Illegal Phonecall Led to Contract which Company Refuses to Cancel

wealdroam

Blue109 wrote: »

I understand from Consumer Direct that because the contract was signed in her home, the Distance Selling Regs don't apply and the 7 day 'cooling off period' starts from the day she signed the contract, not the day of deliver as with distance selling.

This anomaly between cooling off periods seems to me to be a huge loophole in the law, but there's not much I can do about it.

Blue109 wrote: »

I'm really disappointed that UK consumer law doesn't protect those who agree contracts in their own home in the same way it does those who order online. It strikes me that people like my elderly mother are unlikely to order things online, so if anything, the opposite should be true. Why does the cooling off period start at an earlier point if you order in your own home?

That's twice now you have mentioned the different 'cooling off periods'.

The point of Distance Selling Regulations is to allow a purchaser to examine the goods as they would if they were buying in a shop. They have seven days to do this, and if they decide the product is not for them, they can return it.
Hopefully you can see that this 'cooling off period'[1] cannot possibly start[2] before the consumer has received the product.

When signing a contract in your own home, a cooling off period is provided to allow the prospective purchaser to consider whether they have acted in haste. It also allows the purchaser to cancel the contract if they felt at the time of signing they were finding it difficult to say 'no'.

Hopefully you can see that these two so-called 'cooling off periods' are there for entirely different reasons, and that there is no reason at all for them to be the same length of time.

Blue109 wrote: »

...I hope that anyone else reading this thread might be able to learn from our nievity about how the law might protect us.

Yes, some laws are there to protect us from others.
Some are even there to protect us from ourselves.
But by far the best protection is before the event... to be aware of the consequences of signing anything.


[1]not really a cooling off period, more a time to examine the goods.
[2]actually it does start at the time the order is placed, and continues until seven days after delivery.

patman99

Report them to the TPS. Any breach results in a £50,000 fine.

Ciske

I'm not a legal expert, but can other laws come into play here that could protect the OP's mother? E.g. can she request a refund on the basis that goods were not as originally described or not suitable?

She bought something before being able to inspect it, so there must be a law that protects her in case the goods do not live up to expectation?

wealdroam

patman99 wrote: »

Report them to the TPS. Any breach results in a £50,000 fine.

Really?

Surely you meant something like...

Repeated breaches may result in a fine up to £50,000.