Trade and treat customers fairly

Businesses have a legal duty to treat customers fairly and trade honestly. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) control unfair practices used by traders when dealing with consumers. They set out broad rules outlining when practices are unfair. These fall into four main categories.

1. Unfair trading laws and misleading claims

Any description of products or services you sell or hire to customers must be accurate and not mislead them. You must provide consumers with the correct information and not omit details about the products and services so they are fully informed about whether to buy them.

2. Unfair trading laws and aggressive selling practices

To comply with the law, you must not put unfair pressure on customers to purchase goods or services. Such selling methods are known as aggressive practices.

An aggressive practice is using a sales technique that is likely to:

• significantly impair the average customer’s freedom of choice because you are using harassment, intimidation or putting unfair pressure on the customer to make a decision
• cause the customer to make a decision they would not have otherwise made

There are a range of factors that are considered when deciding whether a trader has used an aggressive practice, including:

• The timing and location of the practice. For example, putting pressure on a customer to sign a contract in their home at 9pm.
• The nature or persistence of the practice. For example, staying in a customer’s home for an excessively long period of time to make a sale.
• The use of threatening or abusive language or behaviour.
• A threat to take an action that cannot legally be taken.

3. Unfair trading laws and banned practices

The CPRs list 31 banned trading practices which are considered unfair in all circumstances.

One example of a banned practice is if your business displays a trust mark or quality mark without having received the necessary authorisation. 

A full list of the 31 banned practices can be found in the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs).

4. Unfair trading laws and the duty to trade fairly

To comply with the law, it is your duty as a business to trade fairly and honestly with your customers. This practice is known as acting with professional diligence, which means carrying out work with the appropriate skill and care expected in the trader’s area of activity.

An example of acting with professional diligence is ensuring you provide consumers with a refund for goods that are of unsatisfactory quality. Another example is ensuring that you carry out pre-sale checks including the mechanical condition, history and mileage of a vehicle before you advertise, market or sell.

Unfair trading laws and a consumer’s right to redress

Under the condition that a consumer has been the victim of misleading actions or aggressive selling practices affecting their decision to buy, the CPRs give them the right to redress through a civil court order.

For a consumer to be entitled to legal redress, they must have entered a contract with a trader to:

• buy a product
• sell goods
• buying or selling a service
• make a payment for the supply of a product

The rights a consumer is entitled to fall into one of these three areas:

1. A right to undo the contract

When it’s still possible to undo the transaction and place the consumer back in the original position before the contract was made. The consumer has 90 days to end the contract and get a refund and must not have already accepted a discount relating to the product and the illegal practice.

2. A right to a price reduction

This applies when the right to undo has been lost. The consumer may also claim a price reduction when the right to undo has not been lost but they do not wish to end the contract.

3. Entitled to claim compensation

Consumers may be entitled to claim compensation in addition to the right to undo or the right to a price reduction. Compensation can be claimed for alarm, distress, physical inconvenience, or discomfort, as well as economic losses suffered because of the illegal practice.

These rights do not apply to misleading omissions.

Additional responsibility of the trader

A trader also has a legal responsibility to ensure misleading actions or aggressive practices are not carried out by the producers of goods or digital content they sell if they have reasonable knowledge of an illegal practice. For example, you could be held legally responsible for a manufacturer’s misleading advertisement.