What you need to know about your consumer rights
When purchasing products and services or signing contracts, it’s important to know your consumer rights. Our advice can help you shop wisely, know what to look out for, and know what to do if things go wrong.
What to do if you’re not happy with a service
If you’ve paid for someone to do a service and it hasn’t been done with care and skill, there is action you can take as you are protected by the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
You may choose to get the service done again. The law says that as a customer, you must give them the chance of providing the service again if it’s possible for them to do it. However, you’re legally entitled to get a discount straight away if:
It’s not possible for them to provide the service again
It would take too long to re-do the service
It would be very inconvenient for you to get the service done again
They should fix the problem or refund you in a reasonable amount of time, without causing too much inconvenience.
If you don’t notice a problem straightaway, you are entitled to ask for things to be put right for up to 6 years.
It’s a good idea to take photographs to use as evidence of the problem. Make notes about what happened, including dates and times, and you should also gather any paperwork and receipts, such as a prior written agreement of the service.
If you cannot come to an agreement and haven’t solved your problem, there are other steps you can take. Read more about solving an ongoing consumer problem with a business seller.
What to do if you want to return something
You’ll have legal rights to refunds, repairs or replacements if you’ve bought an item that is broken or damaged, unusable, or not what was advertised. You don’t have legal rights if the item was damaged by wear and tear, an accident or misuse, or if you knew about the fault before you bought the item.
If you’ve just changed your mind about an item and there’s nothing wrong with it, you don’t have an automatic right to your money back, but it’s likely the store you bought it from has a returns policy.
If you bought the item in store, check the store’s returns policy. Shops are not required by law to take returns, but a lot of shops will say you can return items within a certain time period. You’ll stand a better chance if you take your receipt with you and return the item in its original packaging. It’s up to them what they offer you - you’ll need to decide whether to accept it or not.
If you bought the product online, you have an automatic 14-day cooling off period from the day after you receive your order, with some exceptions such as bespoke or made to measure products. If you wish to return a product within these 14 days, there doesn’t need to be anything wrong with the product.
If you’ve bought from abroad, your rights may be different. Check the seller’s terms and conditions. You might have paid VAT, customs duty or delivery fees to get the item delivered. You can apply for a refund of the fees on GOV.UK.
You can find out more about returning unwanted items on the Citizens Advice website.
Distance Selling
Distance selling is when goods and services are sold to a customer from a distance, such as through telesales, TV shopping, door-to-door sales, or mail order catalogues.
Distance selling is regulated by the Consumer Contract Regulations, and businesses must follow certain rules. These include: explicitly outlining all costs and extra fees; providing customers with copies of paperwork and any contracts, either in writing or digitally; providing customers with a cooling-off period to get refunds; and not using premium cost telephone lines on existing contracts.
After an order is placed, distance selling businesses must provide a copy of the contract no later than when the goods are delivered and deliver the goods within 30 days, unless another time scale has been agreed upon.
Customers have the right to cancel their order for a limited time even if the goods are not faulty. You have 14 days to inform the seller you wish to make a return, then you have another 14 days to return the goods. You must then be refunded within 14 days of the seller receiving your goods back.
Get more information on distance selling and exemptions to the regulations here.
Auto-renewals
If you have a subscription for a service, you may find that your subscription ‘auto-renews’ without you actually doing anything. These subscriptions can be hard to get out of for this reason.
There are no laws in the UK against businesses making use of auto-renewal clauses in contracts, but in general businesses should make consumers aware of contracts that are about to be automatically renewed.
Businesses should make sure that they have clear and fair terms, and so they should give consumers the right to cancel a contract once it has been renewed, without having to pay a cancellation fee.
If you need consumer advice, get in touch with our team today - call us free on 0808 2787 801, visit our website at cawb.org.uk, or email us at advice@cawb.org.uk.
