The kitchen-table decoder
The in-home bathroom sales visit runs to a script. Knowing the script does not make the product bad — sometimes it is the right product — but it does mean nothing in the room surprises you, and it means you know exactly what the law gives you at each step. Answer five questions and see where you are.
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How this works
- This is a description of how a common sales process works and of what federal consumer-protection law requires in it. It is not an accusation about any company, and it is not legal advice.
- The legal spine is the FTC's Cooling-Off Rule, 16 CFR Part 429. For a sale of $25 or more made at your home, you may cancel until midnight of the third business day after you signed, without giving a reason and without penalty. At a seller's temporary location — a hotel room, a fairground — the threshold is $130.
- The rule also puts obligations on the seller, and this is the part most people never hear: the seller must give you two copies of a dated Notice of Cancellation, must give you a copy of the contract in the same language the sale was conducted in, and must tell you orally about your right to cancel at the time you sign (16 CFR 429.1).
- Anything you paid comes back within ten business days of the seller receiving your cancellation, and any security interest arising from the transaction is cancelled.
- The deposit yardsticks come from two real state caps: Maryland caps a home-improvement deposit at one-third of the contract price (Md. Code, Bus. Reg. §8-617), and California caps the down payment at $1,000 or 10% of the contract, whichever is less (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §7159.5). Your state may differ; these are the numbers to argue from.
- Some states give longer than three days, and some have their own home-solicitation or home-improvement acts with extra requirements. The right-to-cancel tool lists what we have verified state by state, and your state consumer-protection office is free.
- Nothing you enter here leaves your device.
Sources
- eCFR: 16 CFR 429.1 — The Rule (three business days; the Notice of Cancellation the seller must give you)
- eCFR: 16 CFR 429.0 — Definitions ($25 or more at your residence; $130 or more elsewhere)
- eCFR: 16 CFR Part 429 — Cooling-off Period for Sales Made at Homes or at Certain Other Locations
- FTC: Cooling-off Period for Sales Made at Home or Other Locations
- FTC consumer advice: Buyer's remorse — the FTC's Cooling-Off Rule may help
- FTC consumer advice: How to avoid a home improvement scam
- FTC: Penalty offenses concerning home improvement
- Maryland Code, Business Regulation §8-617 (deposit capped at one-third of the contract price)
- California Business and Professions Code §7159.5 (down payment capped at $1,000 or 10% of the contract, whichever is less)
- USA.gov: State consumer protection offices
- Expert review
- Not yet reviewed
- Last verified
- September 18, 2026
Information, not legal advice, and not a statement about any particular company. It describes a common sales process and what federal consumer-protection law requires in it. State law differs and may give you more; your state consumer-protection office is free. Nothing you enter here leaves your device.
Common questions
Is a one-day bathroom company a scam?
No. Acrylic liner and wall systems are a real product with real uses — getting a tub wall out of the way quickly is a case they are genuinely good at. What this page is about is the sales process, which is built to get a signature on the first visit, and the fact that federal law gives you three business days afterwards whatever you signed.
Why does the price drop after they call a manager?
Because a first number you reject, followed by an authority figure approving a better one, is a scripted sequence in this trade. The simple test is to ask for the same price in writing next week. If it holds, it was a real price. If it does not, you have learned what it was.
They started the work already. Can I still cancel?
The right to cancel does not disappear because someone turned up early. Cancel in writing inside the window and say so. What happens with anything already delivered or done is dealt with under the rule, and your state consumer-protection office can tell you how it works where you live.
How much deposit is reasonable?
Less than you will be asked for. Maryland caps a home-improvement deposit at one-third of the contract price, and California caps the down payment at $1,000 or 10% of the contract, whichever is less. If your state has no cap, those are still the numbers to argue from, and the FTC lists demands for full payment up front among scammers' tactics.
Does any of this mean I should not buy?
Not at all. It means you buy on your own timetable with three written quotes on the same scope, rather than at ten o'clock at night because a discount expires. If the product is right for you it will still be right for you next week, at the same price, from someone who will put it in writing.
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