Know your consumer rights this Christmas!

Is a shop telling you porkies? Is it acceptable for one to say ‘we can only give a credit note for returns’ or ‘you can’t bring back faulty knickers’? Right now we’re in the run up to Christmas but according to our Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis most people and worse, many shop staff, don’t know their consumer rights.

So today a quick test. If a shop told you this, which of these are consumer rights, and which are consumer wrongs…

Store: “Sorry, we don’t deal with faulty goods, you must go to the manufacturer”.

That’s balderdash, baloney, and another B word you can supply yourself. Your contract is WITH THE STORE you bought it from and under theConsumer Rights Act 2015 (and its predecessor laws) it is responsible if a product is faulty.

Store: “As you’ve changed your mind, we only give a credit note not a refund”

This is true and actually just be grateful, you’re doing well. Remember if you buy something in store unless it’s faulty you have no legal right to return it. But if the store’s published a returns policy, then this forms part of your contract and you can.

You’ve more rights for goods bought online, by phone or mail order due to the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, which lets you return most goods (not perishable or personalised) without reason and get a full refund. You’ve 14 days to tell them you’re cancelling, and 14 after that to return the goods.

Store: "Sorry, you can’t return sale items".

This is nonsense. If they’re faulty, or bought online you’ve still got your full rights. Yet if you’re returning goods without fault, in-store they can say no for sales in the sales, and many do.

Store: “I’m afraid as you were given it as a gift, we can’t exchange it even though it’s faulty”.

Technically this is true. It’s the person who bought it who the contract is with, so they have to exchange it not you. However, if you have a gift receipt, or the buyer writes it’s a gift and who it’s for on both receipts (ie the store one as well), then this transfers rights. Luckily most stores do it anyway, but legally there’s no right.

Store: “You can only return goods with a receipt".

This one actually depends. If goods are faulty, any proof of purchase will do such as a bank or credit card statement. If it’s not faulty, as you’ve no legal rights anyway, if the store says you need a receipt, then you need a receipt. It’s similar if it says you need to present the card you paid with.

Store: "No returns on faulty underwear if they’ve been worn".

Knickers! There’s no underwear law, you still have your statutory rights.

Store: "It’s faulty, but we can’t take it back as you’ve taken the tags off".

This is rubbish. You can still take it back even after you’ve used it, if you find it faulty.

Store: "I’ll give you a discount, but then you can’t return it".

Nope not right. A sales assistant quoted this to me once. Mrs MoneySavingExpert had spotted a nice jacket on sale; the last in my size but with a loose button. It agreed to discount it, but said “then you can’t bring it back". As I politely explained to them, that’s only for the button fault, as I accepted it as a condition of sale, if I later find out there’s, say, an unnoticed armpit tear, all rights are retained.

As all this shows, the key question is ‘what counts as faulty?’ I remember this as the SAD FART rules: goods must be of Satisfactory quality As Described, Fit for purpose And last a Reasonable length of Time. If not, it’s faulty. Return faulty goods within a month and you’re due a full refund. After that, it’s repair, replacement or partial refund.

The tricky concept is ‘goods must last a reasonable length of time’ if not they were faulty when bought. What’s reasonable? It depends on the item, e.g I’d say a 10p whistle breaking after 6mths use is reasonable, the same with a £1,000 TV isn’t.