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Buying from Home

Listed below are some basic tips and information for those shopping from home either by post, telephone or the Internet.

Some things you should always consider before buying from home are,

• Know your basic rights when purchasing from home.
• Always shop around to make sure the product is not priced better somewhere else.
  
• Know who you are buying from, be wary of traders using only a PO box number as their contact address. Write down the trader's full address, email and telephone number.
  
• Keep records of all corespondents with your seller.
  

Basic Descriptions of Your Rights

The seller should provide clear and concise information of what your buying, written text about the product your buying, a cooling off period and a full refund if goods / services are not provided within 30 days or an agreed upon period of time. The above does not apply to financial services like banks, auctions, betting sites, you have opened sealed dvd's / software / cd's etc., newspapers, food and drink for daily consumption, holidays and accommodation and travel agreements for a specific date and time.

Information the seller must provide

Things they have to provide by law are their name, main characteristics of what they are selling, the price including VAT and additional costs, delivery / shipping cost, all the various payment options, delivery arrangements (should be less than 30 days unless you have agreed otherwise with seller), the ability to cancel the order, contract details and when you can cancel it, customer service telephone call charge rate, who pays for the return of the goods.

Canceling an order

You have seven working day after you receive your order to cancel. If the seller did not provide all the adequate information you may have a further three months to cancel. To cancel an order it is best to do it by writing: in the form of a written letter, fax or email. By canceling using the telephone the seller can deny the cancellation order. Once the order has been canceled then the seller must refund your money within 30 days. You can also cancel an order if the goods are faulty, of poor quality, and are not as described. If the goods are faulty and it's taken a long period of time for you to notice then you may only be entitled to be refunded the cost of repairs.

When you can't cancel

There are however some circumstances when you cannot cancel. You may beable to if you have a contractual agreement with the seller beforehand. You have agreed to not being able to cancel within the seven days if the order process has started. You goods are made to your specifications like a customised desktop computer. Items which deteriorate quickly like fresh fruit and flowers. You have opened sealed dvd's, cd's and computers games which you may have already played or copied. Items which cannot be returned to the seller for some reason because of the nature of the goods. Newspapers and magazines which are read for a certain day. Adult gaming sites like sports betting, prize draws, bingo and lotteries. Financial services where the
price is dependent on fluctuations, like stocks and shares.

Security and privacy

Unless agreed upon the seller can't disclose your name, address, postcode, phone number, email address or payment details to any third party.

If the seller goes bankrupt

If a seller goes bankrupt and out of business while your order is being processed you may lose your money. But if you have paid by credit card you should be refunded the money by the credit card company. Usually a company must be insolvent or in liquidation not to refund customers their money. They simply cannot stop trading. You can take your complaint to www.tradingstandards.gov.uk or www.citizensadvice.org.uk. You can also sue the seller for compensation, information at www.courtservice.gov.uk.