Q: I recently attended one of the local trade fairs with my fiancée as we needed to buy a solar panel system for our house. Soon after we arrived at the fair we were approached by a representative of a company that sells solar panels to explain their offers.

Without realising we gave this representative our personal details and our credit card, from which he withdrew a deposit on the order which we were asked to sign.

After effecting the payments we realised we did not have enough time to check other companies’ offers and feel we were somewhat forced into the contract of sale.

We would like to cancel the contract and ask for a refund of the deposit paid. Can we make such a claim?

A: Since you were still shopping around for different offers, you should have never signed a sales contract and accepted to pay a deposit. At this point, the contract of sale is legally binding and you cannot simply change your mind and cancel the sale. If you do so, you risk losing the deposit paid and the seller may also oblige you to honour the sales agreement by purchasing and paying in full the ordered solar panels. The law only gives you the right to cancel a sales agreement if the seller is unable to provide you with the products ordered at the agreed terms of sale.