It's a dangerous day to be offering any kind of service to anyone. I could barely restrain my fury today when I was told I'd have to wait five minutes for my morning coffee.

Honestly, as if anyone is so busy they can't wait five minutes for anything.

Normally I would have apologised for asking for it, and for making her rush to brew it, and offered to have a glass of water instead.Today I wanted to write a strongly-worded letter to someone.

And where has this strange consumer rage come from? It's the knowledge that today is World Consumer Rights Day - the day when we should all get what we're entitled to.

However, as my early morning coffee rage demonstrates, there's a fine line between demanding your rights, and being bad-tempered and unreasonable. So in an effort to avoid some sort of worldwide outbreaks of fisticuffs in shops and cafes, we've put together a quick guide to your rights, and how to assert them.

Another day, another name for a new syndrome. Today it's refund fear. Apparently it's an expensive thing to suffer from, because it costs people almost £5,000.

A survey by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills revealed that UK consumers on average lose £4,950 each in their lifetime on faulty goods they have failed to take back to the shops.

Until four years ago I definitely had this. I even had a special drawer in the house in which to keep things that had broken and I really ought to do something about.

But then I discovered two vital things that changed my life, and could make you seriously better off too.

It's a long time since a supermarket shopping list only featured food. It's so easy when you nip in for bread and milk to come out with a new pair of shoes, a bathmat and the latest DVD. But the latest announcement from Asda still comes as a bit of a surprise.

It has decided to sell cut-price IVF drugs. The discount is stunning. Those seeking treatment can buy a treatment cycle for just £1,171.41. It basically means Asda is selling the drugs at cost, and could save a couple up to £820 per cycle compared buying the drugs elsewhere.

For the 20,000 couples paying for their own treatment each year this is a lifeline, but is it a diversification too far?

Yesterday millions of boyfriends looked up from the TV, blinked and noticed for the first time in years where they were. Millions of girlfriends put down cups of tea and novels and prepared for a day they thought would never come. The day they had a conversation with their other half. The day the PlayStation stopped working.

Anyone with an older PS3, bought before August last year, who switched on yesterday was greeted with the message 'An error has occurred. You have been signed out if PlayStation Network (8001050F)'.

As a result they could no longer play games online, and the clock was re-set, which could cause them to lose saved games and high scores.

There was soon a Facebook group '8001050F - The day the earth stood still' and users were up in arms that a fix didn't come swift and fast. Sony, however, came up trumps overnight.

But with increasingly sophisticated technology all around us, what are our rights when they are taken out by a bug like this?

We all know about the joys of bulk-buying. We've all had those flashes of insanity that seem like brilliance at the time. We've all been to the supermarket for a pint of milk and returned with a gallon because it was on special offer. We know that the draw of bulk buying needs to be tempered with a large dose of reality and caution.

It means most of us tend to steer clear of bulk buying websites unless we're getting married or throwing a massive party, and we actually need 400 paper plates.

However, there's a new site that offers a different take on bulk-buying, which means you only actually buy what you need, and you still get a brilliant bargain.

Size does matter but bigger isn't always better.... No, not a belated Valentine's Day piece of research but news from a supermarket comparison site about pack sizes.

Mysupermarket.co.uk says shoppers could be paying up to 46% more by opting for bigger packs that are less cost effective. It found that brands such as Pepsi, Gillette, Hellman's and Marmite could all leave shoppers out of pocket if they opt for the "wrong" size.

It also says that shoppers could save up to £4.91 on individual products by being savvy and checking the product details before purchasing.

So how can shoppers work out which goods are the best value?

It's official: Brits don't like negotiating. Apparently "The Great British Reserve" means we don't like to ask for money off things we're buying or even stand up for ourselves when things go wrong.

Research by Moneysupermarket.com found that nine out of 10 people in the UK feel financially hindered by their 'Britishness' and 89% of people pay the price asked without question, regardless of getting a bad deal or bad service, and almost a third of people fail to get refunds on goods they don't want or need.

So how much is it costing us, and what can we do?

Almost £2 billion spent in the January sales is considered a "waste of money". Shock, horror!

The research from protection provider Bright Grey found that almost £5 billion will be spent in the January sales in the UK this year as shoppers defy the recession and start the new decade with some serious splurging.

Of that, £2 billion is wasted, with people throwing money away on items they don't need or won't use. Although men are revealed as the bigger spenders (spending an average of £56 more than women), women are more likely to have bought things in the past they considered to be wasted purchases.

Why are we so convinced that increased spending figures are such a good thing?

The British Retail Consortium has revealed that December's sales figures were up 4.2%.

Apparently sales of clothes were their highest in five years, food spending was the highest since June as everyone upgraded their shop, and internet sales made up a bigger proportion of the total than ever.

It was the biggest December growth since 2001, and has been followed by a host of positive trading announcements from everyone from House of Fraser to Blacks Leisure.

But while this is undoubtedly good news for retailers, and everyone who works for them, it's not so great news for the rest of us.

Good old Marks & Spencer's was supposed to be the darling of the middle class. Middle England is meant to stick loyally by their smalls, indulge fervently in their food and consider it the first port of call for everything from pashminas to slippers.

But M&S has taken its eye off the ball, and long-time rival John Lewis looks set to take the crown. So who will triumph, the mighty M&S or the John Lewis challenger?