My ready-made curry only contained four measly pieces of chicken, but I ate the evidence – what are my rights? Our consumer advocate DEAN DUNHAM answers

My ready-made chicken curry meal contained only four measly pieces of meat. Unfortunately I was hungry so I ate it as I had just come from a long hospital shift, but I kept the packaging.

I want to make a complaint but don’t know whether to go to the supermarket where I bought it or to the Foods Standard Agency?

BR, via email

Dean Dunham replies: Consumers should always get ‘what it says on the tin’ and in this case on the packaging. Your starting point is to look at what the outer packaging of the ready-made meal says in relation to the amount of chicken it contains. It is legally required for food products containing two or more ingredients (such as a ready-made meal) to list the ingredients in order of weight, with the main ingredient listed at the top, based on the quantities used to prepare the food. to make. In addition, if a particular ingredient appears in the name of the food (here ‘chicken curry’), the packaging must indicate the percentage of that specific ingredient.

If a ready meal does not contain an ingredient stated on the pack, or the correct percentage of such ingredient, it falls foul of the Consumer Rights Act, which says that goods, including ready meals, ‘must are as described’.

In these circumstances you have the right to go back to the retailer where you purchased the ready meal and demand a solution. If you did not eat the meal, you were entitled to a full refund.

Your case is trickier because you actually ate the evidence, which means it’s difficult to prove your point and instead of being entitled to a full refund, you’re entitled to a price reduction to make up for the lack of chicken in the meal to give.

Your complaint should be addressed to the retailer in the first instance and the response will likely be to offer you a voucher or a replacement.

If not, ask the retailer to confirm that they asked the manufacturer if there were any problems with the batch. The batch number can be found on the packaging, so you should give this to the retailer. If your particular meal was missing the right amount of chicken, it likely affected the entire batch.

Should I replace my wooden floor with carpet again if I live on the ground floor?

The lease for my apartment states that carpet must be installed so that it does not bother the neighbors. I am on the ground floor and have installed wooden floors. I am now being told by the managing agents to exchange it back. Is there any way to get out of this?

SLR, Manchester

Dean Dunham replies: Noise problems are a well-known problem where a flat owner’s installation of wooden or laminate flooring in one property causes disruption in other flats, especially in older or converted buildings.

To avoid such problems, it is common for rental agreements to contain a specific clause that all floors in the flat must be covered with underlays and carpets, except in the kitchen and bathroom. Such clauses are generally completely legal and therefore enforceable by the landlord.

Now if you want to keep your wooden floors, the only option you have is to contact the landlord and ask for permission for your floor and ultimately for a ‘license to change’, the legal document you enter into to formally change . the lease agreement.

If the landlord rejects your request, it is best to comply with the manager’s request to exchange the floor. Otherwise you are likely to find yourself at the end of an application for an order for specific performance in the County Court, which will require you to put the carpet back in place or, in the worst case, forfeiture for breach of the terms of the lease, which means you could lose the lease.

• Write to Dean Dunham, Money Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email d.dunham@dailymail.co.uk. The Ny Breaking cannot accept any legal liability for any answers given.