Credit cards are a convenient way of handling cash flow and there's the added bonus that you can get up to 59 days of borrowing interest-free. There are other benefits too.
When you buy for between £100 and £30,000 using credit cards you have valuable rights under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. It means that when you buy something using your credit card, your contract is with both the trader and the card issuer and that means that they have equal liability for anything that goes wrong so you can take action against either of them to get compensation. The legislation is restricted to goods sold for more than £100 and less than £30,000 but it's pretty useful in situations where, for example, the goods are damaged or don't turn up, or the company goes bust.
Section 75 covers everyone using a credit card but you won't be surprised to learn that card issuers don't fall over themselves to let you know about this extra protection. In fact, you might even have to fight quite hard to enforce your rights with some companies. But you are in the right and you should stick to your guns if you know you're in the right.