Do you understand your consumer rights responsibilities?

Do you understand your consumer rights responsibilities?

Tips and Advice by The Guild’s Conciliation Manager Bob Howe

  1. The Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013

All estimates/quotations should include the rights to cancel within 14 days.   All estimates/quotations should have a right to cancel form attached (see the Guild’s website for a typical cancellation form) which should also include a section on the right for the consumer to proceed with the work within the 14 day period.

Any work that has (by agreement) commenced and then cancelled within 14 days should be paid for.

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2. The Consumer Rights Act 2015

This Act maintains that all work carried out must be;

  1. Carried out with reasonable care and skill, if not your client can ask you to re-do the work, failing this your client may ask for refund.
  2. If a price has not been agreed upfront then any invoices submitted for payment must be reasonable.
  3. If a time period to carry out the work has not been agreed, then again the period take must be reasonable.

The Act also includes a section on Unfair Terms within a contract.   An unfair Terms is, if it creates a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer.