Telemarketing and the Door to Door Sales Act 1967

14 Pages Posted: 5 Dec 2015 Last revised: 22 Feb 2016

See all articles by Kate Tokeley

Kate Tokeley

Victoria University of Wellington, Te Herenga Waka - Faculty of Law

Date Written: 2006

Abstract

The Door to Door Sales Act 1967 was intended to protect consumers from the sales pressure applied by sellers knocking on their door in an attempt to sell their products. In recent times sellers have adopted new methods of marketing their products, including the practice of telemarketing. In the recent case of Commerce Commission v Telecom Mobile Ltd the Court of Appeal concluded that the particular telemarketing activities undertaken by Telecom Mobile were covered by the Door to Door Sales Act 1967. This article analyses the difficulties and uncertainty of applying the outdated Act to the practice of telemarketing. Some contracts made as a result of telemarketing are covered by the Act and other contracts are not. The article argues that this arbitrary approach is unsatisfactory and that the law should be reformed so that the Act expressly covers all contracts that result from an unsolicited telemarketing phone call.

Keywords: telemarketing, marketing, phone, unsolicited, door, door to door, reform, critical, analysis, critique, commerce commission, arbitrary, telecom mobile ltd, telecom, mobile, technology, innovation, consumer, protection, uncertainty, outdated, New Zealand, Zealand, NZ

JEL Classification: K00, K10, K12, K13, K20, K23, K31, K42, J41, L14, D18, M31, M37, M3, M30, O31, O32, O38

Suggested Citation

Tokeley, Kate, Telemarketing and the Door to Door Sales Act 1967 (2006). (2006) 37 VUWLR 609-621, Victoria University of Wellington Legal Research Paper No. 18/2016, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2698992

Kate Tokeley (Contact Author)

Victoria University of Wellington, Te Herenga Waka - Faculty of Law ( email )

PO Box 600
Wellington, 6140
New Zealand

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