Service Industries: Fees and Charges
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to cap companies' charges for (a) all customers and (b) the elderly (i) when customers are locked out of their homes, (ii) mechanical failures in the home and (iii) all other domestic emergencies.
Answered by Kate Dearden
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, traders are required to carry out a service with reasonable care and skill, and within reasonable time. Traders must also charge a “reasonable price” for services.
Otherwise, the prices businesses charge for a service are commercial decisions for them. This encourages businesses to compete, innovate and grow, creating an economy based on productive relationships and fairly won business reputations.
Under the Digital Markets Competition and Consumers Act 2024, traders must take reasonable steps to ensure consumer reviews on their sites are genuine. To help consumersidentify reliable traders, the government supports approved code schemes that provide high standards of customer service and defined routes for redress.
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