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Selling services

What are your legal obligations as a business when providing services?

Consumers buying from businesses based in Ireland or the EU have strong consumer rights. These rights are part of the Consumer Rights Act 2022 and apply to services you sell on or after 29 November 2022.

This page covers your key responsibilities under consumer law on:

  • Your legal obligations to consumers
  • Resolving service issues where you do not meet your obligations
  • Providing information to consumers
  • Consumer right to cancel

This page is not legal advice. To fully understand the legal obligations that apply to your business, you should seek independent legal advice.

The Consumer Rights Act 2022 outlines your responsibilities to consumers, including how to resolve issues and what information you must provide. Every time you sell to a consumer, you enter into a contract with them, which must adhere to the law.

What are a businesses subjective obligations?

Every time you sell to a consumer, you enter into a contract with them. Consumer law requires that you must supply your service as outlined in the contract. These responsibilities are known as subjective obligations. They include that you must ensure your service:

  • Is supplied according to the contract terms agreed between you and the consumer
  • Matches any advertisements or verbal/written information provided
  • Is fit for the purpose the consumer specified and you agreed to

What are a businesses objective obligations?

Consumer law outlines that you must also provide what a consumer will reasonably expect when you supply the service.  They are known as objective obligations. You must:

  • Have the necessary skills and provide the service with reasonable care
  • Meet any higher standards you claim to offer
  • Comply with standards of any professional body you claim membership of
  • Follow any code of practice you say you are bound by
  • Use materials that are fit for purpose and match descriptions
  • Ensure any advertisements or verbal/written information match what was provided

You must resolve service issues unless you told the consumer that the service did not meet a particular requirement and they accepted.

How long do your obligations last? 

A consumer has the right to have their issue resolved for up to 6 years. Generally, the 6 years starts from the date:

  • You supply a once-off service
  • The consumer has a problem with a service you supply on a continuous basis
You must also ensure your service Is delivered without recurring or significant interruptions

How should you resolve service issues?

If you fail to meet your obligations to consumers, you must resolve the issue:
  • At no cost to the consumer
  • Within a reasonable time (the shortest possible time to resolve the issue)
  • Without significant inconvenience to the consumer

Consumers may request a refund or price reduction if:

  • The issue is serious
  • You fail, or it is impossible, to resolve the issue or do so in a reasonable time
  • Previous attempts to resolve the issue have failed

How can a consumer end the contract and get a refund?

To end the contract, the consumer must:

  • Inform you of their decision to end the contract
  • Return any physical items provided as part of service to you, at your expense and without undue delay
  • Stop using the service they are cancelling
When returning any physical items, the consumer must:

  • Make any goods and other materials supplied under the service contract available for collection by the trader, or 
  • The trader and consumer may agree that the consumer should return the items and if so the trader must cover the cost of the return. 
Traders are also not entitled to the return of items or materials if it would cause disproportionate inconvenience to the consumer or if making them available for return would damage their property.

You must refund the consumer for the time you were not providing the service in accordance with the contract by:

  • Providing the consumer with a refund within 14 days
  • Using the same payment method used to buy the service, unless they agree otherwise
  • Cancelling any secondary service the consumer ordered with the main service – for example, the consumer also ordered travel insurance when buying an airline flight

Can the consumer ask you for a price reduction?

The consumer must inform you that they are seeking a price reduction. The price reduction will be the difference between the price you agreed in the contract and the reduced value of the service due to the issue. Both you and the consumer should agree what an appropriate reduction is.

When the consumer has paid upfront, you must:

  • Send them the refund for the price reduction within 14 days
  • Use the same method of payment they used to buy the service unless they agree something different
  • Not charge the consumer any extra fees

Can a consumer withhold payment for unresolved service issues? 

If a consumer has not fully paid for a service, they may withhold payment until the issue is resolved. The withheld amount must reflect the reduction in value caused by the issue.

What information must you give consumers before a sale?

Under Irish consumer law, you must provide specific information before a consumer agrees to a contract. The required details depend on how the contract is made:

  • In a physical store
  • On the consumer’s doorstep
  • At a distance (e.g. online, phone, mail order)

What information is required for all sales?

