Is mail order stuff any different?
Absolutely. It’s highly likely that at some point you will have bought something over the phone or on the internet, and unlike buying something in a shop, it’s a situation whereby you are not physically face to face with the supplier. What we are talking about here are the Distance Selling Regulations and it’s important to be clear on what they cover and whether you can benefit from the protection they offer UK consumers.
Distance selling contracts are those which are concluded (you making your order and the retailer / e-tailer confirming your order) exclusively by ‘means of distance communication’. They cover websites, mail order catalogues and all advertising literature (whether addressed or junk mail) and broadcasts communicated via post, email, the internet, fax, TV or telephone (including pre-recorded messages). If you have physically met face to face at any point, or if it is with a shop which doesn’t make a habit of selling in this way, you won’t be covered and should look to Sale of Goods legislation instead.
Under the distance selling regulations, the goods must be delivered or the service carried out within the time period they have specified. If no time period is specified, then the statutory time limit is 30 days (unless you have agreed otherwise). If the supplier is unable to fulfil their obligations within 30 days, they must inform you before the end of the 30 day deadline. They may offer you an alternative date for delivery, but you are under no obligation to accept and are quite within your rights to ask for a full refund.
Traders must provide you with specific information in regard to their obligations and your rights before you confirm your order. This is called pre-contractual (or prior) information and is dealt with in the next section, along with information about invoking your cooling off rights, returns, refunds and replacements.
If you are fed up of junk mailings, phone calls etc, you should also check out the section on the Data Protection Act for more info.
- Know all the facts before you decide!
- Your right to cancel
- Returns and refunds
- Protection against card fraud for mail order goods and services
- I’ve been sent stuff I never ordered!
- Problems with deliveries and collections
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I am a retailer in Australia, but one of my suppliers is UK-based. I pay the shipping costs to get the goods from the UK to Australia. I then run a web shop and ship the UK product to my Australian customers, and also charge my customer for postage costs (my postage cost is charged at break even only). If an item is claimed to be faulty by the customer and the UK manufacturer agrees to send a replacement and don’t charge me shipping costs from UK to Australia (as they shouldn’t), who is responsible for the shipping cost I incur to get the replacement to my customer? Obviously I will not be charging the customer, but I am out of pocket because of the manufacturer’s bad workmanship; can I legitimately claim my out of pocket postage costs from the UK manufacturer?
Secondly, can the UK manufacturer demand that I send the item back for their inspection at my cost?
Many thanks for any insights!
Business to Business transactions (supplier to your retail business) are not covered by consumer law, especially laws here in the UK. Nor are sales to yoursefl with you being in AUS. Your shipping costs are your responsibility.
Joys of business!
I ordered some bedding whilst on holiday in Tenerife but did not have to pay until the goods arrived. The goods arrived but were the wrong size. I contacted Tenerife and they said they would get the supplier (who were in German) to resend the correct size. They sent me another item but this again was the wrong size. I telephoned Tenerife again and they again said they would contact Germany to resend again and that I did not have to pay until I received the correct sized item. Tenerife said that the supplier in Germany would arrange to collect the incorrect items. At the third attempt they got it right and I subsequently paid what I owed. However, I am now left with the two incorrect items and Germany have not been in contact to arrange pick up. Where do I stand on this?
Hi,
I ordered an electric bike for my daughter from the scooter store on the internet.
A week later and I received a pair of fake Rayban sunglasses. The parcel had the same order number on it as I received I. My confirmation email and the company have been completely radio silent is there anything I can do to get my money back or the bike delivered?
Thanks in advance
Yes….I have caught these guys because there is often a declared weight on the package.
i just got $1,200 back on a $3,000 indegogo item, Idiot said he shipped it. UPS had shipping weight at 1 kg, the machine is advertised at 22 kg.
I got all of my money back.
I had to fight like hell to make my bank READ the weight on the website, to compare, then the lights came on and my money came home.
I hope this works for you !
Let me know
hlananh2001@yahoo.com