purchase and store cards, which are also credit agreements.
* Cash and cheques are not credit, so you do not get the same protection if the shop goes under.
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And what happens if the goods bought are faulty - can you get a refund? Possibly not, says Michelle Shambrook, deputy operations manager at the . "You will still have rights as a customer, but if the company is in administration and you go into a store to try and return something, the store staff will not be able to help you," she says.
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"The shop will only be open to sell off existing stock, so if you want your money back you will have to register your claim and the faulty item with the administrator - their role is to ensure that as many consumers as possible get their money back, but in a worse-case scenario sometimes there is simply no money to settle any claims and you may not get any money back."
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