New Rules for online selling from 13th June

Thank you for posting cjd 

I saw this posted elsewhere and asked cjd if he would mind posting here, as it pretty important stuff and will impact a few businesses, including us 

Maybe it is time to get rid of the freephone number as well? So if a customer rings me up on day 1 and asks for a new boiler to be fitted, I go and fit it on day 2, on day 10 they decide they don't like the look of it as it doesn't blend in well with the new kitchen they've just had fitted, I'm suppose to now take this boiler back am I because it is within the 14 day time frame? What am i suppose to do with it, no supplier on or offline will take it back. How is it decided on how much of a percentage to charge on used goods? Some goods must be exempt from this ruling as they would have lost all of it resale value if it has been used, i.e. clothes, bedding ect....

I'm not a lawyer and I don't work in your field so take this as an uneducated answer.

My reading of it is that yes, you would be liable. There are at least two ways round it. 1) Allows allow 14 days between agreeing the deal online or on phone and installation. 2) If the customer must have it within 2 weeks and you can do it, get them to visit you at your office and get them to sign for it there.

So, the customer orders a boiler from me, I order the boiler from the merchant, the merchant orders the boiler from the distributor, the distributor orders the boiler from the manufacturer. Customer then has the right to cancel up to 14days even if it is fitted and plumbed in. I assume that businesses have the same legal rights, so I would then have to back it to the merchant, who would then have to return it to the distributor, who in turn would return it to the manufacturer. Who would no doubt at this stage stick it in a skip........ 

No, the rules apply only between business and consumers, your arrangement with your supplier is whatever you have managed to negotiate. But like I say, there are ways to avoid this, the most obvious is not to fit a boiler until 14 days after taking the order - if you really think it's a business risk.

I would have thought everyone in the chain is a consumer.

"A consumer is a person or group of people, such as a household, who are the final users of products or services. "

Your purchase from your supplier is a business to business transaction which is not covered by consumer law - it's covered by standard contract law, ie the suppliers own T&Cs

What an interesting thread, some fascinating comments.

I know CJD is just interpreting the Law and not making it, but i have to agree with Barney.

Here's a scenario - my boiler packs up in the middle of winter and i call a plumber out - need to have a new boiler fitted but because he is worried about the new Directive, he says he cant fit it for 2 weeks, i'm left in a freezing house pretty peeved!

2 things will happen, IMHO, 1) the plumber gets a bad name through no fault of his own, 2) the flood gates open on unqualified, unregistered plumbers taking up the slack. To be honest how many people would look the other way on a registration with Gas Safe if it means that they get instant heating!

Common sense will have to prevail in these kind of instances and maybe the Directive will not apply to fitted items in the future. Maybe i'm wrong .....

This is exactly my point, some boilers I purchase can cost in the region of £10k. If it happened once I'd cope, twice then it's all over. And over for no other reason than because a customer has decided they don't like it. To be honest, if it did happened I'd tell the customer where to go and take me to court