At a time of year when we might want to return goods more frequently, Citizens Advice finds that UK shoppers are worse off than most of their European counterparts.

MORI research for Citizens Advice has found that over three million people in Great Britain wanted to or unsuccessfully tried to cancel or return things they bought in the last year. The total value of purchases involved was £400 million.

Evidence from Citizens Advice Bureaux shows that in nearly 80% of cases people had problems trying to cancel purchases of more than £100 and a third involved purchases of more than £1000.

Cancellation rights apply when people have bought goods or services at a distance, such as over the internet, by phone or mail order. These rights allow people who may have been unduly pressurised to buy, or unable to physically examine goods beforehand, to change their mind and get their money back without obligation.

The report's findings show that cancellation rights across the EU vary considerably. UK shoppers only have seven working days in which they can cancel goods bought from a distance, for example by mail order or over the internet. Meanwhile people in Italy have 10 working days and in Germany the law allows 14 days.

Despite these rights Citizens Advice find many cases where suppliers have breached the rules and continued to charge when cancellation had been made, even within the limited UK time limit.

Citizens Advice is urging the UK government to reform cancellation rights to give consumers a better deal.

Citizens Advice director of policy Teresa Perchard makes the point that cancellation rights are complex and too often traders let British consumers down. "It's clear from the experience of CAB clients that the present system is not working," she said. "We need consistency across the EU - currently, the laws vary from country to country. We want to see a minimum 14-day cancellation period across Europe - something that would be far simpler for people to understand."