To comply with the law, businesses will need to make changes to their contracts and include a notice of the right to cancel which must be prominently displayed in the contract document or accompanying terms and conditions.
Companies that fail to comply will not be able to enforce their contracts and may well be investigated by Trading Standards, which could end in prosecution and fines.
It has come to the attention of the FMB that Trading Standards in various regions has been investigating this issue. The consequences are that members risk caution or prosecution by Trading Standards and also risk not being able to enforce their contract against the client. It is very important that you are aware of this situation and you MUST include this information in your contracts and discussions with your clients.
COOLING OFF
In simple words, if you are selling your services to consumers, either in their home or workplace, at or away from a trader’s premises, including by mail order, phone, fax, Internet or digital TV, then you must give them a cooling-off period, during which they have an unconditional right to cancel the contract. The cooling off period normally ends seven working days after the day the order was made - or after written confirmation is received.
In the case of selling goods, the cooling-off period normally ends seven working days after the day the goods are received.
Consumers must inform you in writing - by letter, fax or email - of their decision to cancel.
Consumers’ money should be reimbursed as soon as possible - and in any case within a maximum period of 30 days.
There are some exceptions to the right to cancel. Consumers can’t cancel if the contract is for services that begin, by agreement, before the end of the cooling-off period.
TEMPLATES
These three templates are designed to run parallel with the FMB plain English contracts and should appear as:
