Your Consumer Rights

Angela Clark, Rosy Border

• Publisher: Routledge-Cavendish
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781135333775
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Law Theory & Practice
• Index: Law

This book contains advice on your rights as a consumer. If you have ever purchased faulty goods or experienced unsatisfactory service, this book puts you in control of the situation.

1
Think before you buy

In an ideal world, you would never need a book about effective complaining because nothing you bought would ever give you cause for complaint. We do not live in an ideal world, but you can still do a great deal to help yourself by thinking before you buy.

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Most people have heard the Latin tag caveat emptor—literally ‘Let the buyer beware’. The full version, which rather fewer people know, is caveat emptor, quia ignorare non debuit quod ius alienum emit—‘Let the buyer beware, for he ought not to be ignorant of that which he is buying from someone else’. In other words, ‘Think before you buy; make sure you know what you are letting yourself in for’. Over the years, much legislation has been passed to protect you, the consumer, but you still need to keep your wits about you otherwise the law will not be able to help.

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Here are some points to consider before parting with your money:

• Is what you are buying really what you are looking for?
• Is it (if applicable) the right size, colour, etc, for your needs?
• Will you still like it after you have got it home?
• Can you realistically afford it?
• Could you get a better deal elsewhere?
• How are you going to pay: cash? Credit card? Some other form of credit?
• Has the trader got a good reputation—and will the trader be contactable if something goes wrong?
• What (if appropriate) is the after-sales service like?

We all make the occasional impulse buy and we all know of impulse buys which were emphatically a good move. Unfortunately, many impulse buys prove to be a bad move. So do think it through first. The law will not help you if you simply buy the wrong thing, in the wrong size, at the wrong time, and have second thoughts later!

The consumer and the law

There is a lot of legislation to protect the consumer. Only a lawyer, a Trading Standards officer (more about these splendid people on p 49) or, indeed, a trader determined to weasel out of their obligations will need to master all the legislation in detail. Nobody expects an ordinary consumer to do so, but in all circumstances where goods are bought and sold and money changes hands, your mantra should be the Sale of Goods Act (SOGA) 1979. This Act governs all transactions where goods are bought and sold for a price, and it is now backed up by European law.

Note that the SOGA 1979 is not the only legislation that protects you, the consumer: there is other legislation in force—on safety and on food, for example—but the SOGA 1979 is the main one and the one most likely to strike terror into the heart of a dodgy supplier.

There are some situations in which a consumer is not covered by the SOGA 1979. The key word here is ‘price’—for a deal to be covered by the Act, money has to change hands. The SOGA 1979 does not, for example, cover situations in which you merely swap or exchange goods. Those circumstances would come under a different piece of legislation (more about that later). However, if a transaction combines swapping or exchanging with actual money (such as swapping your old cooker for a new model with a cash adjustment), the money element means that the deal would usually be covered by the SOGA 1979.

If your problem does not involve a sale or even goods, don’t despair. Other contracts, such as hire (hiring unsafe or faulty DIY products, for example) or contracts for services (such as dry cleaning or a car service), are covered by another Act, the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. This contains equivalent protection.

‘Right is might’

Suppose something goes wrong. A determined consumer who is in the right will usually get a satisfactory outcome quite easily. In our experience, the vast majority of complaints have a happy ending. This is because:

• there are laws to compel traders to treat their customers fairly (see above);
• Trading Standards are happy to give free advice and, if necessary, to lean on traders who do not play fair;
• in general, traders prefer their customers to be satisfied, otherwise they would eventually run out of customers;
• most traders can do without the hassle of a protracted dispute.

It is when the trader’s idea of fair treatment does not coincide with yours that you need to start asserting yourself. If, on your first approach, a trader is less than helpful and reasonable, do not give up in disgust—that is what they would like you to do. Repeat this mantra to yourself: ‘right is might’. If you have a valid complaint, the law is on your side and you have a right to get the matter sorted out in a way that is fair to both of you.

How far you will have to go to get your rights depends on many factors, including how obstinate and/or obstructive the trader is. If you have right on your side and the will to win, win you will—right is might!

In a few extreme cases, you may need to go to court to get your rights. Have no fear! The small claims court is geared to the needs of the litigant in person and if your cause is just, the judge is likely to find in your favour. Besides, the mere threat of court action—an experience which will cost them both time and money—may be just what you need to bring a recalcitrant trader to heel.

Emotional wear and tear-is it worth it?

It is time to be realistic.

• Do you loathe arguments? Are you shy or lacking in self-confidence? Does the thought of having a row with someone upset you? Some people dread confrontation so much that they will do almost anything for a quiet life. If you are like that, and if there is a real possibility that the emotional stress of a dispute will harm your health or give you sleepless nights, ask yourself whether, for example, a dispute over £14.99 is worth the stress.

