Written by Consumer Protection BCâs enforcement department
Scenario:Â
Itâs a beautiful day so you decide to go outside and clean up your front yard. A salesperson approaches you and says they were in the area repairing your neighbourâs roof. The salesperson tells you they noticed your roof appears to be damaged, and in need of urgent repairs. Since they are already in the area, they are willing to offer you a âneighbour discountâ; but since they are very busy, you have to give them a $3,000 deposit to hold the job. Yikes! Youâre really concerned about your roof leaking but you arenât sure what to do.
What would you do?
(a) Rush inside to get your cheque book and write a cheque to the salesperson for $3,000. Whew! You are glad you were outside when the salesperson drove by!
(b) Tell the salesperson that you arenât interested. You go inside and call two roofing companies and ask them to inspect your roof, and provide written estimates.
(c) Ask the salesperson for the name of the neighbour whose roof was just repaired because youâd like to look at their completed work, and get a reference.
Answer:
(b) and (c). There is nothing wrong with getting a business card and telling the salesperson that you will get back to them. If the deal is great today – it will still be great tomorrow. Always do your homework before signing a contract or paying a deposit. Ask for customer references, and if possible, go look at the work theyâve done. Before you enter into an agreement, ask other companies to provide you with written estimates.
And ALWAYS get a written contract! Itâs important that you read the contract (including the fine print) and know about your right to cancel. Since the salesperson approached you at your house, the contract is a direct sales contract, and, by law, is subject to certain requirements, which includes how much a business can ask for a deposit/down payment. A business cannot ask you to pay a deposit that is more than $100. Also, because the work is not being done right away, the contract is also a future performance contract.
Consumer Protection BC is responsible for regulating specific parts of both direct sales contracts and future performance contracts in BC â including consumer cancellation rights and what information must be in the contract.
We hope this blog post can assist you in making an informed decision. For more information about your rights and responsibilities when it comes to contracts, please explore our blog posts with direct sales contracts tag.
ADDITIONAL READING:
Contract deposits: are there limits?
Donât buy into a home renovation scam!
Consumer question: how can I tell if a contractor is legit?
I just paid a repair man working for Samsung, $400 to repair a Samsung washmachine. Its only 7 yers old.
When I did the first load the next day, the problem is not fixed! What are my rights?
Hi Hemmy, thank you for reaching out to us here. That sounds like a frustrating situation. While we are responsible for regulating several industries and oversee specific consumer protection laws, we don’t have any authority when it comes to quality of service issues. Have you tried resolving this issue with Samsung? If not, I might suggest trying to escalate the issue to management and explain that the issue was not fixed by the repair man. You may get somewhere if you continue to press the issue. Another option is to take the issue to the Civil Resolution Tribunal. The CRT can help you resolve certain disputes quickly in variety of different ways. We’ve written a blog post about what to expect from the CRT, if you are interested in taking a look. I hope this helps and best of luck!
On August 26, 2020 a water main at Fraser Street and East 21st Avenue broke and flooded the surrounding area. The basement of our house was flooded. My wife called the house insurer and they sent a US franchise restoration company. My daughter signed a work order. Then realizing the premiums will go up, my wife cancelled the work, and told the adjuster to stop the claim. This last week of April 2021 the resto company phoned that they want our daughter to pay C$1300 for the cancelled contract or they will give the matter to a collection agency. What do we do ? What are our rights ? Thank you.
Hello and thank you for contacting us. We would like to know more details about the contract and the work that was done (or not done). Would you be able to submit a formal complaint to us online? Here is the link to the form. Once submitted, someone will get in contact with you.