Is telephone support a legal requirement?

[monkey43]

Is it a legal requirement to list a landline telephone number on an online shop? Or is it ok to just show your business address and email address?

[cjd]

It's not a legal requirement; but obviously it is desirable - many people won't deal with companies they can't call to sort out a problem

[sysops]

Is it a legal requirement to list a landline telephone number on an online shop? Or is it ok to just show your business address and email address?

No, it's not a legal requirement. You do need to show your business address, and if you're a limited company your company registration number.

[Shibley Rahman]

I didn't know that in fact. I can't see how on earth it could be a legal requirement to have a phone line for support. My product is an educational website for law and medicine, and the only support needed would be to for technical support. That bit about displaying your registered company number (and registered company address?) is very useful though. Do you happen to know where in the law it actually says that though?

[othellotech]

That bit about displaying your registered company number (and registered company address?) is very useful though. Do you happen to know where in the law it actually says that though?
The Company Act :D

[Shibley Rahman]

I know the Companies Act [2006], but unfortunately not the clause you refer to.

Obviously I have a reasonably detailed understanding of the s.170 clauses!

What is the s.(clause) of this stipulation? I would assume that it's somewhere in the stuff to do with Formalities.

[Eagle]

Has anyone ever been prosecuted for not having an address on a website?...

[Shibley Rahman]

I hope not!

Eagle - when you look at a company website, do you wonder where the Company No and registered address go?

I don't as it happens. Post goes to my registered address but I assume that this spam wishing to sell me double glazing.

[fisicx]

It's all details in the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002

References:
http://www.out-law.com/default.aspx?page=431
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?type=RESOURCES&itemId=1075385126&r.s=e&r.l1=1073861197&r.lc=en&r.l3=1075384925&r.l2=1075425686&r.i=1075385095&r.t=RESOURCES

I do not believe anyone has been prosecuted for failing to display but a number of sites have been closed down by trading standards, usually after complaints have been made: http://www.internetretailing.net/2009/12/police-shut-down-1219-dodgy-uk-ecommerce-sites/.

However, putting your contact details on the site is a sign of trust so it's silly to not do so (and gives TS less to pick you up on).

[cjd]

Having a name, address and other contact details on a website selling product or services to consumers on line is a requirement of the Distance Selling Regulations.

[Ashley_Price]

You should give your potential customers as many ways to contact you as feasibly possible.

We provide call answering services to a couple of online shops and you will be surprised at the number of people phoning each month despite the fact you should be able to do everything online or via email. Some people just prefer the personal touch and the fact that when they ring they speak to someone now. They don't have to wait for their email to be answered and then, if it isn't, get the excuse "Oh we never received it".

[cjd]

The only reasons people don't show their company details on line is because they are either fraudulent or really tiny - too tiny to have an office, a phone, or any way of answering it.

In either case it tells potential customers an awful lot about your company that you'd rather they didn't know. (As well as being illegal).

There are lots of ways of getting round these things until you're big enough to do it properly. Use your solicitor or accountant as your registered address, use a VoIP number and have it diverted to your mobile of Virtual Answering service or both. But you really must show some proper contact details.

[Shibley Rahman]

Thanks to fisicx (I am not allowed to post urls yet)

I didn't recall it from CA 2006, which is surprised me somewhat as I know this long Act of parliament reasonally well.
It may be buried in there for all I know.
Anyway, it doesn't matter any more. Thanks for throwing light on this issue, which I should admit was a matter of academic curiosity than genuine fear of the law!
However: ignorantia juris non excusat
Merry Christmas guys!

[Dawg]

Respondere ergo sum...

[fisicx]

Illegitimi non carborundum

[cjd]

Nil illegitimi te carborundum. Amen.

[Be Known PR]

Aside from the legalities, from a pure marketing perspective, having your phone number prominantly displayed on your website can have a huge impact on your conversion rates, especially for commerce sites.

With so much choice out there on the internet, who are you most likely to give your business to? A company that says 'hey, got a question, just give us a call' or one that says 'hey, got a question, well tough sh*t coz we ain't interested in hearing from you'.

[othellotech]

I know the Companies Act [2006], but unfortunately not the clause you refer to

I cant recall the specific bits to hand, but it's related to the issue of having it on all documents you produce, web *pages* are just more documents ;)

It's also a requirement of the DSR and other laws.

"proper" SSL certificates require correct contact information on the site.

The question is why would you *not* want to put your business contact details on there ? To me, not having a company number and phone number just screams *SCAM* ...

[sysconfig]

I cant recall the specific bits to hand, but it's related to the issue of having it on all documents you produce, web *pages* are just more documents ;)

I found this helpful:
http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/businesslaw/co-act-2006/faq%20Act%202006/page38501.html


"proper" SSL certificates require correct contact information on the site.


"Proper" (as in more expensive) certificates can even include verification of the company's documents and identity of at least one of the directors. The SSL certificate itself will carry the address details (which can be viewed with all standard browsers), and they can't be modified without breaking the certificate altogether.

Cheaper SSL certificates only use so called "domain validation" (visible in the details as well). No documents will be checked. Instead, a confirmation link will be sent to the email address, which is registered with the domain (public "whois" information). It is better than nothing, but not as good as the option explained above.




The question is why would you *not* want to put your business contact details on there ? To me, not having a company number and phone number just screams *SCAM* ...

I'd second that. :eek:

No company name, registration number, contact details (including phone number), and (for ecommerce / online shops) decent SSL certificate? Then no business -- at least not with me. Too many dodgy sites out there. Call me paranoid. :D

[saxondale]

registration number, ............



no self employed tradesman?

do LLP accountants have a company number?

in fact our local newspapers not registered as a ltd company either.



paraniod.

[sysconfig]

no self employed tradesman?

do LLP accountants have a company number?

in fact our local newspapers not registered as a ltd company either.


With the registration number, I was obviously referring to Limited Companies.


paraniod.

That is true, anyway :D

[deniser]

The legislation primarily governing the provision of Company details is the Business Names Act (1985?) - this covers emails, letters, texts etc but not specifically websites but as well as those mentioned above there is also the Electronic Commerce Regulations 2002.

There is no legal requirement for telephone support - see ASOS as an example of a very large online business that does not offer telephone support (or didn't last time I looked)

[David Morson]

Obviously it is not a legal requirement but as far as my opinion is concerned I will suggest you to have a telephone support for your business because many companies avoid contracting such people who don't have a telephone therefore, absence of a telephone support causes a lot of harm to your business.

[Shibley Rahman]

This is a law that in fact I looked at while studying for my Master of Law in International Commercial Legal Practice, at about this time last year! This definitely rings a bell now. I do all of these things anyway, but I wonder whther they do actually patrol the law extensively. Anyway, that is not my concern. I am happy to disclose my details, as there are plenty of phoney identities on the internet. I also agree with the point of view that people like a point of contact, whether it be by only email. Very helpful practice, and it seems that the law in this case reflects what is good business practice anyhow. For what it's worth, I have a suspicion that this EU Distance Selling Directive has direct effect in some form of statutory instrument in UK, but don't quote me on that please! VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS AND MAY IT BRING YOU MUCH SUCCESS!