When you buy goods and services or digital products as an individual, your rights are governed by the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA). This legislation outlines the key rights that you have as a consumer and what you can do if issues arise with the product or service that you have received. These rules only apply to goods and services rendered to individuals, not businesses.
The CRA implies key terms into the contract, for example, that the goods must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, and sold as described among other terms. Even if your contract does not expressly state that the goods should conform to a certain standard, the terms implied by the CRA can be relied on in order to claim the below remedies.
The below detailed remedies are the rights that you have as a consumer if goods you have bought are faulty and/or do not conform to the contract. The CRAs application to digital goods will be considered separately below. Note that while other remedies are available under common law, your rights under the CRA would usually be the best to start with as the Act is designed to protect consumers and can be clearly interpreted.
Within the first 30 days
If the fault appears within the first 30 days from which you received the goods, then you will have a “short term right to reject” the goods if they do not conform to the terms of the contract. This means that you can return the goods to the trader and request your money back in full. You will not need to prove that the fault was present when you received the goods – this will be automatically presumed.
If you choose not to exercise your short term right to reject, then you will be afforded the same remedies as detailed in the next section.
Between 30 days – 6 months
If the fault appears after your short term right to reject has expired but before a 6 month period has lapsed, then the remedies available are slightly different. Similar to the above, you do not have to prove the fault was there upon receipt of the goods because it will be presumed to have been faulty upon delivery. This presumption is key as it makes it easier to claim a repair, replacement or refund and the burden is on the trader to prove otherwise.
You can no longer outright reject the faulty goods but instead can give the trader one opportunity to either repair or replace the faulty goods. The repair or replacement must be carried out within a reasonable timeframe and at no additional cost or inconvenience to you. You can usually choose whether you would like the goods to be repaired or replaced but the trader has the option to reject one of those remedies if the cost is disproportionate compared to the other. For example, if the cost of repair is £10 but to replace the item would be £1,000, then they can opt to only offer a repair.
If you have given the trader the opportunity to remedy the fault, but they have failed to do so within a reasonable time or the fault still persists, then you are entitled to either a final price reduction or a final right to reject the goods. If you choose to accept a price reduction, the deduction should reflect the difference between the value of the goods as provided and the value they would have had if they conformed to the contract. If you exercise your final right to reject, then you will be entitled to a full refund, unless the faulty goods include a motor vehicle, in which case the refund will be subject to a deduction for use of the vehicle.
Between 6 months – 6 years
If the fault appears after 6 months, you have to prove that the goods were faulty when you received them in the first place, otherwise you will have no legal remedy under the CRA. If you can however prove that the fault was present at the time of delivery, then your remedies are the same as above (repair or replacement and then a final price reduction or right to reject if the fault persists). However, if you exercise your final right to reject and receive a refund 6 months after receiving the goods, then your refund will be subject to deductions for use.
If more than 6 years has passed then you will no longer be able to bring a claim. This is because the limitation period for bringing a breach of contract claim in England and Wales is six years from the date the breach of contract took place.
Application to digital goods
The remedies with regards to digital goods are slightly different. Digital goods are classified as data which is produced and supplied in a digital format. For example, this includes software, video games, apps, e-books, films, TV shows and music. If you have tangible goods such as DVDs or CDs, then these would fall under the above remedies for non-digital goods and you can physically return these items if they do not conform to the contract.
The CRA implies similar terms into the contracts for digital goods, such as being fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality. Unlike with non-digital goods, there is no right to outright reject digital goods. The only remedies available are the right to request a repair or replacement. You can request a price reduction but only if a repair or replacement is impossible, disproportionate to other remedies, or a reasonable time has passed. If however the trader does not have a right to sell the digital content, you can request a full refund.
Similar to non-digital goods, you do not have to prove within the first 6 months of receiving the goods that there was a fault, the fault will be presumed to have been present on receipt of the goods and the burden of proof is on the trader to prove otherwise. You are also entitled to the appropriate compensation for damage caused to the device or to other digital content, for example if downloaded content contains a virus.
If goods have come from outside the United Kingdom
Your rights do not change if you have imported the product from overseas, provided that the consumer contract has a close connection with the UK, as application of the CRA can prevail over foreign laws. In order to establish that the consumer contract has a close connection with the UK, the court would need to consider the relationship between the contract and the UK, as opposed to the consumer’s connection to the UK. It is worth noting however that there may be practical issues that arise from suing a party based in a foreign jurisdiction such as serving them with court paperwork and enforcing a judgment made in an English court.
If the contract is deemed to not be closely connected with the UK, then your rights as a consumer will depend on the country where the trader or manufacturer is located.
Head of Department – Tim Flower
