My misses just booked a spa day for next month, but decided she doesn’t want to go.

The spa want to charge 10% cancellation fee.

This was booked over the phone so wouldn’t distance selling regulations apply? I.e shouldn’t she get a full refund if cancelled within 14 days?

do the regs apply to services as well as goods ?

from “Which?”

Cooling-off period for services

If you buy a service online you usually have a 14 day cooling-off period from the day you place your order.

Unlike the Distance Selling Regulations, you don’t waive your right to cancel a contract within this cooling-off period even if you ask for the service to start straight away.

If you do choose to cancel an order within this time frame and the service has already started, you could be charged for the service that you have had the benefit of.

For example, if you buy a service like gym membership and start using the gym and then change your mind within the cooling off period, you will still be refunded but could be charged for the amount of gym time you used.

If you feel that you have been charged excessively in this instance, you can use the market rate to agree an amount you should pay for the service you have used.
Can’t cancel on some services

There are some contracts for services bought at a distance where you won’t have a right to cancel.

For example, a theatre trip, spa day or festival ticket, to be taken on a specific date or within a specified period of time, you don’t have a right to cancel.

Also, if the service is complete before the cooling-off period ends you, don’t have the right to cancel.

Distance selling is more for goods posted rather than things such as hotel breaks.

10% sounds pretty generous to me, I’d tear their arm off.

Distance selling regs haven’t existed for 2 years… Some things changed in the switch to CCR but leisure bookings for a specific date were never covered under either. The only way they would be is if you had some kind of monthly membership or if you bought an unbooked day as a gift. 10% is pretty decent of them id say. It’s just what it’s cost them to make your booking.

DSR was reworked a couple of years back and is called something else now, so worth looking it up.

However the spirit of the legislation was to protect people buying goods sight unseen, as you don’t get to examine them in the same way you would be abke to examine the physical product in a store.

Id imagine a spar weekend would be a,service rather than goods, and would be classified more as a consumer contract than a sale of goods,but im just guessing here.. I imagine a cancellation fee is legitimate, as the business losses out from cancellations.

10% sounds reasonable to me. Goods vs services. It’s not like they have a warehouse full of spa days. They’ve held it for your missus and potentially had to turn others away, only for it to be cancelled.

Yeah it’s no longer Distance Selling Regulations but people still use the name, most of it has remained the same.

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