The Office of Fair Trading has found that as many as a third of the UK’s online retailers are failing to comply with consumer protection law, prompting them to demand that those websites which are currently failing to up their game by Christmas.
A survey of 156 of the most popular websites found that 62 didn’t meet minimum standards due to unreasonable restrictions on refunds and compulsory charges applied without warning upon check-out.
The most common failing identified by the OFT was retailers wrongly informing their customers that returned goods needed to be in mint condition or still in its original packaging, something which flouted a buyers right to inspect the product.
Two thirds of the websites surveyed also failed to provide an email contact address, as opposed to a web contact, in breach of web regulations.
In addition some 60% of sites apply compulsory additional charges such as delivery in addition to the advertised price, with 24% adding additional card charges and booking fees on top of those.
Cavendish Elithorn, a senior director at the OFT, said: “The OFT recognises that most businesses want to play fair with their customers and to comply with the law. We encourage all online retailers to check their websites so customers can be confident their rights are being respected when they shop online."
Any sites failing to comply with consumer legislation by the deadline could be taken to court or be fined.