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Doorstep selling

Doorstep selling or cold calling refers to a salesperson making an unsolicited call for the first time at a person’s home to sell goods or services face-to-face. Complaints tend to focus on the tactics used by some doorstep salespeople, resulting in people being pressured into buying goods or services they did not want.

In the UK, there is no law to prevent doorstep selling. However, traders selling on the doorstep or otherwise away from their business premises must comply with the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/3134) (‘the CCRs’). The regulations set out:

• The information which a trader must give to a consumer before and after making a sale.
• How that information should be given.
• The right for consumers to change their minds when buying at a distance or off business premises (specifically, a right to cancel the contract within 14 days).
• Delivery times and passing of risk.
• A prohibition on any additional payments which appear as a default option.
• A prohibition on consumers having to pay more than the basic rate for post-contract customer helplines.

The regulations, which recognise both sales and service contracts, are enforced by local authority Trading Standards.

Some local communities have also set-up ‘No cold calling zones’. This is where residents work with Trading Standards officers and the police to stop uninvited salespeople from calling at homes in a designated street or area.

This briefing provides a summary of key provisions of the CCRs. It also provides information on how ‘No cold calling zones’ work in practice.