Your rights when buying services

Your consumer rights when buying services

As a consumer, you have strong rights when buying services. When you buy a service, you enter a service contract with the business or tradesperson providing it. You can enter a service contract just by paying, or agreeing to pay, for a service, even if you don’t sign anything.

What standards can I expect from a service provider?

The service you receive must meet the standards provided in your service contract. If something goes wrong with a service you bought, the business should resolve the issue within a reasonable period, free of charge and without significant inconvenience to you.

A service you buy must be:

• Provided in accordance with the law and any code of practice for that type of service
• Of good quality, and meeting any claims about the quality of the service made by the business
• Provided with reasonable care and skill, and the business should have the necessary skills to provide the service
• Up to standards set by any professional body that the business claims to be part of
• Completed with materials that are fit for purpose and match those described when you bought the service
• Completed in line with anything else agreed with the business, for example when the service is to be completed.  

If a service is only partially provided, you may be entitled to a proportional refund. If the service is not provided at all, you may be entitled to a full refund or to cancel the contract. If you have not paid in full for a service, you can withhold payment until the issue is resolved.

Businesses can’t use a disclaimer to opt out of their obligations to provide a service as agreed with you.

You have up to six years after you received the service to expect a business to resolve any issues. However, the more time that passes, the more difficult is to show that an issue with the service is the fault of the service provider.

Learn more about what to do if you have an issue with a service you purchased.

Who is a service provider?

Service providers range from large companies providing essential services like TV and waste, to companies like gyms, hairdressers and beauticians. Trades people like plumbers, painters or electricians are all service providers. Your consumer rights apply to all service providers, regardless of how big or small the business is. We will refer to “the business” on this page to cover any of the ways you buy services.

Information about digital services such a streaming services, app subscription or social media can be found here – Buying digital services.

What are the standards you should expect from services you buy?

Services must be provided in accordance with the law

Some services must meet specific legal requirements. For example, Gas boilers can only be installed by registered gas installers.

Services must be provided with reasonable care and skill

The business must have the necessary skills to deliver the service. For example, if you hire someone to fit wall-mounted shelves in your home, you should expect the shelves to be mounted perfectly straight.

Service must be provided to the standard set out by professional bodies

Some services have standards that are set out by professional or trade bodies. For example, the Law Society sets standards for solicitors and Safe Electric sets standards for electricians. The service you receive should be of a standard that is set by a professional body and/or any code of practice.

Services must be of the quality and standard you expected when you bought the service

If the business makes any claims about the quality of the service it provides, the service must live up to those claims. Some businesses advertise that their services are provided with greater skill, or to a higher standard, than those of their competitors. They might use words like ‘luxury’, ‘top of the range’, ‘expert’ or ‘sustainable’. When you buy a service, you should reasonably expect that it is provided with any features or standards that were mentioned.

Any materials used must be fit for purpose and matching description provided

The business must make sure that any materials for the service are suitable for the job. If the business claims that any materials are especially long-lasting or easy to clean, for example, they must use the same materials when providing the service. For example, if you have agreed for a decorator to paint the outside of your home, they should use masonry paint and not indoor emulsion. If the decorator claims their paint is weather resistant, they must use weather resistant paint for the job.

The service must meet any specific requirements you agreed with the business

When you are buying a service you might agree specific requirements with the business. These requirements might mean you choose one business over another to buy a service from. The business should deliver these requirements.

For example, the business agrees to complete the work by a specific date If you hire a decorator who assured you they could complete by this date, you should expect the work to be done by this date. If not, you may be entitled to a full or partial refund.

These requirements are likely to be very specific to the service you are buying. You might need specific materials used in the service. If you hire a dog groomer to groom your dog and request they use a particular shampoo and the dog groomer agrees, you should expect that shampoo to be used. If not, they may have broken the contract of service.

These requirements can also be added or agreed after you purchased or booked the service. This could be a date for completion, materials used, or anything that arises after you initially bought or arranged the service.

