{"id":11074,"date":"2018-06-15T11:48:04","date_gmt":"2018-06-15T15:48:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/living-safety-information\/%e6%b6%88%e8%b2%bb%e8%80%85%e3%82%92%e8%a8%aa%e5%95%8f%e8%b2%a9%e5%a3%b2%e3%81%8b%e3%82%89%e5%ae%88%e3%82%8b%e6%96%b0%e3%81%97%e3%81%84%e8%a6%8f%e5%89%87\/"},"modified":"2021-04-14T17:45:30","modified_gmt":"2021-04-14T21:45:30","slug":"new-rules-protect-consumers-door-door-sales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/news\/new-rules-protect-consumers-door-door-sales\/","title":{"rendered":"New rules protect consumers in door-to-door sales"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>* This is a translation of\u00a0 \u201cNew rules protect consumers in door-to-door sales\u201d\u00a0 published in May 2018, produced in English by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario)<\/a>. Japanese Social Services is wholly responsible for the accuracy of this translation, produced with permission of CLEO.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-3948 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/jss.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/e1499906814282-300x89.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"468\" height=\"139\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jss.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/e1499906814282-300x89.png 300w, https:\/\/jss.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/e1499906814282.png 577w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As of March 1, businesses selling certain products or services can&#8217;t phone people or come to their homes without being invited.<br \/>\nThis month&#8217;s On the Radar explains these new rules and reviews the existing rules that apply to most types of door-to-door sales.<\/p>\n<h3>What can no longer be sold door-to-door<\/h3>\n<p>The new rules say that unless they&#8217;re invited, salespeople can&#8217;t phone or come to someone&#8217;s home to sell:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>furnaces<\/li>\n<li>air conditioners, cleaners, and purifiers<\/li>\n<li>water heaters<\/li>\n<li>water treatment devices including water softeners, purifiers, and filters<\/li>\n<li>duct cleaning services<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The new rules also apply to any products or services that do the same job as any of the items listed above.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Exceptions<\/strong><br \/>\nThings on the list above\u00a0<strong>can<\/strong>\u00a0be sold at a customer&#8217;s home if one of these two exceptions applies:<br \/>\n1. The customer made the first contact and invited the seller to their home to sell one of the things on the list.<br \/>\n2. All of the following are true:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The customer already has a contract with a company for one of the products or services on the list.<\/li>\n<li>They invited the company to their home.<\/li>\n<li>Before coming to the customer&#8217;s home, the company asked if they could offer the customer a new contract, and the customer said yes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But if the company left advertising with false information at the customer&#8217;s home, the exceptions do\u00a0<strong>not<\/strong>\u00a0apply.<br \/>\nIf either exception\u00a0<strong>does<\/strong>\u00a0apply, the company can sell at the customer&#8217;s home if they follow certain rules:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The written contract must have a special\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/files.ontario.ca\/en_final_plain_language_disclosure_document.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cover page<\/a>\u00a0that explains some of the customer&#8217;s rights.<\/li>\n<li>Starting on May 1, the contract must have\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ontario.ca\/laws\/regulation\/180008\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">certain detailed information<\/a>\u00a0that&#8217;s different from contracts for other goods and services.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Buyers don&#8217;t have to pay<\/strong><br \/>\nOther than the exceptions, if a customer signs a contract at home for a product or service listed above, the contract is\u00a0<strong>not valid<\/strong>.<br \/>\nThis means that the customer does not have to pay anything. And they&#8217;re not responsible for returning the product or taking care of it.<br \/>\nIf the customer has already paid, they can demand their money back within\u00a0<strong>one year<\/strong>\u00a0after signing.<\/p>\n<h3>General rules for door-to-door sales<\/h3>\n<p>There are also general rules that protect people when they buy products or services worth\u00a0<strong>more than $50<\/strong>\u00a0from a salesperson who comes to their home.<br \/>\nThese rules also apply when meeting with a salesperson anywhere\u00a0<strong>except<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>their store or other regular place of business, or<\/li>\n<li>a market, exhibition, auction, or fair.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Written contract<\/strong><br \/>\nThe seller must always give the customer a written contract that has certain information. If they don&#8217;t do this, the customer can cancel the agreement any time within\u00a0<strong>one year<\/strong>\u00a0of signing it.