The Office of Fair Trading wants online retailers to play by the rules – don’t we all?
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has conducted checks on 156 retail websites and found that over a third of them could be breaching consumer law. The OFT has written to the offending retailers urging them to make the necessary changes – and this comes just in time for the onset of Christmas shopping.
Concerns raised include the imposition of unreasonable restrictions on consumers’ rights to refunds. Around 60% of the sites that were checked used improper contact methods that breach eCommerce regulations. A very small number number of retailers provided no electronic contact method at all.
Of the sites that notified shoppers of compulsory charges such as for delivery, a quarter of them then added additional unexpected charges at the checkout stage.
The retailers in question haven’t been named, but it is clear that they will face legal action if they don’t comply. With the online retail market set to reach a value of £77 billion this year, it’s reasonable to assume that traders will be more eager to play ball than to be blacklisted or scrutinised further.
If you’re an online shopper, bear in mind that you will be covered by Distance Selling Regulations in addition to all your usual consumer rights. These regulations state that you should always have your goods delivered within 30 days and you are entitled to a 7 day cooling-off period, in which you may cancel an order and get a full refund (this period is longer for some products, like financial services). And no, you don’t have to send an item back in it’s original packaging!
If you run a retail business, check out our eCommerce and mobile website work. Atelier Studios design, build and promote, so all your digital needs are catered for in one place, by one exceptional team.
