Buyer protection in door-to-door sales

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33790, 12 March 1975, Page 25

Buyer protection in door-to-door sales

Many people who have heard a story such as the one about a housewife who signed up on the spot for a $3OO “bargain” encyclopaedia set after falling prey to the patter of a door-to-door salesman. She really did not want the books, and later found the; payments burdensome.

That sort of problem was rife in the 19605, when the practices of some salesmen were a source of frequent complaint both in New Zealand and overseas.

Book salesmen of the type just mentioned produced the worst examples. They concentrated on State housing areas where people tended to be less educated, younger, and could least afford these encyclopedias. Because of misrepresentations and misleading statements, few realised that when they signed for the goods they were entering into a contract.

A particularly bad case was that of a shy, 17-year-old girl at home alone who. was sold linen worth §326. The girl was escorted to the bank by the saleswoman to withdraw the §65 deposit, and ended up with 17 pairs of sheets and 26 pillowcases.

This was an extreme case and most salesmen were fair’ and reputable. Nevertheless.: evidence was building up. I There was evidence of sales- i men literally forcing their ; way over the doorstep toj remain in the house for asj long as six hours at a time, I keeping up a hypnotic flow, of sales talk. There was evi-l dence that the attitude of! salesmen sometimes reduced; householders, particularly! women, to acute physical' fear. TIME TO REFLECT These factors, plus the, lack of time that people had to reflect on a deal, were considerations that influenced Parliament in passing the Door-to-Door Sales; Act in 1967, The act solved the main: problem by providing a “cooling off” period of seven days in which the buyer could reflect on the wisdom of his purchase, and could cancel the -agreement for any reason whatever. He could also get a refund of all money paid and a return of any trade-in. But the act had an important drawback. Originally, it covered only goods, and salesmen soon circumvented its provisions by offering services in conjunction with goods. The weakness in the law; was exposed after a magis-j trate’s decision that a couple: who signed up with a door-; to-door salesman to have an aluminium sheathing placed! over their weatherboard house had no protection under the act. This led to the introduction of a private member’s bill to bring services within the scope of the act, and it became law in 1973.

CASH SALES Yet, even with this sub-! r stantial cover, the act is still' limited as far as the con-, : sumer is concerned. While credit sales are protected,! cash sales are not. The thinking behind this' is that the householder is I unlikely to have enough! cash in the housekeeping jar' to commit himself to an expensive sale, and is likely to! reflect longer and harder be-; fore paying cash. Credit sales on the other hand, are superficially more j attractive, because the ’j monthly instalments seem | less daunting, and the salesi man has more chance of . being aole to persuade the! 'householder to part with the! ’[deposit. PENSIONER PROBLEM All the same, cash sales! ’should be covered. Older people are notorious for! j! keeping large sums of

money in the house, and documented cases show that several pensioners have paid substantial sums for goods! that they had no real use! for..

It should be noted that! not all credit sales are covered, because there are min-, im.um purchase prices before! the act applies. Hire-pur-' chase agreements over $20,: credit sale-agreements over! books over §2O, and other! credit salw-agreements over; $4O are covered by the act. A further point to note is! that although the law now!

protects the householder, from harassment, it does not! apply where the purchaser, makes the first inquiry relating to the goods that are! the subject of the agree-;, ment. TYPE OF INQUIRY || A general inquiry by the; householder about the range of goods advertised by the seller will not take him out of the act’s protection, but a specific request for a particular product to be demonstrated at his home will —. if it leads to a sale of that product. Nevertheless, the salesman cannot escape the provisions of the law, and any device! requiring the householder toi . sign a form which says that! Ihe made the first inquiry! i will not be effective. ! The technicalities of a: , door-to-door sale are import-, ant. Before such a sale is! valid, the agreement must be! 'in writing, signed by both parties, and contain in bold, I easily read print, a statutory! notice informing the con I sumer of his right of cancellation and the steps he must [take to exercise it. A copy; ’of the notice, of cancellation: must be left with the buyer) so that he can fill it in if he wishes. MUST GET COPY The consumer must re-, ceive a copy of the agree-; ment when it is made. If the. ' buyer does not get a statutory notice advising him of his rights, the act. is am- ; biguous but it appears that ! the buyer has a month to cancel. Some salesmen delay delivering the goods for several days to make it difficult for the buyer to cancel, as he has had no chance to see! if the goods are of good; I quality. In these and similar situ-; iations, the buyer should re-’ : alise that he has only the[ | seven days, and, if he does ■ not cancel, he will lose the : right to do so whether the I goods have arrived or not. If | the buyer is in doubt for ! any reason, he should cancel ; immediately. REASONABLE CARE 1 After cancellation, the! parties are returned to their' original positions. The seller! must give back all money! 'and goods he may have obtained, and the buyer need. , not give up the contract! I goods until he receives a; j full refund from the seller. . The buyer must take reason- ! able care of the goods for 21 I days after cancellation, and ■ he must not use them. It is ; the seller's job to collect the ! goods.

The Door-to-Door Sales Act therefore provides the consumer with a great deal of protection. There are still areas for reform: a curfew for door-to-door selling could be imposed; cash sales could be covered; and penalties for concealment of the statutory notice of cancellation could be introduced.

' It has been argued that the act over-protects the consumer since it imperils the wide extent of honest and scrupulous selling which takes place. However, the practice before the act evidenced a grave social problem requiring immediate reform, and the act gives this necessary protection to the householder without putting unnecessary restrictions on the: responsible door-to-door! salesman.

Consumer Rights

Door-to-door salesmen ; ■ can be useful — but they can be a nuisance. In this, i the fifth of a series of six , articles written in prepa- ■ ration for the Consumer I ■ Rights Campaign, which ) will begin on March 17, [ j Andrew Terry, a lecturer I in law at the University I ,1 of Canterbury, tells you ! j what you do if you are | , plagued by salesmen whose goods you do not want.