READ ME FIRST PLEASE . . . Useful links, Resources and FAQs

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The quick links for these articles can be found at the top of the main listing page for this forum:- Consumer Rights

Which ones should you read? Martin would say all of them!

Here's what each one covers...

Consumer Rights: "Give me my money back!"

This article covers what you should know about your basic rights, some Do's & Don'ts when complaining, your rights when buying goods and services (even freebies!), buying on the web, a complaints check list and more.

Consumer Rights Mini-Guide: Foldout to pop in your wallet

The main points of the Consumer Rights article in a handy single page print out that you can fold and keep in a wallet or purse. It will help you make sure that you mention the right rules/regulations when making a complaint and not let yourself get "fobbed off" by "company rules".

Consumer Rights: "How to complain"

This article covers how to push your complaint to the max. It includes free template letters for faulty goods and shoddy services.

Consumer Rights Mini-Guide: Foldout to pop in your wallet

The main points of the Consumer Rights article in a handy single page print out that you can fold and keep in a wallet or purse. It will help you make sure that you mention the right rules/regulations when making a complaint and not let yourself get "fobbed off" by "company rules".

Section 75 refunds: Free protection for ALL spending

You have legal protection when buying goods (between £100 & £30,000) with your credit card, even if the company that you bought from goes bust! This guide is a must read if you bought anything anywhere with your card.

Visa / Mastercard chargeback: Protection for debit card purchases

There's valuable hidden protection on Visa or Mastercard credit and debit cards, whether from Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds or any other bank. It's called 'chargeback' and means if you don't get the goods you bought, you may be able to get your money back.

Administration Help: Reclaim your cash from companies

When a firm goes bust it is placed in Administration. This is a clear and simple explanation of how it all works, where you are in the pecking order of who gets their money back, and how to make the best of your chances of recovering your own money

Your Financial Rights: Complain, get help & compensation

Dealing with financial matters (banks, finance companies) can be difficult. This article helps keep it simple and shows you how to use the "big guns" - the Financial Ombudsman.

Restaurant Rights: Bad service/food, what can you do?

Whether it's Claridges, Pizza Express or Burger King with a voucher, you've got rights when eating in a restaurant.

So whether your question's can you get free tap water? Is the service charge a must? How to split the bill? Or what if the food ain't up to scratch?... this quick Q&A should help.

Failed delivery - Fight back.

It's enough to make you growl: you've been told you need to be in for a pre-arranged delivery or service installation – sometimes taking a day off work – then you wait in all day and they're hours late, or don't turn up at all.

Yet you can fight back if you know your rights. You may even be able to force compensation for the lost time. The aim here is to be reasonable, but with our often rotten delivery culture, we need to start to make them understand there could be consequences when they fail to, er ... deliver.

Discussion threads:

Main discussion thread: Delivery Rights discussion thread.

Amazon specific thread: Delivery Rights: Amazon

Debenhams specific thread Delivery Rights: Debehams

Dixons specific thread Delivery rights: Dixons

Play.com specific thread: Delivery Rights: Play.com

Tescos specific thread Delivery Rights: Tescos

25 ways to stop scams: As scams get clever we need to, too!

Scams no longer target just the easily duped! But with more knowledge comes more power. Shop the right way and you're less likely to get caught out.

This quick guide shows what scams to look out for, helps you become a more powerful shopper – and saves you money before you’ve even opened your wallet.

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Sale of Goods Act 1979:-

Direct.gov Consumer Rights
Advice and information on your legal rights as a consumer before and after you have purchased goods or services, and guidelines on how to complain.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/business-advice/treating-customers-fairly/sogahome
The OFT's new look web page with help for businesses and customers, so you can see both side at one place.

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Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Consumerrights/DG_182935
If you are using a service such as hiring a builder or using a mechanic then you are covered by the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. This means that any goods supplied must be of satisfactory quality and any service you buy must be...

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1982/29
The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 Chapter 29 - The legislation in full.
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Distance Selling Regulations:-

Office of Fair Trading's Guide to the Distance Selling Regulations.
Buying goods and services over the internet, by phone or by mail order are all examples of distance selling.
Guidance aimed at assisting consumer organisations and to provide consistent advice to businesses and consumers on their rights and responsibilities under the regulations.
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Other Links:


The magic EU 2 / 6 year "guarantee" explained

The UE Sale of Goods Act (SOGA)

Full implementation can be read here if interested:
http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/cons_i...7_EN_final.pdf

Or just admendments here:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2...-act-1979/made


Debt Free Wannabe sticky:- OFT Debt Collection & letter Guidance

And also see on DFW:-Standard Template Letters to credit collectors etc.
A great guide to dealing with collection agencies, whether by mail or phone.

