Everyone is a consumer. A consumer is someone who buys things for their personal use. It doesn't matter how much you spend or how old you are.
If you have pocket money or earnings from work, you may like spending it on comics, sweets, records or tapes, buying clothes, going to the cinema or playing sports.
Sometimes you may feel that you aren't getting good value for your money or even worse, that you have been cheated or conned.
As a consumer you have the right to be treated fairly. You also have the right to complain and to have your complaint heard.
There are laws, which protect you. We will tell you about them and how to go about making sure that you get a fair deal.
If you buy something from a shop and it goes wrong, the law says that the person who sold it to you has to sort out your complaint.
There are three very important legal rules, which all shops must obey:
If there is something wrong with what you buy, tell the seller at once. If one of the three shopping rules has been broken you will be able to claim compensation from the shop. This is just another way of saying that the shopkeeper has to make it up to you in some way. When you buy something, which has a major fault you can take the goods back and ask for a refund of your money.
But - you must remember to tell the shop straight away. If you don't, you may have to keep the goods and get some, rather than all, of your money back.
If you have had the goods for some time before you complain you are still entitled to a repair, replacement or some of your money back.
Sometimes a shop may offer to repair the goods free of charge, or to replace them. If both you and the shop are happy, that's fine.
Be fair. Shops have rights too.
You cannot expect a refund if you:
A shop doesn't have to give you a receipt but it is a good idea to ask for one. A receipt is a piece of paper, which proves that you have bought something from a shop. It can help if you need to take it back to complain if it is faulty.
But don't be put off if you can't find your receipt or weren't given one. You will have the right to complain and a shop can't refuse to deal with your complaint because you don't have a receipt, providing you have some other proof of purchase.
Do not be put off if you see a sign like this. Traders cannot wriggle out of their responsibilities to you. If you do see any “No Refunds” sign then please let us know – anyone displaying a sign like this could be breaking the law.
Instead of a refund, a shop may offer a credit note in exchange for faulty goods. A credit note lets you buy goods to the same value in the same shop. You don't have to accept a credit note but, if you take it, you will not be able to ask for the cash later on. So you may be stuck with it if you can't find anything else that you like in the shop.
Some credit notes have a time limit on them and unless you use them by a certain date you will lose out.
Shops sometimes reduce or lower their prices and sell their goods off cheaply. If you buy something that has been reduced in a sale you can still take it back to the shop if it doesn't work properly.
Although it feels good to think that we have picked up a bargain, be careful. Watch out for the description "special purchase". It means that the shop has bought them in especially for the sale. They may be poor or inferior quality. Look out for things described as "seconds" too. It means that they are not of the best quality so you need to take extra care before you buy.
Most people dislike making a fuss even when they have good cause for doing so. Like everything else, there is a right way and a wrong way to go about complaining.
Remember the Golden Rules:
There are lots of different ways of shopping from home including on the internet, digital TV, telephone and by mail order.
You have the same rights when you shop from home if the goods you have purchased are faulty or ‘misdescribed’.
However you also get some extra rights when you shop from home:
You must be given clear information including:
You will have cancellation rights:
You don’t have this right to cancel when you buy:
You can have a refund if the goods or service are delivered late:
My mobile phone doesn’t work what can I do?
The first thing to deal with is how old the phone is. The more recently you have bought it the greater your rights.
If it is less than roughly a month old, return it to the shop where you bought it. Take the receipt and ask for a replacement or your money back. You are entitled to a full refund if the phone is faulty. The phone should be in a satisfactory condition when bought and it should be
But I've agreed to a repair!
You may, if you so choose, allow the seller to repair faulty goods. This has no affect on your rights. Where a repair proves unsatisfactory you retain your rights and can still obtain a refund for the faulty goods.
If it is longer than a month since you bought the phone.
What can you do?
New changes to the law now allow you to choose a repair or replacement so long as this option is not overly costly you must not be significantly inconvenienced. If for reason these are not possible (parts or a similar replacement are unavailable) you can select a partial or full refund though a full refund may not be reasonable where you may have enjoyed some use from the phone before the problem appeared.
Who now has to prove it faulty?
If during the first six months after purchase you are seeking a repair or replacement you do not have to prove the goods were faulty. It is up to the retailer to prove that the goods were satisfactory at the time of sale. After the six-month period the proof lies with you the consumer.
For example if you bought a CD player which won’t play your CD’s you would have the right to take it back to the shop to get a repair or replacement. If it were less than six months after you bought it the shop would have to prove that it wasn’t faulty when they sold it to you. However if you wanted your money back you would have the responsibility of having to prove that it was faulty when it was sold to you.
Accessibility Guideline Notes
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