Retail surgery: Ensure your customers accept your terms and conditions

When it comes to protecting your business legally, ensuring your terms and conditions are read and understood - not to mention cover the areas you need them to - is paramount. This is especially true for big-ticket purchases, such as made-to-order furniture or kitchens.

Tom Read, partner in commercial litigation at Clarke Wilmott, says: “The retailer can control the contractual terms and if he doesn’t include the terms and conditions, he opens himself up to the full extent of consumer regulations.

“Make sure terms and conditions are incorporated into the contract with consumers. Bring them to the attention of the customer at the earliest opportunity in your catalogue or brochure.”

It is important for retailers to make sure they are aware of the legal boundaries facing them before drawing up their terms and conditions.

Read continues: “Get your standard terms and conditions document in the right form so that it says the right thing. Retailers should make sure their terms and conditions do what they want them to do.

Also, make sure they are allowable under the law. Some terms like fitness for purpose and quality cannot be excluded.”

For big-ticket purchases he concludes: “Get the consumer to sign a document confirming they have read and understood the terms. You need to ensure there’s a bit of wording in there addressing this. If it is not incorporated it does not apply to the contract with the consumer.”