Q: Two months ago I ordered four wood panels from a local seller. At the point of sale, the salesman told me the wood I was ordering are not in stock and that I had to wait from four to six weeks for them to arrive. I accepted this and placed the order.

I also paid a deposit as confirmation of the order. To date, eight weeks later, the wood I ordered has not arrived.

When contacting the supplier, he told me I’d have to wait until a full container is ordered before submitting the final order to the manufacturer. This is clearly breaching our sales agreement.

If I knew beforehand that the wood ordered would not have been delivered within the agreed time-frame, I would have opted to buy the wood from another supplier.

Am I entitled to claim compensation for this negligence?

A: Legally when a product is not delivered within the agreed time-frame, consumers may opt to cancel the order and claim back the deposit paid. To request additional compensation, consumers need to provide evidence of the extra expenses incurred due to the fact that the contract of sale was not honoured by the trader.