As usual, the UK implementation of European law appears to be miserable and half-hearted.

Unless I’m very much mistaken, you have a right to return anything you buy online in Germany within two weeks. No reason is required, this is just a basic protection given that as a buyer you can’t see what you’re buying!

In the UK (to the best of my knowledge) the relevant law is “Statutory Instrument 2000 No. 2334 :The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000”

In part 11 it limits cancellation to seven days (beginning the day after receipt of the product). In part 13, it then does something very odd/stupid. Among the many “exceptions to the right to cancel” is this stinker :

“(d) for the supply of audio or video recordings or computer software if they are unsealed by the consumer;“

What does “unsealed” mean if you’ve bought a laptop, and when you turn it on it wants you to register software packages with their suppliers?

A UK firm has supplied a friend with a faulty laptop. They have not informed him of his rights, but after insisting (out of common sense) that he would return it and cancel the order, they are threatening him with fees for the software he has registered!

He shouldn’t swallow it, but I wonder where he stands in the archaic world of UK case law?