How protected am I during an online transaction?

 HOW PROTECTED AM I DURING AN ONLINE TRANSACTION?

As a general rule, contract terms and general conditions must be provided to the recipient in a way that allows them to be stored and reproduced. Despite these provisions, some unfair terms might still creep into the e-commerce terms and conditions. Unfair terms have are terms that have not been individually negotiated and which causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations arising under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer.

Most agreements in Nigeria especially banks and even online transactions are standard agreements where the customers have little or no say or little or no bargaining power. Most times the customers agree to these agreements without proper information or after an overload of information, usually in a take-it or leave it approach ie failure to accede to these terms would deny you use of the website. While this is not totally proscribed by law, the law frowns at clauses that put the customer in an unfair position and give the other party a higher bargaining chip.

The EU law and UK law - Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 provides a non-exhaustive list of unfair terms which customers should be wary of. The UK authorities actively prosecute companies whether online or not who flout these terms. Unfortunately, Nigeria has no consumer protection legislation but it would be useful to know some of this information to protect yourself. Some of the unfair terms include terms that:

*allow the supplier the ultimate discretion to cancel and whether to refund payments already made

use legal jargon about the application and validity of the terms, which would not be understood by consumers

*allow the supplier too much discretion about when to terminate and what to charge the consumer, including where the supplier was in breach

*provide the supplier with too wide an exclusion of liability for failure to perform its obligations. The consumer would not know the circumstances in which this could be exercised

*did not address the consequences of the supplier's breach, so potentially gave the supplier the right to cancel without refund.

*Excluding or restricting liability for death or injury

*Excluding or restricting liability for breaches of contract

 *Excluding liability for defective or mis-described goods

* Excluding liability for poor services, or work and material

*Restricting amount or type of liability  for suppliers non-performance or delay

*Binding consumers while allowing suppliers to opt out on a pretext

*Non-return of prepayments on consumer cancellation

*Supplier's right to cancel without notice

*Excessive notice periods for consumer cancellation

*Binding consumers to hidden terms

*Right to change what is supplied  or increase the price

It is important that you check your contracts for any of these terms before you decide to use that online service. Unfortunately, the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) in Nigeria is not as pro-active as the UK consumer protection agency which routinely checks the contracts of e-commerce companies to ensure that they comply. However, the CPC can still be contacted in the event of any unfair terms.