Continuous or ongoing services must be without interruptions

Services like gyms, TV subscriptions      and bin collection are usually offered on an ongoing, regular basis. If you sign up for an ongoing service, you should expect it be provided in full, without interruption and for the duration of the contract. If not, you can ask for a refund for the time period the service as unavailable.

If the issue cannot be fixed, you can cancel the contract. If you want to make a formal complaint to business about interruptions to a service, we have a letter template to help you.

If a service you have purchased does not meet the expected standards, you should contact the business and ask for any issue to be rectified. The business should resolve the issue within a reasonable period, free of charge and without significant inconvenience to you. If this is not possible, you may be entitled to a partial or full refund or to cancel your contract.

How can you solve an issue with a service you have bought?

You should first ask the business to fix the issue. If the business is unable or unwilling to fix it within a reasonable time or without significant inconvenience, you can request a proportionate reduction in price or cancel the service contract. Cancelling the service contract means you will not pay any more for that service.

What if the business doesn’t fix the problem after the first attempt?

You are not obliged to give a set number of attempts to fix a faulty service. Depending on the type of service, you want the business to try again to fix this issue. You can request a partial refund or cancel your contract if you do not believe the business is able to fix the issue.

What can you do if the service is delayed or not completed on time?

A business must provide the service within the time originally agreed. If no specific time was agreed, the service must be provided within a reasonable timeframe. If the business does not provide the service at the agreed time or within a reasonable time, you should contact them and, in most cases, give them additional time to provide the service. How much additional time you give depends on the situation.

• You don’t need to give a business additional time to provide a service if:
• It was essential to receive a service based on all the relevant circumstances when you entered the contract
• You told the business that you needed the service by a specified date (for example catering for a birthday party) and that date has passed
• The business declares it will not provide the service, or it is clear that it won’t do so

If you have already given the business additional time, and it has not provided the service, you can cancel the contract and ask for a full refund. You must tell the business that you are cancelling the contract.

Withholding payment if you have an issue with a service

If you haven’t paid in full for a service, you can withhold payment until the issue is resolved. You can also withhold payment if there are noticeable and/or repeated interruptions to a continuous or ongoing service.

If you decide to take this step, contact the business first. If it’s a once-off service, the amount you withhold should be proportionate to the reduced value of the service compared with its full value if it had been provided as originally agreed.

If you are withholding payment because of an interruption to an ongoing or a continuous service, the amount you withhold should be proportionate to the price of the service during the period of interruptions.

What are your rights when a service provider subcontracts a service?

Sometimes a business subcontracts part of the service that you have ordered.  This means that the business contracts another business or tradesperson to do part of the work.  Usually, your contract for the full service is still with the business you personally engaged and paid for the service. That business is responsible for fixing any problem with the subcontractor’s work or any delays by the subcontractor in providing the service. 

For example, you hire a plumber to renovate your bathroom. The plumber subcontracts the tiling to another tradesperson. If the tiling is not done to the required standard, the plumber is responsible for resolving any issue (and should not refer you to the tiler).

Next steps to resolve your consumer rights issue

• Contact the business informally first, explain the problem and try to work it out.
• Keep a record of all contact and communications in case you need to escalate your complaint later.
• If the problem is not resolved, make a formal written complaint to the business. You can use the CCPC complaint letter templates which outline your consumer rights to help you.
• If you paid by card, you may have the option to request a chargeback from your bank or financial services provider.
• If your claim is for €2,000 or less, you can use the small claims procedure.
• If the problem is not easily resolved, we encourage you to also report the business to the CCPC. Your report will inform our advocacy and enforcement activities.
• For more guidance, please visit our how to resolve an issue section.

For services purchased before November 2022

If you bought a service in Ireland before 28 November 2022, your rights are set out under the previous Irish legislation. You can learn more here - Services bought before the consumer rights act.