The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has published an open letter to traders providing home maintenance, construction and improvement services to consumers and has written directly to almost 3,000 traders across the country reminding them of their legal obligations under the Consumer Rights Act 2022. The letter includes guidance for traders to help them better understand and meet these obligations to consumers in relation to service contracts.
This follows almost 1,250 consumer contacts to the CCPC’s national consumer helpline in the first half of this year relating to the home building and improvements sector, making it the second biggest call driver for that period.
The top issues cited by consumers include traders refusing to resolve problems or unwilling to resolve them to the consumer’s satisfaction, consumers waiting a long time for work to be started after agreeing a start date with the trader, and traders not turning up when scheduled to fix an issue reported to them by the consumer.
Patrick Kenny, Member of the Commission, said: “Issues with the home building and improvements sector are consistently one of the biggest call drivers to our helpline and can be very costly to consumers. Consumers in Ireland and across Europe have important rights when it comes to service contracts and it’s important they know that, but equally important is that traders providing the service to them are aware of their responsibilities under the law.
“That’s why we’ve contacted various trade associations, and written to the sector directly, to remind them of their obligations and provided them with clear guidelines on their responsibilities and in particular, what they have to do when things don’t go to plan. There is an onus on traders to ensure they follow all relevant legislation – failure to do so can result in enforcement action by the CCPC.”
Key guidance for traders
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2022, traders must:
1. Provide clear pre-contract information, including contact details and the total price (inclusive of VAT), or how the price will be calculated if it cannot be determined in advance
2. Deliver services that match what was agreed with the consumer and meet reasonable expectations for that type of service
3. Offer remedies if the service does not meet contractual standards. Depending on the circumstances these remedies could include:
If a trader fails to provide the appropriate remedy, consumers may take legal action and the CCPC may take enforcement action.
Under the Consumer Protection Act 2007, traders must not:
Traders can find more information at: www.ccpc.ie/ServiceGuidelines.
