Hi,

Thinking of buying a new camera lens. If I buy online legally they have to give you 14 days to return if you change your mind. Just wondering what the situation is with click and collect? e.g. I could reserve online then collect in jessops/John Lewis etc. Would I still be able to return?

Thanks

I’m fairly sure that it is where the contract is concluded online. So if you buy online and then collect then yes, if you just reserve online and conclude the contract when you pick it up then no. But I haven’t double checked against the regs so may be wrong.

I’m sure there was thing here or in the news a while back about this where you don’t get the normal distance selling regs. So be careful..

distance buying regs are 7 days not 14.. distance buying regs are applicable to all purchases concluded online so pay on line and your covered pay when you pick up and your not..

It’s 14 not 7 now, it changed recently.

the whole point of DSR is to give you a chance to inspect goods – you have this with C&C.

As I thought, whether a contract is a distance contract or not depends on the point at which the contract is concluded.

“distance contract” means a contract concluded between a trader and a consumer under an organised distance sales or service-provision scheme without the simultaneous physical presence of the trader and the consumer, with the exclusive use of one or more means of distance communication up to and including the time at which the contract is concluded;

Distance Selling Regulations don’t exist, they’ve been superseded by the Consumer Contracts Regulations.

As I thought, whether a contract is a distance contract or not depends on the point at which the contract is concluded.

That’s news to me. Got a link for that?

Where is TJ when you need him eh ?
thanks aracer and toys it works great

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-contracts-regulations

… states:

Your right to cancel an order starts the moment you place your order and ends 14 days from the day you receive it

Without resorting to interpreting legislation it’s not 100% clear, but I’m not seeing anything that would imply that method of delivery is remotely relevant to anything.

DSR have been scrapped now and your rights are under consumer contract regulations, which has increased the basic right of return to 14 days.

Your specific case would be a bit grey and I’d say ask the question to the company selling the lens for their take on it and get it in writing.

My interpretation would be that if you ordered from Jessops and collected there, you have chance to inspect the goods and refuse them there and then if they didn’t suit so it would be a face to face contract and you would have normal shop rights, I.e. No right to return. If you ordered from Jessops and used something like the click and collect delivery service to Argos then it would be a off premises contract and the right to return would apply. There’s not actually any direct provision for that situation in the law though.

Remember that you’re only checking the goods are as described and having the same ability to test as in a shop – just because you can buy something online doesn’t mean you get 14 days to play with it and send it back if you don’t want it.. You can look at a lens exactly the same way you would in store if you bought online and collected in store, so there would be no need for you to have any additional rights.

Cougar – the next paragraph in my post is a cut and paste from the current regs. The key is whether communication is exclusively by distance means up to the point the contract is concluded. Which means working out when that point is.

If contract is concluded on payment then it will depend whether payment is online or at the point of collection.

The conclusion of the contract would normally be delivery of the goods and acceptance – where payment is made won’t actually have any bearing on it I don’t think.

When you buy something online you are just offering a contract, the contract is then accepted by the seller and their shipment of the goods is usually classed as the acceptance, so the payment itself can’t form the contract. Seller has every right to refuse the contract and make a refund.