Two problems, in the order they arrive. The phone rings while you are on a job, and the caller can ring the next name on the list. Then the quote, the cancellation notice, the scheme logo and the name on the van can each say something different from your website.
When the phone rings out on a job
With Missed-Call Text-Back, the number on your van, your website and your Google profile stays as it is: unanswered calls divert to a line we set up, and the caller gets one text from your business saying who missed it and how to reply or book. Replies land in one inbox and a phone app.
On our reading, that text is a service message: no offer, no discount and, by our standard, no review link. The Information Commission (the ICO) says a service message with "elements that are direct marketing" counts as direct marketing, and asks you to "think about why you want to communicate with people" (missed-call text rules). A booking link is unsettled under that test; by our standard it is one plain link on your own domain. By our build standard, the caller's number is used only to reply to that call, unless they ask for more.
A quote accepted at the door or by text
Under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, a quote accepted in the customer's home, or by text or phone "immediately after" you spoke to them there, is an off-premises contract; one accepted remotely, by phone, text, email or online with no visit, where taking work that way is how you trade, is a distance contract (regulation 5). Either lets the customer cancel "at any time in the cancellation period without giving any reason" (regulation 29) and, for a service, the period ends 14 days after the day the contract is made (regulation 30).
Three duties follow. Before the customer is bound, you must give, or at a distance make available, the Schedule 2 information and, "if a right to cancel exists", a cancellation form (regulations 10 and 13). Before work begins, you must confirm the contract: on paper or, if the customer agrees, another durable medium such as email for a doorstep job, and on a durable medium for a distance one (regulations 12 and 16). And you must not start inside the 14 days unless the customer "has made an express request", on a durable medium for a doorstep job (regulation 36).
Four of the limits, each in its own regulation:
- Urgent repairs. A visit the customer specifically asked for to carry out "urgent repairs or maintenance" has no right to cancel, though extra services, and goods other than replacement parts "necessarily used" in the repairs, sold on that visit can keep it (regulation 28).
- The £42 floor. If the payment for an off-premises job is "not more than £42", the information duties (regulation 7(4), Part 2) and the right to cancel (regulation 27(3), Part 3) do not apply. A distance contract has no floor, but on our reading a text acceptance "immediately after" a visit is off-premises (regulation 5), so the floor can apply.
- New builds. The Regulations do not apply to a contract to the extent that it is "for the construction of new buildings", or of substantially new ones by conversion (regulation 6(1)(e)).
- Work fully performed. The right ends "if the service has been fully performed", where work began after the customer's express request and "with the acknowledgement" that they would lose it (regulation 36(2)).
The right is the law's: selling it as your own feature is a banned practice (DMCC Act, Schedule 20, paragraph 11). Where quotes or bookings go out from a CRM we set up, the templates can carry the information, the confirmation and the request to start; you supply your terms. That is our reading, not legal advice.
Your website's promises can become contract terms
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, a service contract includes "anything that is said or written to the consumer, by or on behalf of the trader, about the trader or the service" that the customer took into account, with anything that "qualified it" on the same occasion (section 50). A same-day call-out or "no call-out charge" on your site can become part of the job. Our build standard: the site is written like the quote, specific and qualified beside the claim.
Scheme logos and the Gas Safe number
Gas Safe Register's Brand Enforcement Policy says: "Only registered gas businesses are permitted to display the appropriate Gas Safe Register brand and/or a Gas Safe registration number and these can only be used in association with the registered trading name." The policy counts "websites" and "online website directories" as marketing material, and its Registration Policy (February 2026) adds that a business advertising with the brand "must only use the trading name registered with Gas Safe Register". TrustMark says it notifies a business misusing its logo twice and then, if the logo stays, the local Trading Standards office.
Displaying a trust mark "without having obtained the necessary authorisation", or claiming to be "approved, endorsed or authorised" when that is false or its terms have not been or are not being kept, are banned practices (Schedule 20, paragraphs 3 and 4). Business Companion, the Trading Standards guidance for England, Scotland and Wales, holds the business responsible even for claims made "on their behalf, including by advertising agencies". So our build standard: a scheme mark only on your written evidence of registration and a register check on launch day, within the scope the register shows, in the scheme's own artwork, with the Gas Safe brand or number only beside the trading name registered with Gas Safe Register; and never "approved" or "accredited" unless the register says so.
The details a trading website must carry
A company's or LLP's website must show its registered name and number, the part of the UK it is registered in and its registered office address (regulations 24 and 25 of the 2015 disclosure rules). Regulation 6 of the E-Commerce Regulations 2002 applies to "a person providing an information society service", which the ICO says an online service "is likely" to be, sole traders included. It requires, among other items, the name, geographic address, email address and the VAT number if the activity is subject to VAT; where prices are referred to, they must be shown "clearly and unambiguously", saying whether they include tax and delivery costs (UK website legal checklist). Our build standard puts them in the footer and on the contact page.
Reviews: every customer asked once
Review Management asks every customer once for a Google review after the job, with nothing offered, and drafts a reply to every Google review for your approval. The CMA's guidance says cherry-picking "might be done" by "encouraging just those who are satisfied to leave reviews", and Google does not allow merchants to "selectively solicit positive reviews from customers" or to offer incentives "in exchange for posting any review" (Google's policy and UK law).
Your Google profile as a service-area business
Google's guidelines let a business that "travels to customers where they are" create a profile, and say: "If you're a service-area business, you should hide your business address from customers" (why a borrowed address fails). The name "should reflect your business' real-world name, as used consistently on your shopfront, website, stationery and as known to customers", so our build standard is one trading name on the register, the site, the van and the profile. Google Business Profile management runs it in your own Google account, you the owner and us a manager.
What we build
- The website. Web Development: five pages for a fixed fee, to WCAG 2.2 AA, checked automatically as the site is built and by a manual keyboard pass before launch.
- Local search. SEO: UK keyword research, location pages for the area you serve, and writing published every month.
- The calls you miss. Missed-Call Text-Back, or the AI Receptionist, which answers the call itself, says it is automated and never dials out.
- Quotes, bookings and reminders. Through a CRM we set up, enquiries are captured, followed up and booked from one system; where quotes go out from it, the templates can carry the information above. A reminder of a booked visit goes as a service message; an annual service, boiler service or safety-check reminder that invites a new booking is built as marketing, sent only with consent or the soft opt-in: our build position, not a ruling (appointment reminder rules).
- Or as one plan. Local Business Plans: the phone, the reviews and the follow-up, run for you in a hosted account, one location per plan.
On a hosted plan your customers' names, numbers, messages and jobs are processed for you under a written contract, on a platform whose data does not stay in the UK. Some details a caller gives can be health data.
What we are not
We are a web and automation studio, not Trading Standards, a scheme or a solicitor. Our build standard is written to respect the rules above: a specialisation, not advice. Business Companion says that if you are not sure about your advertising, you "should seek advice from your local Trading Standards service".
Where to next
Start with a free audit: five prioritised findings on search, speed and conversion, a recorded walkthrough of your own pages and a one-page summary. It does not check the site against consumer law or a scheme's rules, and the findings are yours whether or not you work with us. Starting figures are on our pricing page.