<br \/>\nThere&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ontario.ca\/laws\/regulation\/180008\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">information<\/a>\u00a0that must be in contracts that cover the products and services listed at the beginning. And there&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ontario.ca\/laws\/regulation\/050017#BK54\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">different information<\/a>\u00a0for other door-to-door contracts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cooling-off period<\/strong><br \/>\nThe customer can cancel\u00a0<strong>within 10 days<\/strong>\u00a0after being given a copy of the contract. They don&#8217;t need a reason.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Prompt delivery<\/strong><br \/>\nThe customer can cancel the agreement if the seller is more than\u00a0<strong>30 days late<\/strong>\u00a0and still hasn&#8217;t delivered the goods or started the services.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Refunds<\/strong><br \/>\nIf the customer\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ontario.ca\/page\/your-rights-when-signing-or-cancelling-contract#section-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cancels<\/a>\u00a0in any of the situations above, the seller must refund their money within\u00a0<strong>15 days<\/strong>. And if the seller wants the product back they must pick it up or pay the cost to return it.<\/p>\n<h3>Unfair practices<\/h3>\n<p>Any customer can\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ontario.ca\/page\/your-rights-when-signing-or-cancelling-contract#section-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cancel a contract<\/a>\u00a0if the seller used &#8220;unfair practices&#8221;. This applies to door-to-door sales and to selling online, in stores, or almost anywhere else.<br \/>\nUnfair practices include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>telling the customer something that&#8217;s not true<\/li>\n<li>taking unfair advantage of customers who can&#8217;t protect themselves<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Consumer Protection Act lists over two dozen\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ontario.ca\/laws\/statute\/02c30#BK16\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">types of unfair practices<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>How to complain<\/h3>\n<p>If the customer does not get a reply or a refund within the time allowed, or isn&#8217;t satisfied with the reply, they can\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ontario.ca\/page\/filing-consumer-complaint\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">complain to the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services<\/a>.<br \/>\nThe Ministry has an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.consumerbeware.mgs.gov.on.ca\/esearch\/compform\/english\/complaint.jsp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">online complaint form<\/a>, as well as one that can be\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/cleo\/www.forms.ssb.gov.on.ca\/mbs\/ssb\/forms\/ssbforms.nsf\/GetFileAttach\/002-5201E~1\/$File\/5201E.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">downloaded and printed<\/a>\u00a0out.<br \/>\nThe customer can also sue the seller in court. For example, they can sue for up to $25,000 in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/stepstojustice.ca\/common-question-plus\/courts-and-tribunals\/how-can-i-sue-small-claims-court\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Small Claims Court<\/a>.<br \/>\nIt&#8217;s best to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/stepstojustice.ca\/common-question-plus\/consumer-complaints\/i-have-problem-something-i-bought-door-door-salesperson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">get legal help<\/a>\u00a0to do this.<\/p>\n<h3>Different rules for energy retailers<\/h3>\n<p>Energy retailers are companies that offer contracts for electricity or natural gas. They sometimes go door-to-door or phone people at home. Energy retailers are covered by completely different rules than what we&#8217;ve talked about in this On the Radar.<\/p>\n<p>For information about these rules and what people can do if they have problems with energy retailers, see the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.oeb.ca\/consumer-protection\/energy-contracts\/signing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ontario Energy Board website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This email alert gives general legal information. It is not a substitute for getting legal advice about a particular situation.<\/p>\n<p>Original source:\u00a0 \u3000<a href=\"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/cleo\/on-the-radar-new-rules-protect-consumers-in-door-to-door-sales-1029205\">https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/cleo\/on-the-radar-new-rules-protect-consumers-in-door-to-door-sales-1029205<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>* This is a translation of\u00a0 \u201cNew rules protect consumers in door-to-door sales\u201d\u00a0 published in May 2018, produced in English by CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario). Japanese Social Services is wholly responsible for the accuracy of this translation, produced with permission of CLEO. &nbsp; As of March 1, businesses selling certain products or services can&#8217;t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":10956,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[280],"tags":[303],"class_list":["post-11074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-living-safety-information"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11074"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13991,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11074\/revisions\/13991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jss.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}