When you change your mind and want to give back the product you bought the seller may not allow you to do so. You can find signs „No refunds”. That’s perfectly legal, refunds for products without faults are optional and depend on the seller’s good will. However signs „No refunds and complaints” („Zwrotów i reklamacji nie przyjmujemy”) are forbidden and against the law. You can and should post a complaint if your item is faulty. If you see a sign like this you might as well notify the police.
Important fact: when shopping in an internet store or via a traveling salesman then the deal is set outside of the place of the company. In this case you can break the deal within 10 days and get a full refund (minus shipping costs). Therefore internet shops give you a chance to get a refund for a product that does not meet your needs, even if it’s not faulty. Think of TV's with bad pixels etc.
Now let’s assume you bought a cellular phone in a local electronics store. After some time you notice that it has a fault which is not made by you. In this case you can choose between two actions.
First is a warranty repair within the warranty period (if there is one). It’s a free service, although the repair time is not regulated by any law apart from „in adequate time”.
Second action, giving you much more rights is nonconformity of goods with the contract (niezgodność towaru z umową). It’s applicable when the product is faulty or does not have the properties said it should have. In this case a consumer can opt for a repair, exchange for a new item with no faults, discount or a refund. The latter two are possible only in case the repair or exchange is not possible. Seller should notify you within two weeks about his decision. In case this doesn't happen it means that he agreed with your complaint.
Important fact: always take and store in a safe place the proof of purchase. If your product turns out to be faulty this proof is the first thing the seller will ask for. The warranty card may not be filled out but the proof of purchase is a must have – it proves you bought the item in this particular store on a specific date.
Complains on food products can be made within 3 days from the date of opening.
Of course these are not your only rights, in the next part I will talk about organisations founded to help consumers.
Questions:
1. Did you know about the nonconformity of goods right?
2. Have you ever used your consumer rights, was the product vaulable?
Whoh, I didn't know that those informations about refunds and complaints are illegal, I'm so used to see them that it feels somehow natural.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember situation that I was complaining about product, I can only say I had to use guarantee card to fix my telephone card which broke, but there was no problems.
Hmm, well I've never used befre the noncoformity of goods right. It must be way more convenient than always depending on the warranty. But as I said in the previous post comments I don't know much about the consumr rights. It sometimes happen that I make a complaint, but it's not a kind of fully conscious action. The result of my complaints depend on the sellers good will. If they want to cooperate and are helpful I get the money back or get a new product. But I never asked for help any organisation that helps the consumers. Why? I simply don't know, when I can do that.
ReplyDeleteYou can call it my ignorance or lack of knowledge... but what I do works pretty fine as long as you try to make the best decisions as a consumer. You need to look carefully for what you want to buy and the place where you want to buy it... and nothing bad should happen :)
Tell us more about hour rights, Adam! :)
I have answered the second question at your first presentation ;P
ReplyDeleteI always take receipt with me when buying something expensive. But the weak side of it is that the ink vanish very easily and quickly. So when you have 2 year warranty, and go after 1,5 year it is hardly to see anything on this receipt. So it is good to copy them I think ;>
I did not know that signs like No refunds and complaints are forbidden and just illegal. Thanks for informing ;)
I have to agree with Michal Kakol about choosing the right place to buy things. Usually when shopping for electronic stuff I go to a normal store to see the product and then order it over the internet. This way the price is lower, I get the same product and my consumer rights are larger so if I change my mind I am able to give it back within 10 days.
ReplyDeleteOfcourse it is your money and your choice, I am only giving you some tips :-)
@Michal
I suppose you mean hour rights at work? That's a topic for another presentation. It all depends on the type of contract you have with your employer, most information can be found in "kodeks pracy". Worth noting is that if you're on duty it does not apply so you have to follow orders 24/7 if needed.
I know about this contract. It is very good for consumer because if you buy something and this item doesn't work corectly you can bring it back to the shop and seller must replace it one new one. I use this right many times. Last situation when I bought microwave kitchen it has broken glass on the door. I didn't open the box in the shop and I didn't see it. When I came back home I opened the box and I saw that glass is broken. I was furious. I take it back to the shop and I wanted another one. The seller admitted me right and gave me another one. It is very good that consumer have rights. I think that in other countries where there is no consumer rights it will be difficult to change any other item on another one.
ReplyDeleteI know about the right to question product's conformity with the contract, but fortunately I've had no situation to do that. In my opinion any signs which say that consumer have no right for a refund or exchange of a faulty product should be penalized considerably. A lot of consumers (especially people from small towns and elder people) are not aware of their rights.
ReplyDeleteAs I said, there wasn't a situation where I wasn't satisfied with the product I bought, although frequently I saw that the price on the receipt was higher than the posted price, especially in big shops. The difference was relatively small for more expensive goods, but for example for groceries, the difference was considerable (which turns out to be a real pain after doing bigger shopping). Several times I noticed the difference, and even when it was relatively small, I asked for a return of it. No one asked questions and always they gave me the refund. It seemed that they knew that the posted price was lower.
I always thought that seller always have right to say "No refunds and complaints", because this are his shops rules, and we are not obliged to buy there, and if we are doing this, we are conscious the rules which are in it. I have heard about nonconformity of goods with the contract, but somethig inside me is telling that this right will be difficult to execute, and we ought to remember that time is money ;) i'm not protecting the sellers, and probably i will fight for my rights if very expensive product i bought is broken or incoplete in some way. I am also confused, because i thought that companies should fight for customers and carry about his satisfaction, but life is different. My friend bought once electric saw in shop and he heard from salesman that this is very bad model for steel company, because it is not breaking up ;)
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that those informations about refunds and complaints are illegal. Very useful informations. I remember one situation when I used customer rights when I bought snowboard on one of Internet shop. They sent me snowboard with some marks on board. I took photos of it to show them what was wrong and I told them that I want to sent me another snowboard. They exchanged it for new one and didn't take from me any money for transport.
ReplyDeleteI have never used a refund. Probably becouse I never had opportunity for it. On the other hand I have returned somethink which have broken on warranty, like my cellphone. They repaired it cost-free.
ReplyDeleteI agree, very intresting information. The main problem is that we do not know our rights in a fact. We are afraid that when we want to bring something back the store can refuse. I try to keep all bills as long as I can almost for everything-shoes, clothes, furnitures. I had many cases that I`ve never regred it. The electrical like laptops are made to work correctly only under warranty.Suddenly after 2 years thet break down and we need to buy a new one. In my opinion in 90` all were better quality.
ReplyDeleteI know about nonconformity of goods right and I used it several times. Sometimes it happens, that product we are buying isn't working properly or is in some way defective. I think we shouldn't be afraid of using our rights as consumers and get what we are buying for.
ReplyDeleteI was aware of most of the information in the presentation.
ReplyDeleteI always try to use my consumer rights and I keep all the important receipts (though they tend to go blank naturally so i sometimes do copies of them). I think it is important to be aware of what your entitled to when buying a product, but unfortunately many people don't use their rights, because they don't want to be bothered by all paper work, they don't want to wait for the issue with the product to be solved, it might take some time.