Practical points for providers of B2C services

This article was produced by Olswang LLP, which joined with CMS on 1 May 2017.

In addition to the general points about information and ordering above, providers of services also need to:

• Provide information about subscription charges, the minimum term of the contract or the conditions for terminating a rolling contract.

Suppliers also need to be aware of, and where possible mitigate, the impact of the cancellation and refund rights.

If the Service is capable of being fully performed within the 14 day cancellation period, a Suppler may avoid the risk of cancellation by structuring the order/subscription process and transactional wording so as to get the consumer's agreement to the commencement of the services and their acknowledgement that the cancellation and refund right will be lost.

If the Service is not capable of being fully performed within the 14 day cancellation period,a Suppler can only mitigate the risk of cancellation and refunds. The subscription process should be structured to so as to get the consumer's consent to the commencement of the services within the cancellation period, and to notify the consumer that he or she will still be liable for reasonable costs in the event of cancellation. A supplier would then be entitled to charge a consumer for the period for which the services had been enjoyed - calculated pro rata with the overall length of the charging period.

For services not capable of being fully performed within the cancellation period (or if the service provider simply chose not to oust the cancellation right) the supplier would need to:

• Provide information on cancellation rights, including the model cancellation form;
• Allow a 14 day refund period (14 days from the day after the contract is entered into).

Where goods and servicesare bundled together (e.g.an Internet or phone service and hardware), suppliers will need to comply with information and cancellation rules for the goods element, unless an exemption applies.

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