The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 9 : Commerce and Trade

Chapter 063 : Consumer Protection

Subchapter 001 : GENERAL PROVISIONS

• § 2451a. Definitions

  As used in this chapter:

  (1) “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 the person’s trade or business but for the person’s use or benefit or the use or benefit of a member of the person’s household, or in connection with the operation of the person’s 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 the person’s trade or business but for the use or benefit of the person’s business or in connection with the operation of the person’s business.

  (2) “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.

  (3) “Seller” means a person regularly and principally engaged in a business of selling goods or services to consumers.

  (4) “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:

  (A) 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.

  (B) In which the consumer has initiated the contact and specifically requested the seller to visit the consumer’s 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.

  (C) 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.

  (D) 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.

  (E) 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 any person registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

  (F) Where, in the case of goods, the buyer may at any time:

  (i)(I) cancel the order prior to delivery of the goods and receive a full refund for any monies paid;

  (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;

  (ii) 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

  (iii) the goods or merchandise purchased under an agreement meeting the requirements specified in subdivisions (i) and (ii) of this subdivision (F) are capable of delivery at one time.

  (G) 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 title, and the right of refund and cancellation is conspicuously disclosed with the goods or services.

  (H) 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 Utility Commission.

  (I) 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.

  (5) “Business day” means any calendar day except Saturday, Sunday, or any day classified as a holiday under 1 V.S.A. § 371.

  (6) “Purchase price” means the total price paid or to be paid for the consumer goods or services, including all interest and service charges.

  (7) “Lessor” means a person engaged in a business of leasing goods to consumers.

  (8) “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; 2021, No. 20, § 16.)