Q&A Dad says he was pressured by salesman into buying bariatric bed and chair!

Q:      My elderly father, who has some mobility issues, contacted a company he saw online advertising bariatric beds and rise and lift chairs and accepted the offer of a home visit. He says he accepted out of curiosity as he knew at the time he could not afford such luxuries. However, the salesman brought a chair for him to try and ‘did a good selling job’ on him. My dad ended up signing on the dotted line, placing an order for a chair and a bed costing just over £8,000, using his credit card. My dad says he felt ‘pressured’ to buy, but nobody was with him to back that up. Is there any way he can get out of the purchases?

A:       As with all issues arising out of contractual matters, it would be advisable to ask a solicitor to check the paperwork your father signed. There is a cooling off period applicable to all consumer contracts which are concluded away from business premises. The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 provides a consumer with a right to cancel a contract for goods and services made during a visit by a trader (whether unsolicited or solicited) to the consumer’s home, place of work, the home of another person or on an excursion organised by the trader away from his business premises.

This right to cancel can be exercised at any time during a cooling off period of 14 days from receipt of notice of the right to cancel from the trader. If, however, the goods were custom-made or personalized, then the right to cancel may not apply. These regulations are designed to provide greater protection for consumers and ensure they are less at risk from disreputable traders who previously were able to exploit the different treatment of solicited and unsolicited visits under earlier regulations. However, Notice of Cancellation must be provided by the consumer in writing, usually within the cooling off period.

This question has been answered by James Denton, a Solicitor with GHP Legal.  If you would like to speak to someone about this or any other legal matter, please visit our website www.ghplegal.com and use the contact us form, or call us on: Wrexham 01978 291456, Llangollen 01978 860313, Oswestry 01691 659194