Consumer Rights
CONSUMER RIGHT & CONSUMER LAW – SOLICITORS MERTON
Consumer Rights
Whenever you buy anything, whether goods or services, as a consumer you have legal rights. Consumer rights are, for the most part, protected by three pillars of consumer law: The Sale of Goods Act, The Consumer Credit Act and Unfair Trading Act. Let’s have a look at each piece of legislation in turn and see how it protects your consumer rights.
Sale of Goods Act
Under the Sale of Goods Act, goods must be sold ‘as described’, ‘of satisfactory quality’, and be ‘fit for purpose’.
‘Fit for purpose’ includes the everyday purpose of the product as well as any specific purpose that you have agreed with the seller that the product will have. If, for example, you buy a component and the seller has told you that it will work with a certain model and does not, then the product is potentially not fit for purpose.
Remedies
In most instances, your claim will be against the retailer that sold you the product, rather than the manufacturer, unless the product has been purchased directly from the manufacturer or on a hire purchase agreement.
If the product does not fulfill one of the above three conditions, then you are entitled to reject it and ask for your money back, so long as this is done within a reasonable amount of time. A reasonable amount of time is not set in stone, but will invariably be dictated by the nature of the product. Goods with a shelf life for example, will naturally have to be returned quicker than manufactured goods.
You can also agree to have the item replaced or repaired so long as this is done ‘within a reasonable time [without] causing significant inconvenience’ to you. If the seller does want to do repair or replace the item, you can claim a reduction on the original price of the product or your money back (less the amount of usage of the product you have had).
Timing is everything
You have six months to bring a claim. If you bring the claim within six months, the seller will have to prove that the product fulfills the above three requirements. Beyond six months, the burden of proof is on the consumer.
The Consumer Credit Act
If you buy a product that is not ‘as described’, ‘of satisfactory quality’ or ‘not fit for purpose, we already know that under the Sale of Goods Act, you are entitled to a refund or to have the product repaired or replaced. Similar rights exist with services you pay for.
The Consumer Credit Act applies to both goods and services. Under the Act, the credit card company is ‘jointly and severally liable’ with the company which provided the faulty product or sub-standard level of service, so long as the transaction had a value between £100 and £30,000. Part payments and deposits are also included.
Unfair Trading Act 2008
Consumer behaviour is often influenced by sales practices. Sales are a necessary part of business, but some tactics are unfair in the way in which they get consumers to part with their money. Under the Act, misleading actions and omissions as well as aggressive practices are prohibited.
Misleading actions includes lying about products, passing off products as something else and advertising goods which do not exist.
Misleading omissions includes sales tactics which purposefully leave out key bits of information that is required for the consumer to come to an objective decision.
Aggressive practices include sellers who continually harass consumers, use threatening behaviour or refuse to leave someone’s home until they have signed a contract.