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21 per cent of people in the UK have been given unwanted Christmas gifts, Which? has found. More than 2,000 members of the public were polled by Which? about what they were given at Christmas last year, in the wake of December 25.
And as many as one in five say they had received an unwanted or unsuitable gift. The consumer champion, which is a watchdog for consumers in the UK, also asked people to tell them about the “worst present they had ever received”.
One received a tumble dryer that’s 19 years old, while a vegetarian reported being gifted roast beef. Another received regifted shower gel from a year previously, they told the Which? team in the wake of December 25 and ahead of New Year’s Eve.
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30 per cent say they will get rid of the items, while 12 per cent took them to a charity shop, and one in 10 gave it to a friend or family member. Five per cent sold it on an online marketplace such as eBay or Vinted, they also admitted.
Lisa Webb, a consumer law expert at Which?, said it was hard to think of less appropriate gifts than a gravesite or toilet seat but charitably suggested that “anyone can struggle to get it right when buying for friends and family”.
“It’s always worth getting a gift receipt so your loved one has the option to return their gift if needed,” Webb said. “Sometimes, for online orders, only the buyer can request a refund or exchange. But if the item was marked as a gift when ordered, the retailer’s returns policy may enable a recipient to return or exchange it.”
Research by the Post Office researchers found that Christmas gifts worth an eye-watering and gobsmacking £232 million were returned in early 2023.
