Online shopping: are you aware of your deadlines and your rights?

The countdown has begun. Twenty (20) days until Christmas. With our frantic lives, can we get through? To save time, many of us will buy gifts online. Moreover, in 2014, 50% of adult Quebecers have shopped online[1] (Les Affaires.com).

Unfortunately, our online shopping experience may sometimes turn into a nightmare. Whether it is a missed deadline of delivery; the goods never came or the received item isn’t what you’ve ordered, rest assured. You are not without recourse.

Indeed, the Consumer Protection Act, specifically articles 54.1 to 54.16, frames the distance contracts (by the Internet, telephone or mail) between an individual and a trader. Generally, this law concerns all purchases made in Québec. Therefore, your remote purchases ordered from a merchant abroad are protected. But beware; it does not apply to purchases made between two individuals, for instant in a classified ads website.

In this case, if you have not received the item you’ve ordered or if that item does not conform to your purchase, you have thirty (30) days after the delivery date or after the date of purchase if no delivery date was planned to cancel your purchase. You must then send a notice of cancellation, written or verbal, to the merchant within that period. Also, if you received the item, you must return it to the retailer fifteen (15) days after the delivery of the good or after transmission of the notice of cancellation to the merchant fees. The merchant must refund you within fifteen (15) days of transmission of the notice.

But what happens if he does not repay you? If you paid with your credit card, you can make a written request for a charge back to your credit card company. Your application must contain the information prescribed by the Act. The credit card company must acknowledge your request within thirty (30) days and must credit your card the amount paid as well as the expenses related to the purchase within ninety (90) days after receiving your request.

In addition, some online shopping sites offer additional guarantees for purchases made on their website. Moreover, if you buy via PayPal, you will have protection on your purchases with certain conditions applicable. We invite you to visit their website for more details in this regard.

Take note that special rules apply in order to cancel your purchases on websites of the group purchasing. To learn more about other possible remedies, certain exceptions or special circumstances, please contact us.

Happy Holidays!

Text written by Me Nancy Drolet / Translated by Andrey Leshyner

[1] https://www.lesaffaires.com/mes-finances/consommation/quand-les-achats-en-ligne-ne-vont-plus-il-y-a-toujours-la-retrofacturation/580309