ASA - Advertising Standards Authority
The ASA is the UK's independent regulator of advertising across all media, now including marketing on websites.


http://www.out-law.com/page-394
An explanation of on-line contract law ... lawyers break down the process of contract formation into three stages: an invitation to treat, an offer and an acceptance. The distinction between the three stages is not always immediately obvious...

http://www.thesmartwaytopay.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/Pages/DirectDebitGuarantee.aspx
The efficiency and security of Direct Debit is monitored and protected by your own bank or building society. The Direct Debit Guarantee applies to all Direct Debits. It protects you in the rare event that anything goes wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invitation_to_treat
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/offer_and_acceptance
Explanations of the buying process and of company tenders and contracts.

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/
Covers Sale of Goods, On-line Shopping, Making Complaints, Rip-Offs & Scams, and more.

The Furniture Ombudsman
The Furniture Ombudsman (TFO) is an independent organisation which specialises in providing Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) solutions for consumers of the furniture, home improvement and floor coverings industry.

Unsolicited goods (Can I keep them?)
You must take good care of goods which have been left with you. You may be held legally responsible if the goods are lost, stolen or damaged while in your care. However, the amount of care you need to take depends on whether or not you have a contract with the owner. (see the above link for more)
See also: Abandoned Goods

Railway fares/fines/penalties
A forum where you may be able to find help if you have an issue with railway charges (http://www.railforums.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=105)



The Better Business Bureau This is an American site which may be of help to members who are experiencing problems when buying from the USA.


Re: Buying cars at distance - The OFT has published a guide called Cars and other vehicles sold by distance means (May 2005) Re: Play.com (located in Jersey) and SOGA:- http://www.jerseylaw.je/law/display.aspx?url=lawsinforce/htm/LawFiles/2009/L-14-2009.htm

Re: Gym Contracts - OFT investigates gym contracts and Tens of thousands can cancel gym contracts MSE news story



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How to complain - template letters
The Direct.gov Consumer Rights section has a number of template letters that you can use. Just pick one to suit your situation.

Help with Small Claims: MSE Article - Consumer Rights: "How to complain"

Help with Letter Before Action: https://consumer-tools.direct.gov.uk...before_action/

the MCOL website
Money Claim On Line - Her Majesty's Courts Service Internet based service for claimants and defendants is a simple, convenient and secure way of making or responding to a money claim on the internet. You will need to register to make use of this service.

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www.saynoto0870.com
List of alternative numbers for many companies - avoid paying higher charges for calls where possible.

www.0800buster.co.uk
Some mobile phones charge for 0800 calls. This free(*) service can switch your call to a landline - so use your inclusive minutes.
* If your contract does not allow calls to landlines you will be charged landline rates which may still be cheaper. Read the site carefully and also check your mobile Terms and Conditions before using.

whois?
Use this website to look up who owns a commercial website (with registered address and contact details).

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Citizen's Advice Bureau
The Citizens Advice service helps people resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing free, independent and confidential advice... to find your local bureau use the search towards the top right of this page.

Office of Fair Trading
Enforces consumer protection law and competition law, reviews proposed mergers and conducts market studies. Decisions, and press notices. Trading Standards
Trading standards professionals enforce consumer related legislation, legislation which is vast and constantly evolving and changing.
TSI is not able to offer consumer advice.
The government service Consumer Direct offers advice on 08454 040506 or via www.direct.gov Consumer Rights. Trading Standards is a local authority service. Online help may be available through your local trading standards service website for both consumers and business. Use the post code search to find your local office.

Financial Ombudsman Service
# It’s our job to sort out individual complaints that consumers and financial businesses haven't been able to resolve themselves...
# We can look at complaints about a wide range of financial matters – from insurance and mortgages to investments and credit.

The Information Commissioners Office
The Information Commissioner’s Office is the UK’s independent authority set up to uphold information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals.



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The regular members have contributed the following list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), most of which have brief answers and a link to help you find more detail which may apply to your query.

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Mispriced items - Sold out?

"I ordered a X item for £y and my money was taken by online company Z who are saying that it's a misprice/sold out. It was a bargain. Can I sue or order them to make up the difference"

http://www.out-law.com/page-394 helps clear up queries.

Note: Read the T&C to state when a contract has been accepted (usually on delivery) - online companies are no more than large shop windows.

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(Contributed by mo786uk)



Do shops have to sell goods at the advertised price?

The simple answer is NO!

