How do you measure quality?
Satisfactory quality is defined as what a ‘reasonable person’ would regard as acceptable, and takes into account factors such as price paid, fitness for purpose specified, appearance and finish, freedom from minor blemishes, safety and durability. If it becomes apparent that an item is not of the quality you were led to expect, you were not aware of any such defect when you bought it, and you bought from a seller acting ‘in the course of a business’ (i.e. not an informal sale), you are quite within your rights to go back to the retailer, even after some months of use. If a product develops a fault within the first 6 months, the assumption will be that this defect was present at the time of purchase and you will not have to prove anything. If you are returning an item after this 6 month time period, this automatic assumption does not apply, and it may be up to you to prove the fault did not occur through misuse. You should also consider aspect of durability and acceptance.
If it is the case that you were invited to carry out a thorough inspection of the product and fail to spot a defect which that inspection ought to have revealed, you may not have recourse. Safety is an important aspect of quality and we will look at unsafe goods and product liability under different legislation – namely that of the Consumer Protection Act
Your Statutory Rights
- It’s not fit for purpose
- How long should it last?
- Is the guarantee worth the paper it’s written on?
- I bought it from a bloke down the pub
- Rights when knowingly buying damaged goods
Common Complaints
- They say I’ve taken ownership so it’s my responsibility
- Do shops have to give me my money back?
- The shop doesn’t want to know, they say it is the manufacturer’s responsibility.
- It’s second hand – do I have any rights?
And if your statutory rights are broken
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have just taken a mobile phone contract out with 3 mobile. The coverage is poor but is described as very good on their website. They are refusing to take back the phone because it is outside their 14 day returns policy. The phone is perfect condition with no damage. What can i do?
Craig, The 14 days is the time period which allows you to assess whether the phone is suitable. However, you can legitimately claim that it is not as described, which is one of your statutory rights under sale of Goods. You can then be offered a replacement or a refund.
I bought a sony wireless vaio desktop computer about 18 months ago, it recently just started to switch off, It has now completely gone, apparently it is the pulse button and will cost in the region of £400, the computer cost £1500, could anybody please tell me if i have any rights