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Consumer Contracts
The consumer contracts between your organisation and your consumers will play a vital role in your business’s success – not least because of how they will help your business meet crucial legal obligations. However, some business owners and decision-makers may lack a thorough understanding of consumer contract law, and the potential implications for their organisation.
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A consumer contract is a legally binding agreement between an organisation and a consumer. Consumer contracts can exist in relation to the supply of services, or the sale of goods or digital content.
Consumer contracts can be made in writing, verbally, or by conduct. The latter is known as a “silent contract” – such as when a consumer uses a self-service checkout.
When you engage the services of our commercial lawyer here at Cranbrook Legal, we can help to ensure your organisation’s consumer contracts are clear, comprehensive, and legally robust. This, in turn, will play a vital role in protecting your business’s interests.
We can draft and review consumer contracts for your organisation to enable you to identify and address potential issues before they become bigger problems.
By scrutinising your consumer contracts for risks, we can then recommend changes that will help you maximise the likelihood of favourable outcomes.
To ensure your organisation’s consumer contracts are legally binding, you should look to incorporate the following elements into them:
There will also need to be a clear and demonstrated intention by the participating parties – the business and the consumer – to create legal relations. The parties involved must have the capacity to contract, and the contract’s purpose must be lawful.
Your organisation can take various steps to ensure your consumer contracts are on the right side of the applicable consumer protection laws in your industry and jurisdiction.
One such step is to familiarise yourself with what those specific laws are. For example, in the UK, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 plays an instrumental role in protecting consumers from unfair and dishonest business practices. It applies to all businesses, whether or not they are providing goods or services.
Knowing about such laws and regulations can help your organisation draft consumer contracts that adhere to the requirements. The terms set out in a consumer contract should be clear and easy to understand, so that consumers are left in no doubt about their rights and obligations.
There are various widely accepted best practices when it comes to the drafting of consumer contracts. Below are some of them:
By ensuring your organisation’s consumer contracts include all the essential elements – such as a clear description of the goods or services provided, information on pricing and payment terms, and details of the specific laws that apply to the contract – you can help to ensure your business’s interests are protected.
There are many other steps you can take as you seek to formulate a robust consumer contract. Please call Cranbrook Legal today, on 0208 215 0053, for a conversation about how we can assist with the drafting of consumer contracts for your business.
When you are addressing the right to cancel or return products or services in your consumer contracts, you should be looking to include various key points.
These provisions should include:
Why Choose Us For Your Consumer Contracts?
There are various mistakes or pitfalls that can easily arise in consumer contracts. Frequent examples of these include:
The short answer to this question is… all of them.
There are three broad types of consumer contracts, in accordance with the Consumer Contracts regulations, as described below. Here at Cranbrook Legal, we can help you draft and optimise all of them:
Your business’s contracts – including its consumer contracts – will be of fundamental importance to the protection of its interests. So, it is imperative that you do everything possible to draft only the most airtight contracts.
You can achieve this by making sure various essential elements are covered in your consumer contracts. Examples of such elements include a clear definition of the parties involved in the agreement, a detailed scope of work, unambiguous payment terms, a strong dispute resolution mechanism, and carefully thought-out termination clauses.
Contact Cranbrook Legal today to benefit from advice on your organisation’s consumer contracts from a qualified commercial lawyer, who can help you identify and mitigate any risks or issues.
In the process of drafting your organisation’s consumer contracts, you can help minimise risk for your business by using clear and easy-to-understand language, tailoring clauses in the contract to specific risks, and making sure you have a legal professional by your side to provide advice and guidance.
The latter step can help you ensure the enforceability, effectiveness, and regulatory compliance of your contract’s terms.
The steps that you take in writing your consumer contracts can help make any later disputes with consumers easier to deal with.
You should, for example, take care to use straightforward language in your contracts, avoiding ambiguity and jargon. Contract disputes can also be easier to handle if you have established a clear and accessible complaints procedure that is set out in the agreement.
The inclusion of mediation or arbitration clauses in your organisation’s consumer contracts can further assist with the smooth, efficient, and fair resolution of disputes.
To help make sure your company’s intellectual property (IP) rights are protected in consumer contracts, you will need to include clear clauses that specify ownership of IP, as well as that restrict unauthorised use and clearly communicate the consequences of infringement.
Furthermore, you will need to ensure these terms of your consumer contract are legally compliant and easy for the consumer to understand.
Yes, we are well-placed to help your organisation with contract negotiations. Our in-house commercial lawyer at Cranbrook Legal has a high level of expertise in the legal aspects of business transactions, including pinpointing potential risks, understanding contract terms, and ensuring legal compliance from the start to the end of the negotiation process.
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