The Consumer Rights Act 2015 replaced three big pieces of consumer legislation - the Sale of Goods Act, Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations and the Supply of Goods and Services Act.
The Consumer Rights Act introduces:
As with the Sale of Goods Act, under the Consumer Rights Act all products must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described.
The rules also include digital content in this definition. So all products - whether physical or digital - must meet the following standards:
If what you’ve bought doesn’t satisfy any one of the three criteria outlined above, you have a claim under the Consumer Rights Act.
If you've bought a faulty product, you can read our guide which shows you what you should do and how to make a claim.
If you want to make a claim under the Consumer Rights Act, you have several possible ways of resolving your issue, depending on the circumstances and on what you want to have done to remedy the situation.
Your rights under the Consumer Rights Act are against the retailer – the company that sold you the product – not the manufacturer, and so you must take any claim to the retailer.
What you can claim depends on how much time has passed since you made the purchase. Read on to find out what your rights are in the first 30 days after purchase and beyond.
Under the Consumer Rights Act you have a legal to reject goods that are unsatisfactory quality, unfit for purpose or not as described and get a full refund - as long as you do this quickly.
This right is limited to 30 days from the date you buy your product. After 30 days you will not be legally entitled to a full refund if your item develops a fault.
This right to a refund doesn't apply to purely digital products though - such as music, games or apps that you buy as downloads.
You can however ask for a digital product to be repaired or replaced if it develops a fault.
The 30 days is shorter for perishable goods where the period will be determined by how long it is reasonable to have expected the goods to last. For example, milk would be expected to last until its use-by date as long as it’s stored correctly.
If you are outside the 30-day right to reject, you have to give the retailer one opportunity to repair or replace any goods or digital content which are of unsatisfactory quality, unfit for purpose or not as described.
You can ask the retailer to repair or replace faulty goods, but it can normally choose to do whichever would be cheapest.
If the attempt at a repair or replacement is unsuccessful, you can then claim a refund or a price reduction if you wish to keep the product.
You're entitled to a full or partial refund instead of a repair or replacement if any of the following are true:
If a repair or replacement is not possible, or the attempt at repair fails, or the first replacement also turns out to be defective, you have a further right to reject the goods for a full or partial refund.
If you don't want a refund and still want your product repaired or replaced, you have the right to request the retailer makes further attempts at a repair or replacement.
Use our step-by-step guide if you want to ask a retailer to repair or replace something you've bought that subsequently develops a fault.
If you discover the fault within the first six months from purchase, it is presumed to have been there since the time of purchase - unless the retailer can prove otherwise.
During this time it's up to retailer to prove that the fault wasn't there at the point of purchase - it's not up to you to prove that it was.
If an attempt at repair or replacement has failed, you have the right to reject the goods for a full refund or price reduction - if you wish to keep the product.
No deduction can be made from a refund in the first six months following an unsuccessful attempt at repair or replacement.
The only exception to this rule is motor vehicles where a reasonable reduction may be made for the use you've already had of the vehicle after the first 30 days.
If you'd prefer to keep the goods in question you can request an appropriate price reduction.
After the first six months the burden is on you to prove that the product was faulty at the time of delivery.
In practice, this may require some form of expert report, opinion or evidence of similar problems across the product range.
Find out more about how to return a faulty item and claim a refund, repair or replacement from a retailer.
You have six years to take a claim to the small claims court for faulty goods in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and five years in Scotland.
This doesn't mean that a product has to last six years - just that you have this length of time in which to make a claim if a retailer refuses to repair or replace a faulty product.
For goods that have a digital element, such as a smart TV or digital content supplied in a physical form, you do have a 30-day right to reject it and get a refund.
This right applies if any part of the product, including the digital element - for example, the software on your smart TV - doesn't work properly or develops a fault.
The Consumer Rights Act defines digital content as ‘data which are produced and supplied in digital form.’
Just like goods, digital content must be:
If digital content does not conform to these criteria, you have the right to a repair or replacement of the digital content you've purchased.
But if that repair or replacement doesn’t fix the situation, you can ask for a price reduction which can be up to 100% of the cost of the digital content.
The retailer will have to compensate you if any device or other digital content you own is damaged as a result of the digital content you've downloaded.
This applies where that damage would not have occurred had ‘reasonable care and skill’ been exercised in the provision of the digital content - even if that content was provided free of charge.
The retailer is responsible for goods until they are in your physical possession or in the possession of someone appointed by you to accept them.
This means that retailers are liable for the service provided by the couriers they employ - the delivery firm is not liable.
The retailer is responsible for the goods until they are delivered to you and in your possession.
There is a default delivery period of 30 days during which the retailer needs to deliver unless a longer period has been agreed.
If the retailer fails to deliver within the 30 days or on the date that has been agreed, you can do the following:
The term 'service' covers a wide variety of services including large and small-scale work you might have carried out in your home.
From a small repair job on a vehicle with no written details or the installation of solar panels to a new kitchen or major building work, all these require you to enter into a contract.
Services can be provided alone or they may be provided with goods, for example, the fitting of a new kitchen.
Examples of services provided without goods include:
Examples of services provided with goods include:
In all of the above examples, the service contract is governed by the Consumer Rights Act which means you can use this as protection should anything go wrong.
The rules mean that all contracts for services must do the following:
If the service you’re provided doesn’t satisfy these criteria, you’re entitled to the following remedies under the Consumer Rights Act:
Your rights under the Consumer Rights Act make it easier to challenge hidden fees and charges.
Now the key terms of a contract, including price, may be assessed for fairness unless they are both prominent and transparent.
This is an improvement for consumers because previously such terms were exempt from a fairness test if they were written in plain language.
Terms may be deemed unfair if:
You can use our guide to challenge unfair terms in contracts.
Some examples of terms that may be unfair under the Consumer Rights Act include:
If you think a contract term is unfair, you should complain to the trader.
If the trader doesn't agree, we recommend you seek legal advice before breaking the terms of the contract.
As a last resort you could take the trader to court and the court will decide whether a term is unfair.
If the court decides that a term is unfair you may be able to ignore the term or even cancel your contract without having to pay a cancellation fee.
Source: http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act
Rate: | |
Share: | Tweet |
Tags: |