contract over the phone

[wood1e]

Hi,

A colleague of mine has purchased some books for schools, which in doing so he entered into a binding contract. The phone call was recorded, and the sales mention a contract, although no length was given.

Is there no cooling off period? As I don;t think we need these, as we develop plastics!! I realise my colleague has been silly, but is there anything we can do?

The books for schools were bought 04/04/05

Many thanks

Rob Wood

[David Harris]

Hi,
A colleague of mine has purchased some books for schools, which in doing so he entered into a binding contract. The phone call was recorded, and the sales mention a contract, although no length was given.
Is there no cooling off period? As I don;t think we need these, as we develop plastics!! I realise my colleague has been silly, but is there anything we can do?

This is not my area of expertise so take my reply with a pinch of salt. To the best of my recollection cooling off periods generally tend to apply to consumer contracts and then only in limited situations where there has been a history of pressurised misselling.
I cannot immediately recall any b2b situations where they apply (nor would I generally think it right that they should). I think you need to take your colleague into a quiet room and explain to him the the error of his ways :)
David Harris

[wood1e]

I think you are right, I have done, and stopped him answering the phone...it's a good company shame he is the MD...:)

[kyber]

Is this a genuine service that was being offered or one of the charity/schools scams that has been discussed here previously?

If the latter, then there was a long thread on this on the forum for a while but I think it has been lost recently. However, a copy of my postings on this can be found here (http://www.thesewingforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=24).

Regards,

Stuart

[bwglaw]

One first needs to establish whether there is a binding contract between the parties and what were the terms, if any, in the contract. By 'contract' I do not mean in only written form.

Where did the purchaser see the product? Catalogue, website? Were any terms & conditions published? Has there been any previous purchases from the same supplier? Were any of the terms/conditions unfair? What is the supplier's return/refund policy?

Cooling off period. I presume the purchaser wants to return the products? Why? were the products faulty? simply unwanted? mistake? Was the 'contract' purely between two businesses, or at least with one individual customer involved?

To determine whether a buyer is entitled to terminate a contract very much depends on the above and needs careful legal analysis.

Hope this helps





Hi,

A colleague of mine has purchased some books for schools, which in doing so he entered into a binding contract. The phone call was recorded, and the sales mention a contract, although no length was given.

Is there no cooling off period? As I don;t think we need these, as we develop plastics!! I realise my colleague has been silly, but is there anything we can do?

The books for schools were bought 04/04/05

Many thanks

Rob Wood