New UK Bill Proposes Consumer Refunds for Faulty Internet Downloads

Anybody in the UK whom has ever purchased and downloaded a piece of digital software or content over their broadband ISP connection, and which later turned out to be faulty (e.g. didn’t work on your computer), could soon be entitled to a refund under the government’s draft Consumer Rights Bill.

At present it can be very tricky to gain redress when you buy and download something online that doesn’t work as intended (e.g. music, films, video games, applications and ebooks). We’ve had similar experiences ourselves when buying games over the STEAM digital distribution platform or finding that an app wasn’t compatible with our model of phone. Unfortunately once this happens then it can often be extremely difficult to gain a refund or to even contact customer support.

Suffice to say that the Internet may be cheaper but it’s certainly a lot more difficult to return goods, especially those of the digital variety. Naturally this can create a barrier for consumers and that’s one reason why the new bill aims to give more powers to Trading Standards (e.g. to help you get a refund) and to clarify unfair contract terms.

Richard Lloyd, Executive Director of Consumer Magazine Which?, said:

“The new Bill of Rights will bring consumer law into the 21st century at last, making it easier for everyone to know their rights and giving people more power to challenge bad practices. There are many welcome measures in the Bill, including reforming the law on unfair terms and conditions and giving consumers clear rights when digital downloads go wrong.”

Currently some of the measures already exist but have been split across different legislation and the new bill will aim to centralise this and give it a clear focus on the consumer. Some of the other proposals include a 30-day time period in which consumers can seek a refund for faulty goods and or the ability to seek a repair (e.g. software fix).

The government’s Department of Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS), which launched the bill today, claims that 16 million people experienced at least one problem with digital content in 2011. As a result it estimates that the new measures could potentially save consumers and businesses around £1.7 billion over the next 10 years.

However it’s unclear how effective the bill might be in enforcing such measures on content purchased online from other countries. The detail is extremely vague.

Draft Consumer Rights Bill
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/draft-consumer-rights-bill