Fair trading
The law protects consumers and traders from traders carrying out unfair and illegal trading practices, including:
- aggressive sales practices, for example cold calling and refusing to leave when asked
- refusing to honour consumer rights
- selling counterfeit goods
- using misleading descriptions
- unfinished, poor quality building work
- misleading pricing.
The law also says, in some circumstances, a consumer has the right to cancel a sale and get a full refund if the sale was carried out:
- face-to-face in the consumer’s home
- online
- over the phone
- from a catalogue.
Where can I find more information?
Guidance on good practice and consumer contracts has been published by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute and is designed to inform traders about what they need to do to trade fairly.