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What’s a cooling-off period and how do I use it to cancel an order?
How to use your 14 day cooling-off period to cancel goods or services
What is a cooling-off period?
If you're buying goods or services from a company online, over the phone or via mail order, you should be given a 'cooling-off period'.
This is the period of time you have to change your mind about something you've purchased from a distance.
For most goods or services, you should be given a cooling-off period of at least 14 days under the Consumer Contracts Regulations.
Cooling-off periods don’t apply to purchases or services bought from a private individual.
When the 14-day cooling period starts depends on whether the contract is for goods or a service.
- For goods purchased at a distance, the 14-day cooling period starts from the date you take ownership of the goods. You can cancel the goods at any time from the moment you place your order and up to 14 days from the date they arrived.
- For services purchased at a distance the 14-day cooling off period starts the day after you entered into the contract for the service.
Is there a cooling-off period for digital downloads?
The Consumer Contracts Regulations treats digital downloads differently.
If you want to download your digital content within 14 days of buying it, you will have to give your consent to waive the 14-day cooling-off period.
If you don't give your consent, you won't be able to download your digital content until the 14-day cooling-off period has ended. This is to prevent you from changing your mind after you have downloaded the content.
How to cancel goods during a cooling-off period
You’ll need to tell the seller within 14 days of taking ownership of the goods that you want to cancel. The easiest way to do this is by emailing them so you have a written record.
If this isn’t possible and you need to phone, make sure you make a note of who you speak to and what was agreed. Then, follow up with a letter or email.
You have a further 14 days from when you cancelled to return the product.
The seller should refund the cost of standard delivery you paid when you purchased the product, but you’ll usually have to pay to return the product.
If you bought an item online from a retailer based overseas, you still have UK consumer rights as a UK-based consumer in principle. However, in practice, this is often hard to enforce if a company is based outside of the UK due to it being difficult to hold it liable for refunds if it refuses to cooperate.
Therefore, it's always best to pay via credit card so that you have extra protection under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.
What does ‘taking ownership of the goods’ mean?
When you take ownership of the goods, it means that your goods have either been safely delivered to you, to a nominated neighbour or to a safe place.
If your parcel is delivered to a nominated safe place or neighbour, this will be interpreted by the retailer as the parcel having being delivered to you.
The date of safe delivery will be when the 14-day cooling off period starts - even if you don’t actually manage to get your goods off your neighbour for another three days.
If your package is left somewhere without your consent and you don't find it for a number of days, you can contact the retailer to explain when you actually received the goods. Your 14-day cooling off period will then start from the day you found and safely took ownership of the goods.
Cooling-off period exemptions for products
There are some situations where a cooling-off period doesn't apply.
For example, you won’t get a cooling-off period when you buy:
- something that deteriorates quickly - like flowers or some foods
- an item that was personalised or custom-made for you
- a CD, DVD or software, if you break the seal on the wrapping.
Read our step-by-step guide for more information on how to cancel an online order.
How to cancel a service during a cooling-off period
If you’re trying to cancel a service you’ve arranged, you’ll need to tell the seller within the 14-day cooling off period that you don’t want it anymore.
It's useful to do this via email so you have a written record. If you phone the company to cancel, make sure you make a note of who you speak to and what was agreed. It's worth following up with a letter or email to confirm the cancellation too.
If you paid for a deposit, you should also get this back. But if the service had already started at your request during the cooling-off period, the company in question will keep what’s necessary to cover costs of services provided up until you cancelled.
This might mean you'll have costs deducted for admin or paperwork, for example.
Does a cooling-off period apply for all services?
You don't get a cooling-off period if you arranged a service with a company in-store or on its premises.
You also won’t get a cooling-off period for:
- booking a hotel room
- renting a vehicle
- transporting of goods including courier services
- catering or leisure activities for specific dates like hotel and restaurant bookings, theatre tickets, and catering for a big event like a wedding or birthday party
- requests for urgent repairs and maintenance
- some financial products and services.
Make sure you check the cancellation period for these before you commit to the service.