Customer protection

When customers buy or hire goods from you they have certain key legal rights.

Requirements for goods

The goods must match the description you give of them. If you say a computer has a 500Gb hard drive it can't be 250Gb. You don't have to say a country cottage is in a quiet location but if you do it can't be next to a busy lorry route. For more information, see fair trading, trade descriptions and Trading Standards.

The goods must be of satisfactory quality - which means they must be of a standard that any 'reasonable person' would regard as satisfactory. They should be safe, work properly, and have no defects in their appearance or finish.

The goods must be fit for the purpose specified - meaning they should be capable of doing what they're meant for. A watch should tell the time - and if the customer said they wanted to use it while swimming and you didn't say it was unsuitable, it should be able to perform this task.

Who is responsible?

In law, the customer has these rights against the supplier of these goods. That means your business, if you have sold them, rather than the manufacturer.

In some cases, the goods may be covered by a manufacturer's guarantee, meaning the manufacturer will repair an item free of charge. But this doesn't affect a customer's rights against you as a supplier.

Consumer vs business customers

In addition to these rules, if your customers are consumers they are also protected from unfair treatment by traders. You must not use unfair commercial practices that are misleading or aggressive or omit or hide key information that a consumer might need to make a free and informed purchasing decision.

If your customer is a business or acting on behalf of a business, they are protected by rules that prohibit misleading advertising.

If your customer is a consumer, they are legally entitled to expect certain things. 

Under the Consumer Rights Act: 

• Goods must match the description you give of them - in writing, as an illustration or in speech.
• Goods must be 'fit for their purpose'. If people buy a pen, for instance, it must be capable of writing. But this requirement also means that if a customer tells you they want an item for a particular purpose, you should tell them if you have doubts about its suitability.
• Goods must be of 'satisfactory quality' - they must be durable, safe and free from minor, as well as major defects.

If, when they are supplied, they do not meet the requirements above, there is a short period during which the customer is entitled to reject them. 

This short-term right to reject goods lasts for 30 days unless the expected life of the goods is shorter, eg highly perishable goods.

If the customer asks for repair or replacement during this initial 30-day period, the period is paused during the time it takes for this happen. This means the consumer will have the remainder of the 30-day period, or seven days (whichever is longer) to check whether the repair or replacement has been successful and to decide whether to reject the goods.

Time restrictions

Customers in Northern Ireland have six years to claim that goods are faulty.

During the first six months of that period, if the customer is a consumer, you must prove that the goods weren't inherently faulty. After that time it's up to the consumer to prove that they were faulty at the time of sale. If they can, you'll have to offer a repair, replacement or compensation.

If you sell goods or services at a distance, for example, online, by telephone, by mail order or away from your normal trading premises, consumers may have a right to cancel a contract within a 14 day cooling off period and make a return.

In some circumstances customers don't have a legitimate right to complain about goods.

Customers in Northern Ireland can't complain about goods if the purchase was more than six years ago.

Neither can they complain that goods aren't of satisfactory quality if you pointed out the defect before the sale. Similarly, if the customer examined the goods before buying them and a defect was obvious, they can't later reject them as unsatisfactory.

Customers can't reject goods as being unfit for their purpose if you made it clear when you sold them that you were unsure whether they would be suitable.

When you agree to provide a service to a customer you enter a legally binding contract under which the customer has certain legal rights.

The customer is entitled to the service defined in the contract you make with them. If you tell them you'll be using certain materials you must use them. If you say you'll have the work completed by a certain date, you must do so.

Under the Consumer Rights Act you must also:

• carry out the work with reasonable skill and care
• provide the service within a 'reasonable' amount of time and at a 'reasonable' price, if your contract with the customer doesn't specify exact dates or prices

There's no set definition of reasonable - but you can work on the assumption that it applies to how another supplier might carry out the service, how quickly and for what price.

Information you must provide

Almost all service providers are required to provide certain information to the recipients of their services.

If requested, there is further information you may be required to provide. You must also ensure that you do not discriminate on the grounds of nationality or location unless it can be justified by objective criteria. 

See providing consumers with contract information.

If customers aren't satisfied with a service you have provided, they have a number of rights under the Consumer Rights Act.

If the service is unsatisfactory and you haven't used reasonable skill, you must put the work right at no extra cost. Failing that the customer can ask another supplier to put the work right and claim the cost of this from you.

Reasonable time and price

If a customer complains on the grounds that you have charged more for the service than was agreed (a quotation not an estimate), they're only obliged to pay the price you have given them in the quotation. If no price was agreed beforehand, they're legally obliged to pay a reasonable price.

See price lists, estimates, quotations and tenders.

If you have agreed to a deadline for completion of the service, you're in breach of contract if you don't keep to that time. The customer will be entitled to claim compensation for any losses. For instance, they may have to eat out because their kitchen is unfinished.

See consumer contracts.

Service provider obligations

Consumer protection law requires you to:

• Provide details of how customers can complain - such as your contact details including telephone number and emails address - in an easily accessible form.
• Inform your customer if you are subject to a code of conduct or are a member of a trade association or professional body that provides dispute resolution services. Details of where information on the code of conduct or resolutions procedures can be found should be provided.
• Resolve any complaints within a reasonable time.

Customers have legal protection against businesses using unfair small print.

The Consumer Rights Act prohibits the use of some terms and limits the use of others. In practice this means:

• You must not include in a contract or notice terms which try to exclude or limit liability for death or personal injury resulting from negligence.
• If you use terms excluding or restricting liability for other loss or damage resulting from negligence, they must be reasonable.
• You cannot use standard terms in contracts restricting or excluding liability for breach of contract, providing an inadequate service, or providing goods that have been misdescribed, are not of satisfactory quality or are not fit for their purpose. This is the case unless such a term is reasonable, although exceptions exist, for example when selling or hiring goods to consumers such a term cannot be used.

Unreasonable terms can be challenged. For example, a customer might object to a notice displayed in a restaurant that 'any damage to possessions or injury caused on the premises is not the owner's responsibility'. It would be for a court to decide whether this was fair and reasonable.

The Consumer Rights Act provides additional protection for consumers only. These state that any contract term other than a core term - that is a term dealing with the price or describing the goods or services concerned - must be in clear understandable language and must not be unfair.

If a consumer believes your contract contains an unfair term they can complain to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) or to one of several consumer-related organisations that can act against unfair consumer contracts. Such a complaint may lead to court action.

The Competition and Markets Authority has produced a video on top tips for writing contract terms.