With November upon us and Christmas only just round the corner online retailers are bracing themselves for their busiest time of year. However, the Office of Fair Trading has recently highlighted that many retailers' websites are not compliant with consumer protection law*. This article aims to highlight these areas to online retailers to prevent them falling foul of these consumer protections.
Some of the key failures and areas of improvement found were: imposing unreasonable restrictions on customers' rights to a refund; failing to provide an email contact address; and the addition of unexpected charges in the transaction.
Right to a refund
The most common infringement of this right was retailers requiring that the product must be returned in the original packaging or in the original condition. This can affect the customer's right to reasonably inspect or access the product. You can suggest that the customer takes care when opening the product so if returns are necessary they can be made in the original packaging as this would save cost for the customer. The customer is not required to return the goods in the original packaging or in their original condition. It is also important to bear in mind that if the product is being returned because it is faulty or not as described, you cannot make the customer pay for the return. If you want the customer to pay for other returns, your standard terms must expressly state this to be the case; otherwise you will not be able to charge for the return cost.
Providing an email contact address
You must ensure that you provide an email contact address to all your customers. A web contact form is insufficient. The website also needs to include your name, geographical address and company number along with details of any relevant supervisory authority and details of non-electronic means of communication. It is important to make customers aware of any arrangements in relation to payment and delivery and provide a right to cancel the contract during a seven day cooling off period.
Charges in the transaction
The OFT found that while 60% of sites indicated upfront that compulsory charges would be added to the first price shown, 24% of these sites went on to add further unexpected charges at the check-out*. Your website needs to set out the steps a customer should take when ordering from your site and provide the technical means for them to identify and correct input errors before the order is submitted. It is also important to be clear on all charges that will be made, including delivery and credit card charges.
We urge retailers to review their online terms and conditions to ensure they are compliant with consumer protection law. Please contact John Baddeley at [email protected] , head of our Intellectual Property, IT & New Media team or Claire Garrod at [email protected] on 0114 266 6660 if you would like more information or an initial free consultation to discuss your online practices.
