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The Vermont Statutes Online
Title
09
:
Commerce and Trade
Chapter
063
:
CONSUMER PROTECTION
Subchapter
001
:
GENERAL PROVISIONS
§
2451a. Definitions
As used in this
chapter:
(a)
"Consumer" means any person who purchases, leases, contracts for, or
otherwise agrees to pay consideration for goods or services not for resale in
the ordinary course of his or her trade or business but for his or her use or
benefit or the use or benefit of a member of his or her household, or in
connection with the operation of his or her household or a farm whether or not
the farm is conducted as a trade or business, or a person who purchases,
leases, contracts for, or otherwise agrees to pay consideration for goods or
services not for resale in the ordinary course of his or her trade or business
but for the use or benefit of his or her business or in connection with the
operation of his or her business.
(b)
"Goods" or "services" shall include any objects, wares,
goods, commodities, work, labor, intangibles, courses of instruction or
training, securities, bonds, debentures, stocks, real estate, or other property
or services of any kind. The term also includes bottled liquified petroleum (LP
or propane) gas.
(c)
"Seller" means a person regularly and principally engaged in a
business of selling goods or services to consumers.
(d) "Home
solicitation sale" means the sale or lease, or the offer for sale or lease,
of goods or services with a purchase price of $5.00 or more, whether under
single or multiple contracts, where the sale, lease, or offer thereof is either
personally solicited or consummated by a seller at the residence or place of
business or employment of the consumer, or at a seller's transient quarters, or
solicited or consummated by a seller wholly or in part by telephone with a
consumer at the residence or place of business or employment of the consumer.
Transient quarters includes hotel or motel rooms, or any other place utilized
as a temporary business location. The term "home solicitation sale"
does not include a transaction:
(1) made
pursuant to prior negotiations in the course of a visit by the consumer to a
retail business establishment having a fixed permanent location where the goods
are exhibited or the services are offered for sale on a continuing basis; or
(2) in which the
consumer has initiated the contact and specifically requested the seller to
visit his home for the purpose of repairing or performing maintenance upon the
consumer's personal property. If in the course of such a visit, the seller
sells the consumer the right to receive additional services or goods other than
replacement parts necessarily used in performing the maintenance or in making
the repairs, the sale of those additional goods or services would not fall
within this exclusion;
(3) conducted
and consummated entirely by mail; and without any other contact between the
consumer and the seller prior to delivery of the goods or performance of the
services;
(4) with a
purchase price of under $25.00 where the consumer is not required to sign any
contract, receipt, sales ticket, evidence of indebtedness or other writing; and
the goods, services, or merchandise purchased are capable of delivery or
performance at one time;
(5) pertaining
to the sale or rental of real property, to the sale of insurance, to the sale
of securities by a broker dealer registered with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, or to the sale of commodities by and any person registered with the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission;
(6) where, in
the case of goods, the buyer may at any time:
(A)(i) cancel
the order prior to delivery of the goods and receive a full refund for any
monies paid; or
(ii) refuse to accept
the goods when delivered, without incurring any obligation to pay for them and
receive a full refund for any monies paid; or
(iii) return the
goods to the seller and receive a full refund for any monies paid; and
(B) the buyer's
right to cancel the order or return the goods without obligation or charge at
any time and receive a full refund for any monies paid is clearly and
unmistakably set forth on the face or reverse side of the sales ticket; and
(C) the goods or
merchandise purchased under an agreement meeting the requirements specified in
subdivisions (A) and (B) of this subdivision are capable of delivery at one
time;
(7) solicited or
consummated wholly or in part by telephone where the seller offers a full
refund and right of cancellation for at least ten days after receipt of the
goods or services, and a full refund within 30 days of return of the goods or
cancellation of the services or under terms no more restrictive than those set
forth in subsections 2454(a), (c), and (d) of this chapter, and the right of
refund and cancellation is conspicuously disclosed with the goods or services;
(8) solicited or
consummated wholly or in part by a federally insured depository institution or
its subsidiary, affiliate, or parent organizations, or by a public utility
regulated by the Federal Communications Commission or the Vermont Public
Service Board;
(9) in response
to an order placed by a farmer for farm-related goods or services, whether in
person, by telephone, or otherwise, and the farmer has a preexisting open end
credit plan with the seller.
(e)
"Business day" means any calendar day except Saturday, Sunday, or any
day classified as a holiday under 1 V.S.A. § 371.
(f)
"Purchase price" means the total price paid or to be paid for the
consumer goods or services, including all interest and service charges.
(g)
"Lessor" means a person engaged in a business of leasing goods to
consumers.
(h)
"Collusion" means an agreement, contract, combination in the form of
trusts or otherwise, or conspiracy to engage in price fixing, bid rigging, or
market division or allocation of goods or services between or among persons.
(Added 1973, No. 221 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. June 7, 1974; amended 1985, No.
34, § 1; 1985, No. 61; 1993, No. 99, § 3; 1995, No. 23, § 1; 1997, No. 42, § 1;
2001, No. 42, § 2; 2011, No. 168 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. May 18, 2012.)
