Three-Day "Cooling-Off Rule" Applies
To Purchases Made In Your Own Home

LINCOLN - The Nebraska Attorney General's Office has reminded consumers about the so-called "cooling off rule" which allows certain sales to be cancelled within three days of purchase.

Each month the Attorney General's Office receives phone calls from Nebraska consumers asking if certain purchases can be canceled under a law known as the "three-day cooling-off rule."

The facts are, as a consumer you don't always have a right to cancel a purchase because you changed your mind.  However, under the state's Home Solicitation Sales Law, a buyer has until midnight of the third business day to cancel a sale made in the home.

Adopted in 1974, this state law closely resembles the Federal Trade Commission's "Cooling-Off Rule."  Nebraska's three-day cancellation law applies only to sales made in the home or sales that occur in a location other than the seller's regular place of business.  Locations not considered the seller's normal place of business can include temporarily rented rooms, restaurants, and "home parties."

Some types of sales cannot be canceled even if they do occur in your home.  The three-day rule does not cover sales that:

• are under $25

• are the result of prior negotiations made by you at the business' permanent location

• are made entirely by mail or telephone

• are needed to meet an emergency and the consumer made the initial contact

• involve securities or commodities

• are defined as a consumer rental purchase agreement

• the buyer has initiated for the purpose of home repair or home maintenance

State law requires that all home solicitation sales contracts include a notice of the 72-hour law with this heading: "BUYER'S RIGHT TO CANCEL."

In order to cancel a contract the consumer should notify the business by mail.  A certified letter with a return receipt requested would provide documentation of the intent to cancel.

Notice is considered given at the time of mailing, not when the business receives the cancellation notice.  The business has 10 days after a home solicitation sale has been canceled to refund the consumer's money, including any interest, finance, or other charges incurred as a result of the sale.

For more information about the Home Solicitation Sales Law or any other consumer issue, contact: