‘Where’s my Christmas present?’

The company apologised after announcing that some parcel collections will be delayed by 48 hours after a rush of orders for Christmas deliveries, and many fear they won’t arrive on time at all.

If all of this sounds familiar, it’s because a similar thing happened in 2011 when the company also had problems with festive deliveries.

Even Yodel concedes they’ve got bad form on this. On a Q&A on their website where they say they intend to get parcels delivered before Christmas, one question asks: “Why should we believe you?”

Their answer? “Good question… of course we cannot predict exactly what will happen next Monday.”

So what are the alternatives? Here are a few suggestions:

Turn into Santa

The first part of this involves shopping on your local high street, or shopping centre, school Christmas Bazaar, farm or wherever, as long as it’s in person.

Once said goods have been bought, wrap them, maybe even a ribbon, and put them all somewhere. A black bin bag will do if no hessian sacks are available.

Santa outfits are optional; reindeer most likely impossible. But find transport, and physically drop them round.

Nothing like the personal touch, in this digital day and age, to make people feel special.

Don’t buy any presents

Not as cruel as it sounds. Offer up your time instead – cook a meal, help with DIY or gardening, even babysitting. There are few parents who wouldn’t mind a free night off. Even take your gift recipient on a date somewhere instead.

Alternatively, just give cash. Sounds boring, but at least the recipient gets to use it how they want. If getting the cash over to the person is a problem, there are still postal orders.

And there are shopping gift cards, though watch out that they don’t have hidden terms and conditions such as spending it before a certain date, or only on certain items.

If none of this takes your fancy, just turn into a Scrooge and say you’re not doing presents this year. Just don’t expect to get any back in return.

Have a Russian Christmas

Russian Orthodox Christmas is on 7 January. It corresponds to 25 December in the Julian calendar.

That gives an extra two week window for late deliveries to arrive.

Turn into a hermit

No friends, no presents needed. And no peer pressure either.

â??The downside is that it might get a bit lonely.

Use a different courier

If none of the above works for you, you could try switching couriers. None are guaranteed, but some have better ratings among customers than others.

Yodel has consistently emerged as the least popular in polls carried out by Moneysavingexpert.com. DPD was named as the best firm, with two thirds of users reporting a “good” experience.

Parcelforce and Royal Mail customers said that overall they were happy; some 12 per cent of Parcelforce and 11 per cent of Royal Mail customers said their delivery had been bad.

Retailers which use Yodel include Amazon, Argos, Boots and Tesco Direct. Retailers which have stopped using Yodel include: John Lewis, Mothercare and Matalan. None explained their reasons for ending their relationship with Yodel.

If you do order from online or a shop, ensure that a delivery date is given. In unfortunate circumstances when the delivery deadline has been missed, ask for a refund for any sum you were asked to pay to ensure a faster delivery.

Missed delivery dates are technically a breach of contract under the Consumer Contracts Regulations. Biggest rule for consumers? Know your rights.