Online retailers are breaking consumer law by providing misleading information and imposing unfair restrictions for shoppers, according to the Office of Fair Trading.
According to OFT research, just one in five online retailers are fully complying with web consumer law with the most common breaches referring to cancellations of products andunfair pricing methods when selling items.
The OFT revealed they are investigating ‘reputable’ companies to ensure they are not taking advantage of internet shoppers. A spokesperson for the OFT confirmed that they ‘would be looking into individual cases, with details published in 2011’.
Jason Freeman, legal director at the OFT said: ‘We are working on companies who are misleading customers with pricing and will be publishing cases shortly. Firms should not be breaching consumer law through drip pricing methods.’
Last week the OFT publishes the Advertising of Pricing report which claimed that High Street stores and internet traders will face huge fines for conning customers with bogus price claims and fictitious bargains.
The OFT has since launched a new national e-consumer protection strategy to protect consumers from scams and forms of unfair trading which is applied online.
Research undertaken by the OFT found that despite UK consumers being the biggest online shoppers in Europe, one in four people worry more about online shopping than offline.
Online retailers are breaching consumer law by imposing unfair restrictions and misleading pricing practices for consumers shopping online, according to the Office of Fair Trading.
Only one in five online retailers are fully complying with consumer law, according to research by the OFT.
Firms are breaking the law by imposing unfair restrictions on cancellations of products and by applying unfair pricing methods when selling items online.
The OFT revealed today they are investigating ‘reputable’ companies to make sure they are not abusing consumers online. A spokesperson for the OFT confirmed that they would be looking into individual cases, with details published in 2011.
Jason Freeman, legal director of the consumer market group at the OFT said: ‘We are working on companies who are misleading customers with pricing and will be publishing cases shortly. Firms should not be breaching consumer law through drip pricing methods.’
Last week the OFT publishes the Advertising of Pricing report which claimed that claimed that High Street stores and internet traders will face massive fines for conning customers with bogus price claims and fictitious bargains.
They claim that retailers use psychological tricks to con consumers into spending more when they shop on the high street or online.
The OFT today launched a new national e-consumer protection strategy to protect consumers from scams and forms of unfair trading which is applied online.
