By Jo Best, 4 November 2003 15:20
NEWS The Office of Fair Trading has today taken IT sellers to task over consumer rights.
The OFT is consulting on a new draft guidance, called 'IT consumer contracts made at a distance', designed to give companies who sell technology equipment over the internet or by mail order a better of idea of what their buyers' rights are.
Unlike previous initiatives, this guidance is aimed specifically at the consumer tech sector after the OFT found that not all sellers were clued up about their obligations and were producing contracts that were "unfair".
The OFT is particularly objecting to details about warranties and guarantees being buried in small print, as well as consumers being misled over what rights they have when they don't buy IT equipment virtually rather than face to face.
John Vickers, OFT chairman, said in a statement: "The market for consumer IT goods is worth over £2bn a year and consumers need to be confident that their rights are protected. The draft guidance is intended to provide suppliers with a clear idea of the law on fairness of contracts and distance selling. We want it to be user-friendly and we welcome comments."
The guidance is available to view at http://www.oft.gov.uk until 30 January next year. Among the advice on offer are recommendations on contracts, pricing, delivery and warranties.
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1. anonymous
Just spent a little while looking for this document before realising that you mean "www.oft.gov.uk" and not "www.oftel.gov.uk". A search for the title quickly reveals the document location.
Cheers