MSE News: Guest Comment: New measures give consumers more power to combat rogue trade

It would be helpful for the article to contain some mention of what the new legislation actually is.

I assume this is referring to the Consumer Protection (Amendment) Regulations. There's a guide to them at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/343753/bis-14-1430-misleading-and-aggressive-selling-rights-consumer-protection-amendment-regulations-2014-guidance.pdf

I have heard, but not had it confirmed, that these new rules, with the 90 day provision to cancel, do not apply where the item(s) sold are specially made(bespoke) for the client.


Obviously that makes sense in some cases e.g. If I ordered some irregular shape windows of a special pattern that could not be used in another property.


However it seems some traders have anticipated, and devised a method, to circumvent the new rules.


There have been a couple of posts on MSE in recent days about salesmen selling very expensive electrical radiators/appliances. In each case the salesman has stated that the radiator will be 'specially designed and made' for the property and hence the cancellation i.e. cooling off period, regulations do not apply.


For years there have been long threads on MSE about expensive electrical heating systems, and until recently iirc the 'specially designed and made' clause was not included in the contract.