Do You Owe Money After Refusing an Online Order?

If you refused a parcel or never ordered it at all, you usually owe nothing. The law places the burden on the trader to prove that the order is valid and that you were properly informed.

In recent months, there have been more and more cases of consumers receiving invoices, emails or letters demanding payment after refusing a parcel from an online order, or even without having ordered anything. The answer to whether you really owe money lies mainly in the Consumer Protection Act, which governs your rights under distance contracts and expressly prohibits a number of misleading commercial practices, including sending invoices for goods you never ordered.

When Is a Contract with an Online Trader Concluded at All?

Not every “order” clicked on a website gives rise to an obligation to pay. A distance contract is any contract concluded between a trader and a consumer exclusively by means of distance communication, such as a website, without the simultaneous physical presence of the parties.

The law imposes strict requirements on the ordering process itself. When an order is placed online and entails an obligation to pay, the button by which you confirm it must bear the clear words “order with obligation to pay” or other unambiguous wording to the same effect. If the trader fails to comply with this requirement, the law is categorical that the consumer is not bound by the contract or order. In other words, if you clicked a button that was not labelled in this way, a valid contract may never have been concluded, whatever the trader later claims.

The 14-Day Right of Withdrawal

Even where the contract has been validly concluded, the consumer has the right to withdraw from it, without giving any reason and without owing compensation or a penalty, within 14 days of receiving the goods. If the trader did not inform you of this right at all, the period is extended to one year and 14 days.

To exercise the right of withdrawal, you must inform the trader unequivocally, using the standard form or another clear statement. It is important to know that the burden of proving that you exercised the right lies with the consumer. If you decide not to accept a parcel or want to return goods, it is therefore safer to send the trader an express written notice (by email, with a return receipt or through your account on the website) rather than relying solely on refusing the delivery.

Is Refusing the Parcel at the Door Enough?

Many complaints about false payment demands stem from a situation in which the consumer simply did not accept a parcel sent cash on delivery. Refusing a delivery is not in itself automatically a formal exercise of the statutory right of withdrawal. It does, however, have significant legal effect. The goods never came into the consumer's possession, the sale has not been performed and there has been no delivery giving rise to further obligations.

Moreover, if the trader did not inform you of additional costs (delivery, return and other charges), you do not owe them. The law places the burden of non-compliance on the trader, not on the consumer. In practice, where an order placed correctly is refused on delivery, no monetary obligation to the trader usually arises beyond any direct costs expressly disclosed in advance.

You Never Ordered the Goods, or Unsolicited Supply

There are also cases in which the consumer never placed an order at all, their data having been used without their knowledge to generate a fictitious order, followed by a demand for payment. The law is categorical on this point. The supply of goods or services to a consumer for payment without their request is prohibited. Where such an unsolicited supply is nevertheless made, the consumer is not required to return the goods and owes no payment to the sender. The consumer's silence or failure to respond is expressly not deemed to be consent.

In other words, if you did not place the order, the mere fact that a parcel has appeared on your doorstep or an invoice in your post gives rise to no obligation, however insistent the payment demand.

This protection applies equally where the supplier claims that the order was placed “on your behalf” through a website you say you never accessed. In such cases, it is advisable to ask the trader for specific evidence, such as the IP address, the time of the order and the method of payment. It is the trader who must establish that the order actually came from you, not you who must prove the negative fact that you did not place it.

An Invoice for an Order You Did Not Place Is a Prohibited Practice

The law goes one step further. Among the expressly listed unfair commercial practices is including in marketing material an invoice or similar document seeking payment which gives the consumer the impression that they have already ordered the goods or service when they have not. This is exactly the scheme behind many of the current complaints. The consumer receives a document that looks like an official demand for a debt, although no such debt has ever arisen. Such a practice is prohibited by law and the trader applying it is liable to an administrative penalty.

What to Do If You Receive a Payment Demand

If you receive an invoice, email or letter demanding payment for an order you refused or do not remember placing, it is advisable to take the following steps.

• Do not pay immediately just because the document looks official or threatening. An invoice does not automatically mean that the debt exists.
• Request written proof of the order itself, including when, how and with which button it was placed. It is the trader who must show that it complied with its information obligations, not you who must prove the opposite.
• Check whether you have any order confirmation on your side, such as an email, a text message or an entry in your account on the trader's website.
• Keep all correspondence, the delivery notice and the details of the refused parcel, as you will need them if the dispute leads to a complaint or court proceedings.
• File a complaint with the Consumer Protection Commission, which may investigate the trader and impose administrative penalties.
• If you suspect that your personal data has been used without consent to create a fictitious order, you are entitled to file a separate complaint with the Commission for Personal Data Protection.
• If you placed the order in good faith and are still within the 14-day period, send the trader a written notice of withdrawal rather than simply ignoring the demand.

Even a Genuine Debt Becomes Time-Barred

If a valid contract was nevertheless concluded and an unpaid amount genuinely exists, for example direct delivery costs of which you were properly informed in advance, it does not remain payable indefinitely. General claims between a trader and a consumer are subject to a five-year limitation period under the Obligations and Contracts Act, and claims for periodic payments to a three-year period. Bear in mind that the limitation period may be interrupted, for example by the debtor's acknowledgement of the debt or by a court claim, so it does not always run uninterrupted. You can read more about the practical aspects of recovering unpaid invoices on our blog. An expired limitation period does not in itself extinguish the debt, but it entitles you to refuse payment if the other party has not taken timely steps to recover it. That is why it is important to keep evidence of the dates of the order, the refusal of the parcel and all subsequent correspondence.

How to Protect Yourself in Future

Many of the current fraudulent schemes rely on speed and fear rather than on any real legal basis. A few practical habits reduce the risk of finding yourself in such a situation.

• Shop mainly with traders that offer a clearly advertised “inspect and test” option on cash-on-delivery orders, which is a sign of fair dealing and makes any later challenge easier.
• Before ordering, check the trader's identity, company name, registered address and contact details, which the law requires to be provided before the contract is concluded.
• Take a screenshot or save the order confirmation immediately after placing the order, including the exact wording of the button with which you confirmed it.
• Do not provide more personal data (personal identification number, identity card number, copies of documents) than is necessary for the delivery itself, since more data means greater risk in the event of a breach or misuse.
• Pay close attention to notifications from the courier and do not sign receipts for parcels you did not order, even if they bear your name.

If the Demands Turn into Threats

Where a demand for payment of a non-existent debt is accompanied by pressure, threats or claims of “debt collection” action with consequences beyond ordinary commercial correspondence, the matter may go beyond consumer law. In such situations, it is advisable not to negotiate with the sender yourself but to seek legal assistance, so that the merits of the claim can be assessed and a formal response sent on your behalf by a lawyer, including, where necessary, for dispute resolution or protection against unfounded debt collection. A clear written response citing the specific provisions of the law is usually enough to put an end to attempts to collect amounts that are not owed.

It is important to distinguish between a legitimate debt collection agency acting on the basis of a real and provable debt and the sender of a mass, automated invoice with no legal basis behind it. The former usually holds documentation showing how the debt arose and is prepared to provide it on request. The latter relies precisely on the recipient not checking the basis and paying out of anxiety. The safest step when in doubt therefore remains not to pay until you have received and reviewed specific evidence of the order being claimed.