Under The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations you have special rights as a consumer when you shop from home. You still have your normal statutory rights if something goes wrong.
With home shopping you have the right to:
- clear information before ordering
- written information about a purchase
- a 'cooling off' period during which an order can be cancelled without any reason and a full refund made
- a full refund if goods or services are not provided by an agreed date or within 30 days of placing an order if no date was agreed
- protection against credit card fraud.
Faulty Goods
You are entitled to reject the goods and get your money back if the goods:
- are faulty
- are not of satisfactory quality
- do not match how they were described
- are different to the ones you ordered.
If it takes a while before you notice the goods are faulty, you might only be entitled to claim compensation. This could be the cost of repair or the cost of returning the goods for a free repair. Check whether you are covered by a guarantee. Guarantees add to your legal rights - they don't replace them.
Returning Goods
If your contract says that you should return the goods, you will probably have to pay the cost of returning them. If you choose not to return the goods yourself, the supplier can arrange to collect them - but still charge you for this. Before the seller can collect the goods, you must be given a written notice in a letter, e-mail, or fax, at the time the goods are collected, at the latest. While you have the goods, you must not sell them or give them to anyone else. You should also take reasonable care of them and make sure they are not damaged. Your rights may vary when you have a contract with sellers outside the UK. If you cancel, you might have to pay for the cost of returning the goods - and that could be expensive.