We, the authors, are both naturally fairly confident and actually find a little mild confrontation quite stimulating. The enemy usually senses this, realises we mean business and capitulates forthwith. Not everyone is like us—but with some basic legal knowledge and the sample letters and other guidelines in this book, you can, if you wish, get the same results, but see below.

• How busy are you, and how much is your time worth? It is tempting to say the principle is what matters, but if winning a £50 argument costs you £100 in lost working time, you have lost out—unless of course your objective was to name and shame or give someone a great deal of hassle, rather than compensation.

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Be objective about this. If necessary, settle for less than you are entitled to. Alternatively, if a lot of money is involved, consider paying for professional assistance rather than doing it all yourself.

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2
A binding contract

Most people have come across contracts in the course of their employment, but there are many kinds of contract. Buying and selling is a contract between you and the seller. Every contract is governed by express terms and implied terms. In the case of consumer transactions, the express terms of the contract are there for all to see. They are the terms agreed by the buyer and seller about that particular transaction, either:

• in writing; or
• orally in the conversation between the parties.

Here’s how it works. Bert is a shopkeeper. In his shop are some T-shirts at £5 each. You choose one, check it’s the right size and hand over £5. Bert takes your money, puts the shirt in a bag and gives you a receipt. You thank him and walk off, well pleased. The express terms of the contract in this case are minimal—just the price you have agreed for the item.

However, there are other terms which are implicit—you and Bert have not discussed them, and if all goes well you may never need to—but because of the Sale of Goods Act (SOGA) 1979 they are implied in your transaction (not stated, but there nevertheless). Bert cannot wriggle out of those implied terms in a contract with a consumer, because he has a statutory duty—one which is imposed by law—to abide by them. If he fails in that statutory duty you will have a valid cause for complaint. The express terms of your deal with Bert are very brief. The implied terms take up several pages and are set out below.

Supply of goods

You have a legal right to expect the following.

Safety

The goods you buy must be safe for their intended users. It is a criminal offence to supply unsafe goods.

This in general applies to second-hand products as well as to new ones. Antiques and newer items which clearly need repair, renovation or some degree of ‘doing up’ would be exempt, provided you were told clearly at the time that the item needed attention. So, to sum up:

• the new car Bert sells you must not catch fire;
• nor must the second-hand one Bert sells you as being in good working order; but
• the second-hand car he offers you, clearly labelled ‘Not working’ or ‘Needs attention’, would not be covered.

As well as general guidelines about product safety, there are also product directives for specific classes of goods, such as toys. The law says that customers must be provided with appropriate safety warnings.

Also, if that dodgy car injures you, Bert is liable even though he is not the manufacturer of the goods—if, for example, he is just the distributor or retailer—if he knew that the car was dangerous.

For further guidance, see the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) leaflet entitled The General Product Safety Regulations 1994, Guidance for Businesses, Consumers and Enforcement Authorities. A copy should be available from your local Trading Standards. Guidance leaflets are also available at the website: www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/bgllist.cgi.

Quality

When you buy goods from a business the goods must be ‘of satisfactory quality’. In brief, this means that the goods must be durable (unless, of course, they are by nature perishable: no one expects a kipper to be durable), safe and free from defects—even minor ones.

Godley v Perry (1960 QBD)

A six-year-old boy bought a catapult which fractured shortly after purchase, blinding him in one eye. The catapult had not been abused and was thus required to be of ‘merchantable [now satisfactory] quality’ and ‘fit for purpose’ under what is now s 14 of the SOGA 1979. It was held that the catapult was in breach of both of these conditions. Nowadays, the faulty catapult would also have been in breach of safety legislation!

Goods must meet the standard that a reasonable person would regard as acceptable, bearing in mind:

• the way the goods were described;
• their price; and
• any other relevant circumstances.

The fact that the seller (let’s suppose it is still Bert) is blameless is no defence to the customer’s legal rights and remedies. If, however, he tells a customer about a defect before purchase and the customer buys in full knowledge of the defect, then Bert will not be responsible—unless the defect makes the goods unsafe (see above). A good example is the sweater marked down to half-price, with a coloured sticker showing the small snag that is the reason for the reduction. Similarly, if you examined the goods before buying them, you could not complain about any defects that you should have noticed.

Fitness for their purpose

The Act says that the goods must be reasonably fit for their purpose. So if a trader sells waterproof watches, they must keep out the water.

To be sure of your ground in this respect, it is sensible for you, the customer, to tell the trader that you plan to use the goods for a particular purpose (‘I do a lot of scuba diving and I need a watch that will work underwater’). If you have done so, your new watc...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Disclaimer
• About the Authors
• Acknowledgments
• Welcome
• Buzzwords
• Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
• 1: Think before you buy
• 2: A binding contract
• 3: Distance selling
• 4: Buying cars
• 5: Holidays from hell
• 6: Contracts for services
• 7: Check the small print
• 8: Successful complaining
• 9: See you in court
• Standard Letters
• Non-Standard Letters
• Useful contacts