Re: Help: Item buyer claims to be faulty

On Sun, 15 Apr 2007 14:51:02 +0100, Alan Silver
<alan-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


How explicit do you have to be here? I didn't know you had to state this
part at all, so I I guess I'm currently leaving myself open.

On the one hand, a full and explicit statement leaves no room for doubt,
but then it does sound like it would encourage the idiot buyers. A
statement like "Your statutory rights under the DSR are not affected" is
shorter, but covers you - or does it?

No. The DSR's require the explicit declaration of quite a lot of
information _before_ the contract is made. This includes:-

1. Your identity including sufficient detail for the consumer to be
able to identify the business they are dealing with.

2. A description of the main characteristics of the goods or services
you are offering.

3. The price of the goods or services you are offering, including
all taxes.

4. Details of any delivery costs.

5. Details of how payments can be made.

6. If payment is required in advance, you must supply your full
geographic address.

7. The arrangements for delivery or performance of the service, for
example when consumers can expect delivery of the goods or the
service to start. The contract should be performed within 30 days
unless the parties agree to a different period.

8. Information about your consumers? right to cancel, where
applicable.

9. That you will pay the return cost of your consumers products that
you supply as substitutes because services originally ordered are not
available.

Once someone decides to buy you must also supply some additional
information :-

If you provide pre-contractual information in a form that does not
allow it to be stored or reproduced by the consumer, such as during a
phone call or on a website ( The Office of Fair Trading view is that
a web site is not a durable medium but e-mail is), then you must
confirm in writing, or in another durable medium available and
accessible to the consumer the information given at paragraph
numbered 1 to 8 above.

In all cases you must also give your consumers the following
information in a durable medium:

A. when and how to exercise their rights under the DSRs to cancel
including:

B. for goods ? whether you require goods to be returned by the
consumer and if so who will pay for their return.

C. Details of any guarantees or after-sales services.

D. The geographic address of the business to which the consumer
may direct any complaints. (There is no definition of ?geographic
address? in the DSRs but the general view is that this means a
physical location, so a P O Box address is not sufficient)

The OFT produce a comprehensive guide (from which the above is
extracted) at
http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/general/oft698.pdf

The DSR's are at:-
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2000/20002334.htm

To "persuade" sellers to provide _all_ this information correctly the
DSR's include teeth in Sect 8:-

"(3) Where a supplier who has not complied with regulation 8 provides
to the consumer the information referred to in regulation 8(2), and
does so in writing or in another durable medium available and
accessible to the consumer, within the period of three months
beginning with the day after the day on which the consumer receives
the goods, the cancellation period ends on the expiry of the period
of seven working days beginning with the day after the day on which
the consumer receives the information.

(4) Where neither paragraph (2) nor (3) applies, the cancellation
period ends on the expiry of the period of three months and seven
working days beginning with the day after the day on which the
consumer receives the goods."

" 14.(5) Subject to paragraphs (6) and (7), the supplier may make a
charge, not exceeding the direct costs of recovering any goods
supplied under the contract, where a term of the contract provides
that the consumer must return any goods supplied if he cancels the
contract under regulation 10 but the consumer does not comply with
this provision or returns the goods at the expense of the supplier."

Para 7 is the requirement to supply all the information in the list
above.


This is the important bit:-

The result is if you fail to supply _any_ of the information then
your customers DSR rights extend until 7 days after you supply the
information or 3 months and 7 days if you don't. If you fail to
supply _any_ of the information you _cannot_ recover the cost of
reclaiming the goods from the customer.

The simplest way of making sure you comply is to have a standard
e-mail you send whenever an order is dispatched containing all the
information needed (even if you have already supplied some
beforehand). From the business perspective this also has the
advantage that not many people read such e-mails :-). You don't have
to mention the DSR's as such so you can make it look as if its all
your idea to treat your customers correctly. So something like:-

"Thank you for buying a scalloped edge pink fluffy decorative
toadstool from Toadstools for Life and Thereafter Ltd of 34a Acacia
Avenue, Bogthorp, JU7 5TH.

Your receipt for your payment through Paypal is attached and your
toadstool will be delivered to you within 7 days.

We are sure you will like your toadstool but if you are not happy
with your purchase for any reason at all then you can cancel your
order by letting us know by letter or e-mail within 8 working days of
receiving your goods. Please note that you will be responsible for
returning the goods to us at your own cost unless we delivered the
item to you in error or the item is faulty.

Sometimes we provide substitute items if the original is unavailable,
if we do this and you are not happy with the substitute item you may
return it at our cost.

Your toadstool has a worldwide warranty valid for 6 hours after
delivery. (omit if no warranty is provided)

If you have any complaints we want to deal with them quickly and
efficiently to ensure your continuing custom so please e-mail
snottygrams@xxxxxxxxx , call us on 0887777777 or write to the Sales
Manager at Toadstools for Life and Thereafter Ltd of 34a Acacia
Avenue, Bogthorp, JU7 5TH."

Please don't assume that example is absolutely complete - it's one
I've written in about 5 mins - but feel free to use/add/change as you
wish.
--
Peter Parry.
http://www.wpp.ltd.uk/
.

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