Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2013 | Page 142

Legal issues with Terence Willey & Company

The dangers of
‘doorstep’ purchases
In 2000 the Doorstop Selling
Regulations were introduced which
applied and affected all goods or
services worth over the sum of £35.00
being sold to you on the doorstep.
In essence although the phraseology
refers to ‘doorstep’ it does embody
all transactions that are considered
‘face to face’, but away from the
seller’s business premises. It is
important to remember that the
right of cancellation within seven
days is open to the buyer, but at the
same time extreme caution must be
exercised for the same to be effective
and enforceable. Accordingly the
seller must serve a ‘notice of the right
to cancel’ at the time the contract is
made between the customer and the
seller. This must effectively be a
separate document that will be noted
in a separate box on the contract itself.
The statement must be made that the
customer has at least seven calendar
days in which to cancel and there must
be a detachable cancellation form that
the customer can fill in and return.
Quite surprisingly the Court of
Appeal recently undermined these
regulations in a case where a trader
had failed to provide the Cancellation
Notice to the customer. The Court’s
view was that as no Notice had been
given the contract was unenforceable.
This effectively meant that the
customer was unable to recover the
deposit he had paid. Under such
regulations a cancelling customer,
within the seven day period, is
entitled to recover any deposit paid,
but because no Cancellation Notice
142

www.visitislandlife.com

had been given
there was no
cancellation
period under the
regulations and
thus no right to
cancel and no
right to reclaim
the deposit.
This serves to
demonstrate that
a consumer can
be worse off if
no Cancellation
Notice is given
since then
no deposit is
refundable and
demonstrates
to us all that all
goods and services
purchased face to
face in this way
should include a
proper ‘notice of the right to cancel’
in writing at the time the contract
is made or such services ordered and
acknowledged between the seller and
the customer.
Services provided by professionals
away from their normal place
of business do not escape these
regulations and the right to cancel
such services within the seven day
period must similarly be made clear
between the professional and the client
and so confirmed in writing.
With consumers these days
purchasing good and services ‘on line’,
rather than face to face, it is perhaps
these regulations, so introduced in

2000, that highlight the necessity for
due vigilance to us all when entering
into any contract to purchase goods
and services generally.

Terence Willey & Company,
Lawyers and Commissioners for
Oaths (incorporating Malcolm
Daniells & Company and The
Bembridge Law Practice)
Terence Willey 01983 875859
Mark Willey 01983 611888
www.terencewilley.co.uk