- you cannot force a shop to sell you something

- this applies to correctly and incorrectly priced items

- this applies to ALL types of shops - whether they are online internet stores or offline physical stores

- internet shops can to refuse to honour prices even after they have taken your money

- if you think a retailer is intentionally trying to misleading with pricing then you should report this to your local Trading Standards, which can be done via Consumer Direct (08454 04 05 06)

A more detailed explanation of the law can be found below.


A shop has advertised a product at £10. I have tried to buy it but they have said the product is actually £20 and they made a mistake. Do they have to sell me the product at the advertised price of £10?

This is a question best answered from both a civil and criminal point of view.

Civil law = your rights as a consumer against a business. If your civil rights have been breached you can take a business to civil court and one remedy is monetary damages.

Criminal law = action that can be taken by a public body to prosecute a business for breaking the law. This usually ends in a fine or prison.

Civil

When you buy an item from a shop you and the shop are entering into a contract. Let take an example of buying a product from a supermarket.

You go into the shop and see a price label for £10. This is an invitation to treat. This is basically the shop saying we will take £10 for the item if you are willing to offer it.

When you take the item to the till you are making an offer. Which is basically saying 'I am willing to offer you £10 for this item'.

The £10 you are offering is consideration. This is you promising to pay them £10. The shops promise or consideration is the item they are going to give you for the £10. Most contracts have to have some form of consideration (although not all).

Finally, the shop can decide whether to accept or not. At this stage they can still refuse to sell you the product and they are under no obligation to. Only when they have accepted your offer is the contract complete and they are bound to sell you the product for £10.

Both parties must be willing to enter in a contract and there must be a meeting of the minds. This is where both sides are totally clear what the terms of the contract are. Clearly if the shop and customer disagree on the price there cannot be a meeting of the minds.

Some shops will sell you an item for the price they have marked it just for the sake of good customer service but they are not under a legal obligation to do so.

So, effectively there can be no contract until the shop accepts.

From a practical point of view it is pretty easy to see this in practice in a real life shop as the contract usually complete when they take your money and give you the item.

Its a bit more difficult with online transactions because it is not always clear when a contract has been formed. In the past online retailers would accept as soon as you made a payment. However due to a few cases where shops lost money through pricing mistakes most shops now only accept your offer when they send the item out. This means even if you pay for an item, the shop has not actually accepted your offer even though they have taken your money - this means they can cancel the order. You should read the terms and conditions of the retailer to see what their stance is on pricing errors and when the contract is formed.

Finally, there may arise a situation where you have managed to pay for an item at a lower price and the shop has only realised after you have paid for the goods and taken the item (where the contract is complete for all intents and purposes). In this scenario the shop has sold you the item and you are not under an obligation to pay the difference, although you can do if you want to.

Criminal

Does a shop have to display prices?

The Price Marking Order 2004 is the legislation that makes shops have to display prices for goods. Prices must include VAT and be clearly legible. Items do not have to be individually price (i.e they can use a price list) but the prices should be available so that the customer does not have to ask for them.

There is currently no law that specifies that prices must be displayed for services. This is currently controlled by the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 under misleading omissions. What this means is that there is no blanket answer for every situation, instead it depends on whether the lack of price can influence customers decision to buy. Lets say you go to a bar and order a lemonade. There are no prices listed. Chances are you expect the drink to cost around £1. If it does in fact cost £1 you are probably happy with that and the lack of a price list hasn't influenced your decision to buy. Now lets say the lemonade costs £5. Clearly this could now mean you would not have ordered the drink had you know this. This sort of scenario is where the lack of pricing could be a misleading omission. In my opinion its a bit of a flaw in the law(!).

Was it a simple mistake or are the shop purposely misleading customers with incorrect pricing?

This is all covered by the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Without going into too much depth it can be a criminal offence for a shop to mislead consumers about the price of a product and the way in which it was calculated.

This legislation also prevents businesses from purposefully taking orders for a product they know they cannot supply so that they can get you into their shop (bait advertising) or from taking orders for a product but then trying to get the customer to buy another product (bait and switch). Mind you there is criteria for deciding what these are, but I have simplified it here for you.

So finally, the question is was it just a mistake? This really depends on whether the shop changes the mistake ASAP and whether they do it often. In the grand scheme of things a pricing error is no big deal for the authorities to bother taking action on. I would however suggest that you report all incidents where you believe the shop has tried to deceive you. The more information the authorities have the easier it is for them to see which companies are clearly breaking the law.

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If you found this FAQ helpful please thank mo786uk in the [post=41472662]original post.[/post]

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