Last Updated on 20/06/2024 by Samantha Lewis
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, certain standards apply to every transaction for the sale and supply of goods (including hire purchase, hire, part exchange and contracts for work and materials).
Retailer Liability. The person transferring or selling the goods must have the right to do so and the goods must:
Be of a satisfactory quality. Goods must be of a standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory. In assessing quality, all relevant circumstances must be considered, including price, description and your or the manufacturer’s advertising. Quality is a general term, which covers a number of matters, including:
Be fit for a particular purpose. When a consumer indicates that goods are required for a particular purpose, or where it is obvious that goods are intended for a particular purpose and a trader supplies them to meet that requirement, the goods should be fit for that specified purpose.
Match the description, sample or model. When a consumer relies on a description, sample or display model the goods supplied must conform to it. If the goods do not conform, an offence may have been committed
Be installed correctly, where installation has been agreed as part of the contract.
Remedies for breach of the above
The short-term right to reject
If, when they are supplied, the goods do not meet the requirements above, there is a short period during which the consumer is entitled to reject them. This short-term right to reject goods lasts for 30 days unless the expected life of the goods is shorter, as with highly perishable goods. The 30-day period does not start until the consumer has ownership (or, for hire, hire-purchase and conditional sale, the consumer has possession) of the goods, and the goods have been delivered.
In addition, if the trader has agreed to do anything else to the goods (for example, to install them), the 30-day period does not start running until this is done. However, the short-term right to reject does not apply if the only breach is that the goods have been installed incorrectly.
If the consumer asks for or agrees to a repair or replacement during this initial 30-day period, the period is paused so that the consumer has the remainder of the 30-day period or seven days (whichever is longer) to check whether the repair or replacement has been successful and to decide whether to reject the goods.
When a consumer rejects goods they can claim a refund (which can include the return of items handed over in exchange or part-exchange). This would be a full refund or, in the case of hire, a refund for any part of the hire that was paid for but not supplied. They are also released from all their outstanding obligations under the contract – for example, the outstanding instalments in a contract of hire purchase. A refund must be given without undue delay and in any event within 14 days of the trader agreeing that the consumer is entitled to a refund. In some cases (for example, where the exchanged goods have already been sold on) a refund cannot be claimed under the Act, but the consumer would be entitled to claim damages (monetary compensation) for any losses incurred.
The trader is responsible for the reasonable cost of returning the goods except where the consumer is returning them to the place where they took possession of them; for example, the retail shop where they bought them. However, the consumer is not required to return the goods to this place unless this was agreed from the outset as part of the contract. Even if the consumer returns goods to the shop, they may in some circumstances be able to claim some or all of that cost from the trader – for example, where a motor vehicle breaks down and the consumer has to pay for a recovery service to return it.
Repair or replacement
When there is a breach of contract, but the consumer has lost or chooses not to exercise their right to reject goods, they will be entitled in the first instance to claim a repair or replacement.
Where a repair or replacement is claimed, the trader must do this at no cost to the consumer, within a reasonable time and without causing significant inconvenience.
The consumer cannot choose one of these remedies above the other if the chosen remedy is either impossible or disproportionate as compared to the other remedy. Also, once the consumer has chosen a remedy, they must give the trader a reasonable time to provide that remedy.
The remedies fail if, after just one attempt at repair or replacement, the goods still do not meet the necessary requirements. The consumer does not have to give the trader multiple opportunities to repair or replace, although they can do so if they wish. The remedies also fail if they are not provided within a reasonable time and without causing significant inconvenience to the consumer.
In either case, where repair or replacement fail the consumer is entitled to further repairs or replacements, or they can claim a price reduction or the right to reject. The same rule applies if both repair and replacement are impossible or disproportionate from the outset.
Price reduction and the final right to reject
If repair or replacement is not available or is unsuccessful or is not provided within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to the consumer, then the consumer can claim a price reduction or reject the goods.
Where repair or replacement fail, are not available, or were not provided within a reasonable time and without causing significant inconvenience to the consumer, the consumer chooses whether to keep the goods or return them. If they keep the goods, then their claim will be for a reduction in price; if they return them, they are rejecting them.
A price reduction must be an appropriate amount, which will depend on all the circumstances of the claim. It can be any amount up to the whole price.
If the consumer rejects the goods, they are entitled to a refund. This refund may be reduced to take account of any use the consumer has had from the goods. However, no deduction can be made for the consumer having the goods simply because the trader has delayed in collecting them. Nor can a deduction be made where goods are rejected within six months of supply, except where the goods are a motor vehicle.
Additional compensation
Whatever remedy the consumer chooses or ends up with, they may also be able to claim compensation for losses that have been incurred. These losses might include the cost of any property damage caused by the goods, compensation for personal injury and compensation for the additional cost of buying equivalent goods if they are more expensive elsewhere.
The burden of proof
If the consumer chooses repair, replacement, price reduction or the final right to reject, and if the defect is discovered within six months of delivery, it is assumed that the fault was there at the time of delivery unless the trader can prove otherwise, or unless this assumption is inconsistent with the circumstances – for example, obvious signs of misuse. This rule is often known as the “reverse burden of proof,” as it reverses the normal rule that a person making a claim has to prove each aspect of that claim.
If more than six months have passed, the consumer has to prove that the defect was there at the time of delivery. They must also prove that the defect was there at the time of delivery if they exercise the short-term right to reject goods. Some defects do not become apparent until some time after delivery, and in these cases it is enough to prove that there was an underlying or hidden defect at that time.