You must give clear, understandable information before the consumer agrees to use your service. If there’s a dispute, you must prove the information was provided. This includes:

  • Your business name, address and phone number
  • Details of the service, if not already clear
  • The total price including VAT, or how the price will be calculated if not known upfront
  • Other relevant details when applicable:
    • Contract length
    • Any additional charges
    • Whether the consumer has a legal right to cancel

What extra details are needed for doorstep and distance sales?

You must also provide:

  • Your email address and online contact channels
  • Payment and performance details
  • Delivery arrangements
  • Cancellation terms for contracts without a fixed length or that auto-renew
  • If pricing is based on consumer profiling or online behaviour
  • Deposit conditions, where applicable
After the contract is agreed, you must:

  • Give the consumer a copy of the signed contract or confirmation within a reasonable timeframe
  • Provide this information on paper unless the consumer agrees otherwise

What are your obligations for online sales?

When selling services online, you must ensure:

  • Consumers know when they are making a payment — buttons must clearly indicate an ‘obligation to pay’ and use a clear term
  • Consumers actively choose additional services — pre-ticked boxes are not allowed

Any goods/digital elements sold with or as part of the service must be in conformity with the contract, for more information visit our section on selling products.

What information must online marketplaces provide to consumers?

If you operate an online marketplace, you must inform consumers:

  • How search results are ranked
  • Whether the seller on your platform is a business or another consumer
  • That consumer law does not apply when the seller is also a consumer
  • How legal obligations are shared between you and the seller/business

This information must be easy to find and written in plain language. It should be accessible from the point of sale, such as via a link.

Are there exemptions from the right to information?

You do not need to provide the above information:

  • For low-value everyday items sold in-store or where the information is already clear
  • For off-premises contracts under €50

Can a consumer cancel a service contract?

Consumers can cancel a service bought online, by phone or on the doorstep. This is called a withdrawal period and they can get a full or partial refund:

  • Within 14 days of entering the contract
  • Within 30 days for doorstep sales

They do not need to give a reason for cancelling.

Note: Where a consumer cancels a contract during the cancellation period before the service has been fully supplied/performed, they will still have to pay the trader for the period during which it was supplied, so they may not always be entitled to a full refund.

Additionally, where the service has been fully supplied/performed within the 14 days, the consumer will no longer have the right to cancel.

There are also exemptions for contracts, which are to be performed on a specific date/period, for:

  • The provision of accommodation
  • The transport of goods
  • Car rental services
  • Catering
  • Services related to leisure activities
  • Products that are sealed for health/hygiene reasons that have been unsealed
  • Personalised goods? 

Note: Further exemptions may apply depending on the subject matter of the contract.

What are your obligations when cancellation rights apply? 

Where the right to cancel exists you must:

  • Inform the consumer of their right to cancel, including:
    • How to cancel
    • Relevant timeframes
    • That they must pay for any services used before cancellation
  • Provide a cancellation form (on paper unless agreed otherwise)
  • Issue refunds:
    • Within 14 days of cancellation
    • Using the original payment method unless agreed otherwise
  • Cancel any related services (e.g. travel insurance with a flight)

What happens if you fail to inform the consumer?

If you do not inform the consumer of their cancellation rights:

  • The cancellation period extends to 12 months from the original expiry date
  • If you provide the information within that 12-month period, the withdrawal period ends:
    •  14 days after the consumer receives the information (distance sales)
    • 30 days after the consumer receives the information (doorstep sales)

What must consumers do when cancelling?

When a consumer has the option to cancel their service, they must:

  • Notify you within the withdrawal period
  • Ideally inform you in writing (they don’t have to use your form)
  • Return any equipment provided
  • Pay for services used during the cancellation period
  • Revert to a previous contract, if applicable

If there’s a dispute, the consumer must prove they exercised their right to cancel.

When does the right to cancel not apply?

Consumers cannot cancel in certain cases, including:

  • Contracts agreed in a physical store
  • Customised services
  • You have fully provided what the consumer has paid for. You provided the service with the consumers consent and agreement that they would lose the right to cancel
  • Service provided free or charge
  • Urgent repairs or maintenance

Cancellation rights also do not apply to:

  • Passenger transport (e.g. air, rail, bus, boat)
  • Contracts for accommodation, transport oh goods, car hire, catering or leisure activities booked for a set date or period

What are the rules for contract terms?

Consumer law sets out requirements for transparency in contracts as well as a legal framework on unfair terms. This is to ensure that the terms in your contract do not cause harm to consumers.
Read our guide to unfair terms.

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