Join our campaign to defend your online shopping rights

UK consumers are protected by a number of laws when shopping online.

Sadly, though, many online retailers systematically ignore these laws. Computeractive thinks it’s time this was stopped, so we’re starting a campaign to fight for your rights when shopping online. Last year our Crystal Clear Broadband campaign produced a petition to the Prime Minister.

More than 11,000 of you signed the petition, which persuaded Ofcom’s Consumer Panel to take action and write to the six top internet service providers asking them to give clearer information to customers. This time, we want to make it clear to the Government that consumers will not stand for online stores that deny them the rights provided by law.

The problem
Although the law provides consumers with several types of protection, research carried out by Computeractive, and dozens of letters written to our Consumeractive section, show that many online shops simply ignore these laws, fobbing consumers off with nonsense about ‘company policy’ and failing to display the information people need to make or escalate complaints.

For example, if an online store fails to resolve your complaint over the phone or by email, you need to find the address of the company that runs it. UK companies must, by law, display a postal address on their website – but many do not. In fact, three-quarters of the online shoppers who completed our survey said they had difficulty finding the postal address of a store when trying to make a complaint.

What’s more, just under three-quarters of those surveyed also said they felt “fobbed off” when trying to make a complaint. Another common problem is the practice of charging a ‘restocking fee’ or ‘administration fee’ when online shoppers return an unwanted item for a refund. Despite this kind of charge being illegal, one in 10 (13 per cent) of those surveyed said they’d been charged a fee in the past.

We also found more than a quarter of those questioned were not aware of their right to return unwanted goods purchased online. When we buy from a high-street shop, we have the opportunity (in theory) to inspect the goods and make sure they’re what we want. When we buy online or over the telephone, we have to rely on the seller’s description of the item.

That’s why the Distance Selling Regulations were introduced. These give consumers the right to return unwanted goods of most types, providing they are returned in good condition. You need to inform the seller of your intention to do this within seven working days from the day after they arrive for a full refund – including any original postage charges.

Another problem highlighted by our research is that of retailers shirking their responsibilities when it comes to helping customers who have received a faulty product. Under the Sale of Goods Act, customers who find that a product is faulty may return it to the retailer and, in the first six months, it is up to the retailer to prove that the product was not inherently faulty.

Despite this, over half of those surveyed reported retailers had told them to return faulty goods directly to the manufacturer.

Taking action
One of the key problems seems to be that many people are not aware of the right s provided for them by the law, or where to turn for more information. In fact, our survey showed that half of those questioned did not know where to go to get information on their rights and responsibilities as a consumer.

With that in mind, we want clearer information to be provided to the UK’s online shoppers – you’ll find a downloadable tips sheet and links to informative online articles on the campaign website. To press the Government into action, we’re asking readers who have experienced problems when shopping online to contact the Under-Secretary of State for Consumer Affairs, Gareth Thomas MP.

To make this easy, we’ve included a tool on our website that makes it quick and simple to send Mr Thomas an email. If you agree with our aims, then it’s important you send this email to the Under-Secretary so that he knows the strength of public feeling on this important issue. The email contains a standard message, but you can add to it with your own experience or comments if you so choose.

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