(a) No person (including any business entity), who conducts a mail order or catalog business in or from the city or advertises a city mailing address, shall accept money through the mails from a consumer for merchandise ordered by mail or telephone and then permit six weeks to elapse without:
(1) delivering or mailing the merchandise ordered; or
(2) making a full refund; or
(3) sending the customer a prior letter or notice advising him of the duration of an expected delay or the substitution of merchandise of equivalent or superior quality, and offering to send him a refund within one week if he so requests; or
(4) sending the consumer substituted merchandise of equivalent or superior quality, with a guarantee that should the merchandise be unacceptable, the seller will accept the return of the merchandise at the seller’s expense and that the purchase price will be refunded.
(b) For purposes of Subparagraphs (a)(3) and (a)(4), above, merchandise may not be considered of “equivalent or superior quality” if it is not substantially similar to the goods ordered, or not fit for the purposes intended, or if the seller normally offers the substituted merchandise at a price lower than the price of the merchandise ordered. (Ord. 13795)
Sec. 50-95 shall not apply to:
(a) merchandise ordered pursuant to an open-end credit plan as defined in the Federal Consumer Credit Protection Act or any other credit plan pursuant to which the consumer’s account was opened prior to the mail order in question, and under which the creditor may permit the customer to make purchases from time to time from the creditor or by use of a credit card; or
(b) when all advertising for the merchandise contains a notice (which, in the case of printed advertising, shall be in a type size at least as large as the price) that a delay may be expected of a specified period. In such case, one of the events described in Section 50-95(a)(1) through (a)(4) must occur no later than one week after expiration of the period specified in the advertisement; or
(c) merchandise, such as quarterly magazines, which by their nature are not produced until a future date and for that reason cannot be stocked at the time of order; or
(d) installments other than the first, of merchandise, such as magazine subscriptions, ordered for serial delivery. (Ord. 13795)
No person (including any business entity), who conducts a mail order or catalog business in or from the city or advertises a city mailing address, for such business, shall fail to disclose the legal name of the company and the complete street address from which the business is actually conducted, in all advertising or other promotional materials containing a post office box address, including order blanks and forms, unless the person or business entity has its address currently listed in the city of Dallas telephone directory. (Ord. 13795)